"I am sorry our national discourse has devolved into what many of us saw last night. As far as who won, many think it was a tie for last. However, I think it goes without saying, Chris Wallace was the real clunker."
Last night, my wife and I watched the first Presidential debate of 2020. I have never seen anything like it before. To say it was painful at times, might just be an understatement. We had three guys, all in their 70's constantly trying to talk over each other. Three grandpas, who should have known better. In the old days, it was a courtesy to stand back and listen while another made his or her point. Most of us learned that in Debate 101. No longer.
A little before nine, my wife abruptly got up and said, "I have had enough. I can't take anymore." With that, she went to bed, leaving me to watch the remaining debate mayhem all by myself.
After it was over, and I was watching pundits try and patch together a coherent summery of the cage match we just witnessed, I had a thought. Once in a while, after a particularly bad night, you look at yourself in the mirror the next morning. What you see, you might not like. Sometimes you think, "What the hell just happened to me? I look terrible!" As painful as last night's debate was to watch, I think there was an upside for all of us. We just had a very painful look into our national mirror.
Did it shock me to hear the disrespect the former Vice President showed our current President? Nope - I see stuff like that all the time on social media. Was it out of bounds the former Vice President called the current President a "clown" more that once, and also told him to "shut up man"? I think it was out of bounds. But - people in this country no longer have any respect for the office of the President. Did it bother me the President interrupted the former Vice President with abandon? Not really, but it should have. Talking over each other, and at each other, has replaced talking to each other. Again - one talks, the other listens. Communication 101.
I am sorry our national discourse has devolved into what many of us saw last night. As far as who won, many think it was a tie for last. However, I think it goes without saying, Chris Wallace was the real clunker. To say he was terrible would have been an understatement. To say he appeared to side with Joe Biden much more than the President, rang true with many whose comments I read of social media last night. If Wallace never moderates another debate, it will be just fine with me.
It has been said that we are on the verge of losing our national cohesiveness and becoming "tribal". I say we have rounded that bend a long time ago. Like during the Obama Administration. We have become the the Sharks and the Jets, the Crips and the Bloods, the Reds and the Blues, the Makers and the Takers. The Lawless and the Lawful. The Godly and the Godless. We have become sliced and diced into a hodge podge of tribes, sub-tribes and mini tribes. In other words, we are a mess.
Last night we had a chance to take a good look at ourselves. Don't blame the guys on the stage for the spectacle we saw. Blame the mirror. For what we saw last night - was ourselves. And many of us probably said, "What the hell just happened to us? We look terrible!"
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