[Inspectorette]

Those aren’t debates.

Bingo!!! They're not debates. A real debate would have two participants and a moderator. There would be specific issues to be debated, and viewers would get an in-depth understanding of where the candidates stand on the important issues.

The "debates" we've been subjected to so far are nothing more than dog-and-pony shows, with serious candidates vying with a gaggle of no-chancers, trying to one-up each other with cute, 30-second sound bites.

[trisham]

The "debates" we've been subjected to so far are nothing more than dog-and-pony shows, with serious candidates vying with a gaggle of no-chancers, trying to one-up each other with cute, 30-second sound bites.

*************

Agreed. There are way too many candidates involved.

[Kimberly GG]

“The “debates” we’ve been subjected to so far are nothing more than dog-and-pony shows, with serious candidates vying with a gaggle of no-chancers, trying to one-up each other with cute, 30-second sound bites.”

Yeah, they just need Fred’s participation in order for them to be credible events.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Those aren’t debates.

Bingo!!! They're not debates. A real debate would have two participants and a moderator chess timer to equalize the microphone time. There would be specific issues to be debated, and viewers would get an in-depth understanding of where the candidates stand on the important issues.

Exactly.

The "debates" we've been subjected to so far are nothing more than dog-and-pony shows, with serious candidates vying with a gaggle of no-chancers, trying to one-up each other with cute, 30-second sound bites.

Actually, what the "debates" we've been subjected to (those of us who have submitted) are beauty contests. The moderator is there to promote himself, and to promote journalism. That is, to promote cheap talk over action, which is what Political Correctness is all about.

The format is designed to pressure candidates toward PC politics, and to minimize intellectual discussion. Just as the interview portion of a beauty contest is. It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out what a journalist wants to hear, and parrot it - after all, the journalists ain't geniuses, either . . .

So if in fact Fred Thompson is eager to participate in a debate on October 14, he should just arrange one himself. In cyberspace. No need to assemble the participants, just do the whole thing in the Internet. No need for enforcement of rules against notes and so forth, just allow the candidates to do their thing. No impediment to candidates referring to data sources, just allow them to put links into the stream, and to do Power Point presentations.

Best of all, no need for so much as a "bye your leave" from Big Journalism. Just do it.