Recall how the extremists in the audience clapped for the death penalty, and shouted out bile during some of the primary debates featuring the luminaries of the Republican Party in 2012. James and I watched every single one of them, and when not aghast at the outbursts were laughing at the comedic value such performances were providing for the nation.
There was no way to take the GOP seriously.
Virtually every Republican leader agrees today that those 20 GOP debates were one reason Mitt Romney was so crippled and flawed as a candidate in the fall election. Those debates forced Romney to become so outwardly conservative that he was never able to engage the rest of the nation when it mattered in the general election.
Every ten days it seemed there was a new leader among the jokesters that played with the questions during the debates. There was a time when even Herman Cain was somehow thinking he had a winning hand.
It was clear even then that this type of playing to the raw base of the party was a very bad idea. It just could never happen again.
And it will not.
This past week the Republican National Committee acted in dramatic fashion to cut the number of GOP primary debates to perhaps only 10, or fewer.
My suggestion would be to also limit the number that are staged in front of an audience, and if they really need to allow people in for the theatrics make sure they have a working brain stem.
I keep hearing from my GOP friends that their party is filled with ideas but the nation never gets a chance to hear about them. My response is the problem has much to do with the flawed messengers sent out to make their case. 2012 was solid proof of that fact.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
The primary debates will only be carried on Faux News, and the only questions allowed will be, “is the world 6,000, 6,001 or 6,002 years old, and which bible verse do you base that on; how terrible, unconstitutional and tyrannical are the Obama executive orders on any given subject, and how fast will you issue one to drum gay soldiers out of the service; and how is global warming (Repugnants won’t use climate change because then they can’t poke fun every time we get 3+ inches of snow) a good thing, for example in keeping the Canadian oil sands tarry crap flowing through the XL pipeline over our bread basket and aquifer.” Because you know China and India who will get the oil will help pay for the damage done when the pipeline ruptures. Extra points for naming Jesus as your favorite author.