GOP debate snooze fest

It would be interesting to see if, given a choice, the American people would pick watching a Republican debate over getting beaten with a great big stick. The smart money would be on the stick.

The Republican Party’s wisdom in wanting to have a dozen debates among candidates is coming into question with the completion of each debate.

After Donald Trump held his own in the first debate, interest stirred. But last week, Trump seemed to calm down, until reports said he had calmed down, at which point of course he blamed the media for everything, as did the head of the Republican Party and most of the other candidates.

Oh, it’s true watching these moderators isn’t exactly like tuning into Walter Cronkite, but watching these debates is no Kennedy-Nixon moment, either. There are too many candidates, saying too many different things, and in the middle of it all is the presumed front-runner, Jeb Bush, son and brother of presidents, who rolled off the showroom floor in a blitz of attention only to become the new Ford Thunderbird of the campaign ... a disappointment. Now Bush, with a huge campaign war chest, seems petulant, telling some interviewers that if people want a Trump, then to heck with ‘em.

Scold and pout doesn’t sound like a winning strategy. But at this point, it’s hard to see a better one on the stage of the Republican debates.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 4:39 AM with the headline "GOP debate snooze fest."