As he showed in last fall's debates, Romney is a competent debater, but an orator he isn't.
What you want to watch is one sharp, competent person debate a total moron who's very likable, who people love and who has every advantage in the world.
Last we checked, the President of the United States was still George W. Bush, the Secretary of the Treasury was still Henry Paulson, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve was still Ben Bernanke, and Congress still had 533 members not running for President who are at least nominally competent to debate and pass legislation.
By showing that she was at least competent enough to debate, the focus shifted from Ms. Palin's fitness for office to the positions and strategies of the McCain campaign.
Leave aside the slight problem that all parties claim to be socially just and economically competent, yesterday's debates on the economy at the Liberal Democrats' conference highlight the particular difficulties for Clegg in claiming Blair's formula.
Gingrich's current popularity can easily be explained as that of the quintessential Bad Boy: He makes a good-looking politician, with competent speaking and debating skills that infatuate potential voters.
This trend threatens to undermine democracies' key advantage over authoritarian regimes: democracies make ample use of available data to determine public policy and enjoy the benefit of a relatively transparent debate to elect competent, prepared leaders.
But, thanks to a string of competent performances in the candidates' debates, he is the flavour of the moment.
Last week, as Dushku watched the first of the presidential debates, she saw a competent, even "slick" politician sparring with President Obama, but she also witnessed someone who is a political chameleon.
As was stated above, after the narrowing of the definition of euthanasia in1985 to active voluntary euthanasia, societal debate in the Netherlands concentrated on competent patients.
