If there was ever a time when we could actually use the term ‘worst ever,’ last night’s debate definitely applies.
Sure, it was good television viewing -- you half expected one of the candidates to pull out a sword and fall on it -- but that was the whole problem with the debate in a nutshell.
It was all too focused on the recent gaffes of both candidates, the damage control that has made it worse, and the ensuing finger pointing that was at a kindergartener’s level of ‘two wrongs making a right.’
Probably the single most telling ‘editorial’ on the debate was the Washington Time’s non-scientific, user-driven poll showing that Gary Johnson was the clear winner of the debate – though he was not even on the stage.
And while all of this makes for great sound-bites and ratings, Americans want and deserve better.
Pew Research recently found that Americans are most interested in hearing about Terrorism, the Economy, Budget Deficits, Health Care, Foreign Policy, Immigration, Gun Policy, Climate Change, SCOTUS Nominations, and Abortion, in this order, from the candidates.
This is a long list. You would think that there would be something in the list that would make almost everyone happy with the outcome of the debate.
Reviewing the transcript was abysmal when ‘grading’ the debate on what Americans found important.
When ‘locker room talk’ was a more used phrase than ‘terrorism’ or ‘terrorists’ combined, it’s indicative of the overall quality of the debate.
The quality of the debate was so bad, that the following Gary Johnson quote has been tearing apart social media today, from its simple truth:
We have fallen through the looking glass. Thanks to two candidates who are each running on a platform of not being the other, we are in historically uninspiring territory.
The media has definitely become a huge part of the problem – creating a looking glass from the pages of ancient history – taking the Roman political tactic of making sure the population is happy with circuses to a new extreme.
With less than a month to go in the election season, there’s no end in sight.
Claims, counterclaims, threats, half-truths and lies – at some point we as a nation are going to have to realize the fundamental truth about how we got into this political nightmare.
It's what happens when people vote purely for political objectives with total disregard for the actual person running for office.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Locher