Why is political oratory dead?

[Leo]

I disagree. There are plenty of people who can give good speeches today. They use technology to help them do it that would have been used by people in the past had it been available to them. What I miss is meaningful political debate. When Kerry ran for president I remember watching an old Dick Cavett show where Kerry debated another vet about the Vietnam war. It was a reasonable, intelligent conversation representing two different points of view. Cavett rarely interjected and when he did it was just to keep the conversation on point. Now we have multiple people in boxes on the TV screen like the Brady Bunch, all yelling at each other while the host tries to make sure that he or she gets most of the attention. And what's worse is that we usually see the same faces and they are referring to the same talking points. I would like to see one of the networks do a Sunday debate show, one that gives the participants ample time to prepare beyond just a page of talking points. Have, for instance, the best person the Dems have on the ACA vs the best person the GOP has and let them discuss the issue intelligently and factually. One of the rules would be that if one side makes an assertion, he or she has to be able to back it up.