I would have done better to clean my underwear drawer than watch that stupid 'debate' last night.

[Stinky The Clown]

What a monumental waste of time.

The questions posed by Brian (GOP Go-to Guy) Williams were sophomoric and insulting.

Any chance for honest discourse was lost in the 90 second time limit, reducing intellectual honesty to sound bites.

Equating Mike Gravel to the front runners was stupid (although I passionately support anyone running for office and getting a fair shot on the media).

No matter what the outcome, the pundits were all ready with their take on who 'won'. I suspect there was more spin outside the official 'spin room' than in it.

I didn't learn a damned thing from last night except that Mike Gravel is still, at his age, capable of stringing words together into intelligent sentences, although the thing one learns is that he is as unhinged as he was the last time he ran.

The whole format is one that takes points away for stupid 'gotcha' crap, yet awards few points for anything more than showing up.

One thing I learned that sorta honestly did piss me off was that each of the candidates took a private or charter jet to get there. In that a bunch of them made the exact same trip at about the exact same time, shame on them all. It would have been a MUCH stronger **PARTY** message if they at least 'jet pooled' their asses down there.

All in all, I would have been better served watching Mike Rowe do his Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

1. Don't underestimate the value of a clean underwear drawer*

[shenmue]

5. Amen.

Is all I'm gonna say.

:patriot:

[mtnsnake]

2. There's a small TV on top of my dresser, so I did both

:)

[Virginia Dare]

9. A multi tasker, good on ya!...n/t

[Warpy]

3. Williams is an idiot and those questions had to have

been written by Rove. He framed the whole debate in GOP social values terms, just threw in that silly question about hedge funds to razzle dazzle the rubes (hedge funds being just another rich man's Ponzi scheme and his question totally irrelevant).

I quit watching early on.

[waiting for hope]

4. I'm asking - what Debate?

It was a Q & A session -

[ginnyinWI]

8. exactly right

Why can't they debate each other? Why did they make a rule that they can't address each other? It gives us a way to assess the person's interpersonal skills, what they do when challenged, how they come to a consensus, etc. All good to know about a potential president! I think character can be more important than policy stands, which can change.

[SaveElmer]

6. I understand what you are saying...but

Frankly, I know where each of the candidates stand on the issues, so I am not expecting to learn anything particularly...other than how they carry themselves in a public forum.

And I don't care about the questions either...

All I am concerned about at this point is that our candidates come off in a positive light to the public...and from what I am hearing they did...

Right now it is about getting a Democrat elected, and if it takes going through a bunch of these joint press conferences, and answering a bunch of insipid media questions...I don't care...for me it is the end result that counts!!!

[TwilightGardener]

7. Well said--agree with all your points, especially the "gotcha"

framing of questions and the Mike Gravel sideshow.

[Virginia Dare]

10. Take comfort in the fact..

that most of the rest of America cleaned out their underwear drawers. It was only the hopeless political junkies and Democratic dweebs that watched it.

[BOSSHOG]

11. 35 years after bootcamp and my underwear drawer remains immaculate

Everything neatly folded, in its place and ready for inspection.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Hehehehe ..... maybe this is one reason I never made it past one hash mark!

Stinky <---- non conformist

[DUgosh]

12. I am so happy I cleaned mine instead of watching

[KansDem]

13. These debates need to be *real* debates...

And with that, the first thing that has to be done is to remove all of the CorpMedia "journalists" from the process. They lead on to be soooo omniscient that only they can ask the questions. Bullshit! Make up the questioning panel from local professors in sociology, philosophy, political science, historians, economists, etc., and let them have follow-up questions! Let these debates be patterned on the kinds of debates that go on in England!

I no longer watch these "debates" because they always turn out to be aural photo-ops.