winning a debate requires having a good command of the facts Robert's arguments were more reasonable than Britta' s Britta's arguments were quite unreasonable good debate performances require very reasonable arguments
Debate coach: Britta' s command of the historical facts was better than Robert' s, and that led to the distinct impression that Britta won the debate. But it' s also important to evaluate how reasonable the debaters arguments were, regardless of their ability to bring the facts to bear in those arguments. When you take that into consideration, Robert' s debate performance was as good as Britta' s.
The debate coach's argument depends on the assumption that