Surrealist theater.

The Washington Post's Tom Shales takes apart the debate--with a critic's eye, not a pundit's spin--and we all benefit from his insight.

Shales points out the monotony, the irrelevancy, and the generally low caliber of the answers.

(The Malcontent thought he might have suffered a stroke and lost his ability to understand language while watching the debate--but no, the candidates are just surrealist masters of the nonresponsive answer. Particularly true of the President: Asked about minimum wage? Talk about education!)

Shales notes Bush's flip, grinning, cheap approach to last night's debate:

When Schieffer asked a question about jobs, Bush took his cheapest shot of the evening, ignoring the question to say to Kerry, "There's a mainstream in American politics, and you sit right on the far left bank," then adding that Kerry was so liberal he made Kennedy look like the conservative senator from Massachusetts.

It was crummy behavior for a president of the United States, the kind of thing better left to lap-dog pit bulls such as vice presidents.

Well said, Tom.

The smirking, giggling, bizarre affect of the President made The Malcontent wonder if he was over-medicated--but then his snide, vacuous statements made him appear to be his usual self.

Kerry, trying hard to appear to have a pulse, was adequate, if completely uninspiring. The President, on the other hand, seemed unhinged, which makes us here at The Malcontent Home Office a little more uneasy than usual.