Is it cheating to get outside information during the debate?

[IggleDoer]

How did Romney get the Bruins score?

Just saying .....

[Tx4obama]

1. Good catch! n/t

[provis99]

2. I actually don't think it is.

They should be there to answer policy questions about their platform. If they can't remember every single little fact or statistic, let them get it from aides. Heck, they can get their policy promises from aides. We should be interested in the policies, not their quickness at answering questions.

[Zen Democrat]

3. Is a comprehensive understanding of what they stand for just out of the question?

Is it too much to expect a candidate to answer questions without being hooked up to handlers? I must be older than dirt school.

[provis99]

5. do you think any of them really answered a question, anyways?

These debates are a bullshit, talking points session from start to finish.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. No, it's really not

If you're running for President of the United States, you ought to be able to give a short answer on where you stand on major policy issues. It's not like they are asking what do you think about Senate Bill 59 in the Ohio State Legislature. The questions that they ask in these debates are ones that anybody with a firm grasp of public policy ought to be able to talk about intelligently for a minute or two, without consulting an aid. Especially since these questions are so predictable that they know just about every question that will be asked.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. They're giving one to two minute responses, not a 40 minute policy speech

And the questions that they ask in these things aren't obscure or difficult. Anybody who has a basic understanding of public policy and reads a newspaper frequently, ought to be able to talk about these topics intelligently for a couple of minutes.

[KittyWampus]

9. So a Presidential Debate is just a game show with each contestant having a Lifeline when

they're stumped. NOT.

[Wilms]

4. I noticed that too.

But I figured it may have been announced to the audience during the commercial break with Romney getting his mittens on it and opportunistically making the announcement. Pretty Repuklican either way.

[Kaleva]

8. Probably not because these aren't real debates.

[RoadRage]

10. Yes!

They clearly should write all answers on their hands! No teleprompters or asking aids allowed!

[AmBlue]

11. I had the same question.

In Florida, candidate for governor Alex Sink was shown a Blackberry by one of her aides for just a few seconds and she took a real beating for it. The other side made a big stink and implied she was a dirty-rotten-cheater. Some think it possibly even cost her the election.