Earlier in the evening Palmerston attended the live telecast of the political reform debate between Donald Tsang and Audrey Eu outside Government Headquarters, organised by the League of Social Democrats. Brief impressions (supplanted in part by a review of the RTHK footage) follow.

Watching Tsang debate against Eu was like what a Palin-Obama debate would be like. Tsang’s speech consisted entirely of pre-parroted soundbites (including repeated uses of the same stock phrases), ad hominem tarring of all pan-Democrats and opponents of the reform proposal as extremists (or, as Palin might put it, “palling around with terrorists”), and… erm, did Palmerston mention ad hominem attacks?

In contrast, Eu - while confined to repeating the same points, largely in response to Tsang - was evidently (as one would rightly expect from Senior Counsel) much more fluent in delivery, and much more approachable (not least by including a smattering of anecdotes). The emotional delivery near the end seemed slightly overdone, but the disparity in fluidity - and sincerity - was obvious. (Whenever Wong Yuk-man wasn’t chanting, that is.)

Content-wise, the debate proceeded along highly predictable lines - as the debate progressed it seemed increasingly clear that Tsang was relying heavily on talking points, rather than engaging in actual debate. The “audience questions” were similarly unsurprising, ranging from viciously pan-Democrat to rabid Royalist. But the pre-recorded question from a young man asking if Tsang would resign if the reform package was rejected clearly hit home; Tsang’s reply (to another pre-recorded question) that the airing of these questions reflected the presence of “democracy” - in a debate with no element of live audience participation - rang distinctly hollow.

Another poignant moment - Eu’s reference to an overseas student lamenting the rampant nepotism of Hong Kong politics (and presumably, by implication, wondering whether he should return).

Ultimately, then, despite a pronounced home-team advantage for Government, this debate was a decisive victory (Ming Pao; link in Chinese) for Audrey Eu. Except, to hear the Royalists tell it (link in Chinese), he was “being reasonable” in letting her win. Evidently the Royalists weren’t watching the same debate as everybody else.

?