A terrible debate

Yesterday afternoon I questioned my own love of American politics. I am a person who finds C-Span to be the most fascinating thing on TV, so I found myself questioning my own personality when I responded to a query about how the debate was going by saying: "It's really boring."

I thought the moderation was just terrible. Horrific. A real debate involves being able to ask your opponent a question, and presidential debates are not real debates. But at least they can pretend to be real debates by having some back-and-forth. But this debate devolved into a series of campaign ads, but without even the interesting parts of the ads (which are the background imagery, which is what political ads are all about).

The moderator Carolyn Washburn was a schoolmarm. She made the candidates seem like fifth-graders rather than as potential leaders of the free world. The lowest point in the debate was when she asked everyone to raise their hand about global warming. So instead of 30 seconds, you get to raise your hand! This is all the nuance and complexity allowed!

The reason the internet is so great is that you can have the consolation of others who feel the same way about something, and there's no shortage of evidence that I am not alone in my experience. Debate Scoop has has a gratifying rundown.