Alex Pareene

Christopher Hitchens, the late essayist and sot, was a man who purposefully cultivated a lot of friends of a certain type - rich, self-important, generally dim-witted and hence easy for a well-spoken Oxbridge debater to impress - and he electrified Washington D.C. society mainly by not being a completely charmless bore.

American Writer

Morgan Neville

Vidal was a novelist, an essayist, a playwright, a screenwriter, and many other things. Buckley started a magazine, hosted a TV show, lead a political movement, and was a master debater. They were multihyphenates in a way that you rarely see anymore.

American Producer

Bob Beckel

On the road to the GOP nomination, Trump earned the reputation as a good debater by slandering and bullying his opponents, knocking them out with cheap shots and lies. On a crowded stage, Trump got away with these deplorable tactics.

American Journalist

Edmund White

Some writers are so enthralled by ideas (one thinks of Doris Lessing) that their characters become debaters, and their fables approach allegory.

American Novelist

Ruzwana Bashir

The power of real debate is in the language and intellectual honesty of the debaters, alongside the engagement of spectators.

British Businesswoman

James Carville

The case could be made that Rick Perry is the worst debater to ever run for president.

American Lawyer

Ron Fournier

Anything can go wrong in a debate, and Obama is not a perfect debater.

Corey Lewandowski

Donald Trump is the best debater on the debate stage.

American

Jim Talent

American Politician

Jack Kemp

Used mainly in contexts such as competitions, academic settings, or legislative assemblies.

Formal Contexts

Implies the person has researched and prepared their points in advance.

Prepared Arguments

Reflects a person's capability to convincingly present and argue ideas.

Persuasion Skills

 from the identity of the person discussing them. So in formal debate, nothing is a topic unless it is that we should raise the voting age, outlaw gambling. But the debaters don't choose their sides.

Debater