Presidential debates in the United States have a relatively short history. The first was not held until 1960, when Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John Kennedy faced each other on the new medium of television.

…After the Kennedy-Nixon debates, there were no more for another 16 years when Republican President Gerald Ford and Democrat Jimmy Carter reestablished the practice.

That sounds like it has to be a series of typos, doesn’t it? Yet I can’t think of anything I’ve ever seen or heard that contradicts it. “Wait, though! What about that time when Hubert Humphrey said… actually, I can’t even picture Hubert Humphrey. He may never have been on television.”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, “What has happened to the level of discourse in these political campaigns? What happened to the issues? We’re turning our backs on the proud tradition of debates! Whatever happened to debates?” and then it turns out the answer is, “What happened is that there have only been, like, three of them ever. Sit down.”