EURO538IA DEBATE LIVEBLOG
Europeia's three remaining Presidential campaigns prepare to duke it out. Kazaman has maintained a steady first-place finish in polls, but with Gem dropping out and significant variation in the numbers, tonight's debate could have a big impact.
Europeia's three remaining Presidential campaigns prepare to duke it out. Kazaman has maintained a steady first-place finish in polls, but with Gem dropping out and significant variation in the numbers, tonight's debate could have a big impact.
HEM @ 7:01PM ET Hello ladies and gentlemen, we are waiting the start of the August 2023 Presidential Debate. I'm HEM, Minister of Communication, here to deliver an informative (hopefully) and slightly sassy (definitely) rundown of the proceedings.
HEM @ 7:11PM ET Calvin has nixed the opening statements to focus on substance. He asks each candidate to describe their candidacy in one word. Here's the results:
Kazaman: Driven
JayDee: Passionate.
McEntire: Bold!
Even more interesting to me is the punctuation each uses! JayDee chooses a strong period, McEntire chooses an exclamation point (mades sense), while Kazaman has no punctuation at all. What does it mean?! Who knows!
HEM @ 7:17PM ET: Oops sorry for the delay, had to grab my Chipotle for dinner. While I was gone, Calvin decided to start the debate with a fuckin heavy one, asking candidates to define the regional foreign policy with justification. All the answers are pretty similar (which JayDee points out), but McEntire calls out the other candidates for not labeling ourselves as defender.
JayDee strongly insists we remain Independent, while Kazaman points to the joint Defender-Independent opposition to Raider Unity.
McEntire isn't amused at all and wants the other tickets to resolve their cognitive dissonance in therapy!
Lime (Grand Hall) @ 7:20PM ET: Literally, but we've had this pretty dumb debate imo over if we're "defender independents" or "independent defenders" when ultimately all what really matters is the practicalities of what alliances we're in and who our allies and opponents are.
Rand @ 7:21PM ET: In the first question of the debate, McEntire came out swinging, accusing JayDee of treating defender relationships as subsidiary to independence, and accusing Kaz of trying to "paper over the cracks" largely by continuing our existing policy.
HEM @ 7:24PM ET: The next question from Calvin is basically: "How do you make friends as an adult?"
HEM @ 7:26PM ET: Sparknotes answer:
McEntire: Let's force people to listen to our podcasts
Kazaman: Our President and MoFA should text our friends often — and throw parties
JayDee: Force them with our cultural power!!
HEM @ 7:28PM ET: A little bit of a divide in the back and forth. JayDee and McEntire both (smartly) going after Kazaman. The subject of their attack is his priority on strategizing with regional leaders with JayDee emphasizing cultural events to build social bonds and McEntire emphasizing transparency (even playfully suggesting he would hold meetings with regional leaders in EuroChat).
HEM @ 7:33PM ET: Next question is on balancing transparency in foreign policy. Lots of boring answers until McEntire drops a fuckin bomb saying he wants to reform the EIA — with the Senate potentially taking on those duties.
HEM @ 7:35PM ET: Looks like it's time for McEntire and Kazaman to come to blows. McEntire accuses Kazaman of "stonewalling" the Senate during their hearings on the TRR affair. Kazaman replies he was only stonewalling McEntire because of his conduct.
HEM @ 7:39PM ET: Things are not cooling down (in case you were wondering). McEntire accuses Kazaman of abuse of power. Kazaman is mostly brushing this off, accusing McEntire of continuing to pretend to represent the whole Senate. JayDee has kept his cards close to the chest in this exchange, applauding Kazaman for handling the TRR affair, but also noting that the radio show removal was confusing and concerning to him.
HEM @ 7:41PM ET: Very interesting exchange. Kazaman taking some incoming, but mostly handling it well. Living up to his "one word" McEntire is acting "bold" and trying to make a splash. Open question as to whether his attacks are effective or reinforcing the perception of him being a bit of a loose cannon.
HEM @ 7:47PM ET: Time to dive deep on World Assembly affairs!
JayDee's answer contains a little bit of waffle: "Everyone has a goal, but goals are useless without a plan, and we have a plan" [...] "Our platform isn't flashy, it's functional." Just not a lot of meat.
McEntire offers one single slice of sad sandwich ham, putting all his chips on technology improvement — which is a bit of a buzz this campaign. Europeia might've become Silicon Valley (??)
Kazaman finds an old sandwich in the trashcan and throws it on his plate, emphasizing using WA for engagement and getting new members involved.
HEM @ 7:50PM ET: McEntire takes up most of the rebuttal time to clarify the rules so that he can attack Kazaman on the EIA again.
HEM @ 7:52PM ET: Next question is on the Navy, particularly what the biggest problem is
HEM @ 7:54PM ET: Take a shot every time McEntire mentions data (drunk) or attacks Kazaman (wasted)
HEM @ 8:02PM ET: Sorry for another delay, a full family knocked on my door and asked if our house was still for rent (we signed a lease two years ago??). Back to the debate!
HEM @ 8:04PM ET: Kazaman is starting to "Hillary Clinton" this debate a little bit. He isn't getting hot under the collar, but also doesn't seem super eager to jump into the fray or defend himself with passion. When confronted by JayDee and McEntire in the Naval Debate section, he refers people to his website, erm, platform to read more about his views.
HEM @ 8:06PM ET: The foreign affairs section was supposed to be over twenty minutes ago, but we're now ringing it out on a "high note"!!
HEM @ 8:08PM ET: McEntire says he doesn't like the food Kazaman is serving. He has no idea why, he just doesn't like the taste!
HEM @ 8:09PM ET: Kazaman wants more detailed info from JayDee, JayDee says, "well let me into the EAAC dammit!"
HEM @ 8:12PM ET: For everyone waiting to talk more about Frontier/Stronghold, here we go!
HEM @ 8:16PM ET: This question was a little bit of a mess. JayDee throwing out a new idea he just had that isn't in his platform, McEntire just wants to talk to everyone and hopefully things work out, and Kazaman mostly focuses on technical solutions to integration which feels a little off..when this is all based on human behavior.
HEM @ 8:18PM ET: OK if this was the drinking game I'd be fuckin ded:
HEM @ 8:21PM ET: Kazaman declines to give more detail on his gameside incentive program as McEntire and JayDee trade barbs on the state of welcoming.
HEM @ 8:24PM ET: Some interesting back and forth on Discord:
Olde Delaware: McEntire is seeking to dethrone me as the most needlessly aggressive candidate
Lloenflys: I wouldn't call it needless based on the polling. McEntire needs to shake things up. Being BOLD! and agressive makes it more likely someone else makes a misstep
HEM @ 8:30PM ET: Sorry I've been ignoring the question on Culture in lieu of trying to solicit guest commentators after Rand abandoned me. And it turns out that this liveblog has been mentioned! McEntire uses his rebuttal time to disagree with my summation that his plan is "talk to everyone and hope things work out." Rather, he wants to talk to people with "known techniques" (did not deny that might include hypnosis).
HEM @ 8:32PM ET: JayDee: "The Olympics were given no coverage"
Lloenflys (Grand Hall) @ 8:33PM ET: McEntire probably is not likely to listen to me, but having a fight over whether technology can or cannot do something is unlikely to engage many voters imo. It's ... really in the weeds. So if I was McEntire's campaign manager I would say "MORE EXCITING CONTENT
HEM @ 8:35PM ET: Time is up and nobody has replied to how we get more people trained on Radio. Makes sense!
HEM @ 8:38PM ET: JayDee takes this question a little personally, while Kazaman continues to test the absolute fewest number of characters he can reply with. Meanwhile McEntire — back from shadowboxing in the hallway — claims he'd be different than all the Presidents who came before him because he'd actually get it done — throwing barbs at JayDee along the way.
HEM @ 8:41PM ET: This is just a tough question for JayDee. He has done a great job as Radio Minister and doesn't want to downplay his role there, but Radio does have long-term problems. He's trying to disagree with the extent of the problems (to a degree) and it's coming off as a little defensive. Just not an enviable situation TBQH!!
HEM @ 8:43PM ET: Another one from Discord:
Olde Delaware: "when Lime and I ran, we pointed out that this would happen with the merge of Comms and Radio and were told nah, we have 15 people someone will step up. Feels like Lime and I are owed an apology."
I'll kick this one to the viewers to decide! For what it's worth, Radio and Comms are not merged.
HEM @ 8:45PM ET: JayDee's answer initially makes it sound like his Minister of Communication would share Almond's passion for Islam — which would be totally cool, but not super germane to the question. Overall, JayDee has a strong answer bragging about his record in getting writers involved as a former Minister of Communication.
HEM @ 8:47PM ET: McEntire also brags about having done it! While Kazaman brings up good points about a Minister nurturing ideas that are out there vs. trying to brainstorm or blindly assign content.
HEM @ 8:48PM ET: One man's treasure is another man's trash though: McEntire is coming after Kazaman for his more passive approach to Communications management.
HEM @ 8:50PM ET: None of these candidates have asked me to return as Minister of Communications but have lots of ideas to improve this place which has sent me to a Dark Place emotionally (JK!!!!)
HEM @ 8:52PM ET: Most articles have not been written by me this term, we had a great period of collaboration and ideation early on. Definitely more true in the second half of the term (ultimately the buck stops with me, so not complaining)
HEM @ 8:53PM ET: McEntire's response on how his Attorney General would act differently perhaps deserves to go down into debate history — if only not for the parenthetical part:
McEntire: "Well I plan to sue a shit lot more people" (KIDDING)
HEM @ 9:02PM ET: McEntire to Kazaman: "Kazaman, you can't dodge your way to the Presidency."
HEM @ 9:02PM ET: McEntire is gearing up to leave it all on the floor with another volley at Kazaman. The Grand Hall channel is a little divided on how effective or fair some of his critiques are.
HEM @ 9:08PM ET: McEntire answers a question asking for "one word" with several sentences of content, which seems to sum up this debate nicely. This liveblog is shutting down for now, but watch this space as we get instant debate reaction from real viewers in Europeia! More soon.
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