Let's just clear this up right off the bat. Last night wasn't a debate. It was a very nicely-staged and executed catfight about everything except the issues. In clocking the back-and-forth, “the Timmy” and I sat and watched the entire thing -- forsaking American Idol, mind you...not easy for either of us! (Sorry David Archuleta and Jason Castro...we love you boys, but the election is more important.) For nearly the entire first 45 minutes of the broadcast Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos acted like members of TMZ's staff pitching crap to make the 5:30 show. It sunk in on me about 20 minutes in to the thing that the ship was sinking, and that I was going to be disappointed.

In the old days (read: Clinton / Bush, Reagan / Carter) you at least got from televised debates more than 20 minutes of real discussion about real issues. They may have been boring and long, and very buttoned-down, but they did generally cover "issues." ABC News and Gibson should be embarrassed to call this a debate. In the aforementioned first 45, the questions amounted to the following...(paraphrased)

1. Will you promise to be each other's running mates?
2. What did you mean by using “bitter?”
3. Do you think the other one can win?
4. Why did you wait so long to disassociate yourself from Rev. Wright?
5. Would you really have walked out of the church?
6. What are you going to do in the General when clips of Rev. Wright are played again and again?
7. Why don't you wear a flag pin?
8. 6 in 10 polled say you're not honest, what do you say about that?
9. Has she been honest about her past?

Yeah. And we still have soldiers dying in Iraq.

Is this really all the better we can do? Is this the kind of public service that the debates commission really had in mind? Is it what we as the voting public really want?

American Idol at least was compelling TV. This thing wasn't even close.

Mariah? She kicked ass from what I saw on the tube this morning.

Oh yeah, and for those of you who watched the debate...Kristy Lee Cook got booted. This morning she was showing off her very pretty engagement ring.

Wow...I don't even believe I wasted my time with that debate thing. zzzzzz...