Now if these were the candidates for president of the Eighth Grade....

The general response to tonight's debate from the media, from Twitter, and from people generally seems to be that Trump didn't help himself (and he needed to), while Hillary didn't hurt herself.

God help us if that's true. Trump should hurt his chances every time he opens his mouth, 

Il Duce was in full bully mode night,  I don't know whether the less formal format contributed or not; The Donald interrupts, overtalks his opponent, monopolizes the time and then whines when the moderators try to keep him within reasonable bounds no matter what. But I cannot for the life of me see how any reasonable person could watch his posturing and listen to his whining and his rambling incoherence without concluding that he's a not only frightening person but one in way, way over his head.

The best thing either of these candidates has going for them is the other one. And we did it to ourselves. The time has come to admit that the McGovern guidelines back in 1972 were a mistake, that the average voter is simply not qualified to judge potential presidents that early in the process and go back to letting the party professionals have at least as big a voice as the primary voters. They, after all, are the ones whose careers depend on picking winners, who actually know the candidates personally- and who (let's admit it) did a much, much better job of picking potential presidents back in the day than the primary voters have.

I can't be the only one who noticed that Trump's characterizations of Hillary's  prior statements were not only bizarre distortions but not even in the same ballpark. That can't help him with intelligent and fair-minded voters. But of course, for Trump that ship sailed the moment he first opened his mouth to announce his candidacy.

And I still get the shivers when I hear Hillary talk so blithely about the abortion holocaust as if our consciences were all as seared on that issue as hers seems to be.

Simon and Garfunkle put it well lo those many years ago when they wrote about a far better choice than we have this year, "... When you've got to choose/Any way you look at it, you lose." The choice between the two jokers we heard again tonight is certainly a no-win scenario.

It's fortunate that Evan McMullin- a decent human being who knows what he's talking about- is there to offer an alternative to any of us who will take it.