Debate 12: Emporia State University, Emporia, KS

Kelly drove us most of the way to Emporia before we were transferred to Kurt from Emporia. That evening we went drinking with Sam who is the Emporia debate coach and the team. We sampled almost all the bars worth visiting in Emporia (that would be three) and managed to extend our pool record to 9-3. Emporia is a strictly policy directed team and were the National Debate Champions in 1993 – as the road sign on the highway before campus informed us!

On Monday night we debated the motion, ‘TH believes invading Iran would cause more problems than it solves’ – this was the fourth time we would discuss Iran but he first time we would try to convince the audience not to authorise an invasion. The poster for the debate advertised us with pictures of Hugh Grant and Austin Powers – despite this billing the audience was fairly modest with around 30 students attending. However, the ensuing debate was good fun and we both enjoyed the opportunity to Cross-Examine our opponents. We once again won the day – helped partly by the opp line that ran ‘It is inevitable that Israel will attack Iran, that is bad so America must attack now to stop that”. This argument although probably valid in the vacuum of policy debate was quite easy to dismantle in front of an audience. Gary Harman and two of his debates from Kansas Wesleyan University had come to watch the debate and after we had said our goodbyes they drove us 2 hours across the state to Salina.