I had not watched any of the debates – not Republican or Democratic. The Democratic debates, given the character of the participants, were always going to be more discussion and less screaming, more about fairly minor differences, with details and directions not too separate from one another. It has been fun, though, to watch those kids feeling The Bern, having nearly as much fun as we had in the 60s and 70s, and again in 2008 with Barack.
Hillary has clearly been learning and adapting with each debate, indeed each campaign appearance. I prefer Hillary (last time it was Barack all the way for me), but will definitely and happily vote for Bernie if he is the nominee.
But the lack of truthiness, the low quality insults, the noise and chaos of the Republican debates did not appeal. What was the point? To be bored by overwrought white guys for 2+ hours? Plus the quietness and calm of Dr. Carson, who seldom seems to have a point of view that is understandable. (I saw him years ago at an Uptown Consortium event – very hard to understand what he believed, but he seemed to be blaming the victim.)
Then one Saturday night – I wanted to watch a debate, and a friend invited me over. So I went. It was the day Justice Scalia died. (He was one of the main reasons that I no longer trust the entire American justice system – so clearly political, so clearly negative and narrow. An Italian Puritan.)
It was fun to watch Jeb finally stand up and take on The Donald. But most of the evening was watching Marco and Ted Cruz screaming at DJT and at each other. And occasionally John Kasich making sure we knew he was the grownup in the room. (Living in Kasich’s state, I can tell you that he is nearly – not quite – as negative and totally right winged as any of them. Don’t trust him.) It was good to be watching with a room full of liberals, thank heaven.
Then, when it was over, the network went back to eulogizing Scalia, who was totally destructive in my book, and I found that I simply could not stay and watch. So I left within 5 minutes of the debate being over. And that is all the Republican side of the aisle I intend to watch. Period. Bang. End of story.