Hardball Questions For The Next Debate (2020)
HumorScissor Statementsplits the roomRead the original on Slate Star Codex →
Follows up on
↳ More Hardball Debate Questions — Humor · Oct 2016
Follow-up reading
↳ Hardball Questions For The Next Debate — fourth in the franchise -- Scott's own 'previously in series' backlink · Nov 2023
Summary
A recurring-series comedy post: absurd fake 'hardball' debate questions for the 2020 Democratic candidates, each built to a pun or gag — Biden ('would you have named her Gatherer?'), Bloomberg ('what makes you so sure you're not in Hell already?'), Buttigieg (the Djibouti/gay-porno-backstory bit), Warren (genetic-testing publicity stunt), Sanders (the Romulus/Remus augury digression), and Yang ('Semper ubi sub ubi'). Well-crafted, genuinely funny, topical.
Why this score
Quality 57 · Solid. 57 — Solid. High-craft comedy for its genre — the puns and the augury set-piece land — but lightweight, topical (2020 candidates), and ephemeral in substance. Firm mid-Solid; clever comedy without lasting insight doesn't climb higher.
Claude’s paradigm shift 25 · Slight. 25 — Slight. A format Scott has run before (2016 Hardball Questions); no novelty.
Real-world impact 1 · Negligible. 1 — negligible. A topical comedy post; no real-world effect.
Humor 3/5 · Scissor Statement. 3 — Scissor tier; gate passes clearly. A PRIMARILY-comedic piece (the jokes ARE the post), sustained and genuinely funny across seven candidate gags — magnitude 3 with the other primarily-comedic Type=Humor set; below Moloch-4 because it's clever-chuckle, not helpless-laughter.