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The Nice Debate
20 March 2006What is there to say about "Ministers of Debate," Zev Chafets' amiable NYT Mag profile of the debate team at Jerry Falwell's Liberty U.? It's mildly amusing. It helps undermine the "evangelicals are stupid" myth. It clues us into an odd little relationship between Bush and the Falwell wing of the GOP. Well, that's nice. Which is precisely the problem: Debate, as Chafets establishes early on, isn't nice. It's training for rhetorical warfare. At Liberty U., where the debate team enjoys Falwell's special blessing, it's inherently political. But Chafets ignores all that, striking an easygoing middle ground that depoliticizes and detheologizes Falwell's debaters. Evangelical apologists will likely applaud this piece. Liberals will probably skip it. But honest conservatives should put up a fight -- their political ambitions, as expressed through these lawyers and pols in training, are worth more thought than a Sunday puff piece.
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