BOISE, Idaho — Catch anything good on TV last night?
"Good" being the operative word.
I doubt anyone would call last night's debate between President Trump and Joe Biden, "good."
But, you know who are good debaters?
The Talkin' Broncos.
Never heard of them?
They are Boise State's speech and debate team.
And they're really good, like national champions good.
And they want you to know that whatever you want to call it, last night was not a good representation of what they do so well.
There was name calling.
Biden - "I'm not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he's a liar."
Trump - "Joe you're the liar."
Biden - "I want to make sure."
Trump - "You graduated last in your class - not first in your class."
And then there were the interruptions.
Moderator - "Mr. President can you let him finish sir."
Biden - "He doesn't know how to do that."
Pundits calling it the worst debate in presidential history, with more slugfest than substance.
"Last night's debate. Are you talking about that at all in your classes today or using that as examples?" asked KTVB.
"Absolutely not," said Dr. Manda Hicks, Director of Boise State Speech and Debate.
"First of all, they already know what not to do, which was sort of the big message from last night's debate," said Hicks.
The Talkin' Broncos hold the Phi Kappa Delta National Championship title in speech and debate for the last 10 years!
They're taught debates shouldn't be a battle of right and making someone else wrong, but rather a representation of different perspectives, problem solving.
Hicks says nothing from last night resembled a true format of debate.
“The sorts of debates that we see on that level, on the national stage, are really more sound bite generators and ways to brand identity and brand ideology," Hicks said.
Early ratings show roughly 67 million people tuned in last night.
Down, 8 million who watched the Trump-Clinton first debate four years ago.
With reviews like "hot mess," "train wreck," and "disgraceful" -- will Americans continue to tune out? And what will that do to our democracy?
"It diminishes the beautiful, transformative possibility of debate is what it does," Hicks said.
The Commission of Presidential Debates is already saying it will adjust the format of the remaining debates to avoid a repeat of last night.
They're considering limiting the open discussions and cutting off a candidate's microphone to restore order.
"Healthy, invitational, productive debate is one of the best things we can possibly have in a democratic society. I wish we had a better model of behavior and conduct to invest in that, to believe in that, and to show us that," Hicks said.
Critics of debates are questioning if future debates are even worth it.
But both candidates agreed to the rules before the debate.
Those rules were simple -- two uninterrupted minutes, followed by open discussion.
Changing the structure of the debates at the last minute is highly unusual for the commission and perhaps a testament to just how bad it got last night.
Bad for decorum, bad for discourse, and some have said, bad for our democracy.
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