Accentuate Candidates, Eliminate Moderator

The Boston Globe article I'll be referring to can be found here:

Accentuate Candidates, Eliminate Moderator, by Kevin Cullen

http://articles.boston.com/2012-10-14/metro/34432897_1_moderator-commission-on-presidential-debates-lincoln-douglas-debates

This article is particularly interesting because it focuses not on either of the candidates, but on the debates' moderators. Specifically, Cullen mentions the recent Vice Presidential debate, in addition to the Massachusetts Senate debate between Warren and Brown.

Upon first reading this article, I thought Cullen's references to the Lincoln-Douglas debates was great. Likewise, I agreed that getting rid of the moderators might be a good idea. After watching the Vice Presidential debate however, I've changed my tune.

Another aspect I disagreed with that Cullen purports is that both candidates are (allegedly) adults. And therefore, both can presumably converse civilly as adults should. I posit that both candidates are not adults, but are tools by their respective parties to get votes. To be fair, I believe that once either candidates steps off stage, the tool analogy no longer applies. They only behave like that because they know America is watching.

That said, it seems that without a moderator to provide a semblance of topics or framework for the debate that both candidates would just huff and puff until one of them has a stress-induced aneurysm. The reason, is that there is a constant of that bickering and no-you-didn't-yes-I-did pseudo-arguments.