“questions where one candidate was asked to attack another”
Each is a great opportunity for the answerer to give an enlightening answer and/or school the moderator that asked it. Or, for the answerer to make a fool of himself or herself.
No matter what the audience learns from the exchanges.
A debate is where a topic is presented, one person states a position, and others rebut that position. You can't rebut the "when did you stop calling women pigs" question asked of someone else. You can't rebut the "any word from God" snark. You can't rebut the "was he lying" taunt.
Maybe you learned something, but you could have learned so much more meaningful information from a properly moderated debate.
-PJ