Still, as a carefree distraction, in an election year that has often felt like a never-ending episode of "Lost" — full of dark, grim surprises and countdown clocks — the "debate or not debate" debate seems to have served a purpose: killing time until Monday.
And again, you know, debate, debate, debate was happening.
The commentariat seems shocked by George W. Bush's brazenness in the debate debate.
"The major thing is that the debate debate is over," said Paul G. Kirk Jr., the former head of the Democratic Party who is co-chairman of the debate commission.
The debate debate behind him, a resurgently upbeat Mr. Bush vowed on Thursday that he would be nicer than ever and start campaigning more with "real people" in such real places as coffee shops and cafeterias.
Carter called the Reagan-Anderson debate "the Great Republican Debate"; the whole affair became known as "the Great Debate Debate," and it consumed more hours of news coverage than the Iran hostage crisis.
