Crossfire’s out,

which is a good thing, considering how it was a constant shouting match (oh, for the days of the Brinkley show!) but Betsy had put those shouting matches to good use

I will say one thing, however. The Crossfire template has been a fun teaching technique for my history classes. My kids stage Crossfire skits to talk about the presidencies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. In my Civil War class, they do Crossfire/Hardball skits analyzing the Lincoln-Douglas debates. They may have to do them for the 1864 election. The kids really enjoy getting into the partisan swing of things for political history. Of course, there are always a few kids who have never heard of Crossfire, bless their innocent little souls. We just tell them it’s like Jerry Springer with politics and they get the idea.

Picturing Abe in Jerry Springer here!