That's fine. You and your friends expected too much from the format. That wasn't a debate, it was a circus. Hopefully Cuomo and Paladino will accept the invitation that just the two of them debate. Without the clowns and time restrictions. No one thought that the debate was a good format.
And, I have known plenty of people who, while not being polished politicians, were fully capable of coherently framing an issue
In 60 seconds? Sometimes only 30?
It seems that we have different standards and expectations of those whom we would elect to govern...mine are pretty high.
No one could fulfill them in that format. There are high expectations and then there is unrealistic.
Regardless of the silliness factor each candidate was allotted time enough to articulate his position. The commie from the Green Party snd the Libertarian both stayed on point in spite of the clowns sharing the venue. Cuomo, even though his performance was just that, a performance, did not get knocked off track. It was Paladino alone among the serious candidates who scored zero hits.