Does anyone else thi…

Does anyone else think this will be a colossal waste of time? The Washington Times’ “Inside the Beltway” article for today includes this:

For the first time, the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties will engage in a formal debate: Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie will go head-to-head tomorrow night with Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

Never mind that McAuliffe lives in a dream land where the election of a Republican governor is supposedly a victory for Democrats, but aren’t both of these guys, by definition, just professional cheerleaders? They aren’t running for office, and I don’t think they have much of an affect, if any, on policy, so what’s the point here?

I’m all for a good healthy debate over issues whenever, by whomever. But this being the (extended) presidential election season, obviously this is intended to be viewed in this context, and these two fellows are apparently going to represent their respective candidates. Since neither convention has happened yet, you can’t really have a Bush/Kerry debate just yet. But a McAuliffe/Gillespie debate has as much weight as a Carville/Matalin one (though I might enjoy the entertainment value of the latter more than the former). And really, how many people know right now who these guys are? Political junkies aside, extremely few. I have a feeling it’ll be a night of hyperbole. I’m on Ed’s side in the debate, to be sure, but neither he nor Terry have to back up anything they say with action, so it seems to me, as a presidential debate by proxy, that it’ll be useless other than to, perhaps, get folks upset at both parties. We’ll see.

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