By Their Quirks Ye Shall Know Them

摘要

In last week's debate, al gore reissued his challenge to Bill Bradley to swear off those empty 30-second ads in favor of twice-weekly debates. Twice weekly? Who does Gore think he is, the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The Democratic duo's last appearance—with its "No, I didn't," "Oh, yes, you did" tone, interspersed with stock lines from speeches—left me wondering whether the debates haven't reached the point of diminishing returns. Long idealized as the noblest form of political discourse, debates are today about as overproduced, overpro-grammed and devoid of meaning as the much reviled ads. I stopped counting the canned phrases when I hit 26.