The Clinton/Trump debate hit new lows of personal remarks last night with moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN immediately bringing up Trump’s vulgar comments about women that he made 11 years ago.

Washington University Presidential Debate 2016That led Trump to describe the sexploits of Bill Clinton, saying that what Trump did was words, while Clinton was involved in actions that resulted in him paying an $850K penalty. Cooper pressed for more details from Trump—was he a groper, did he force himself on women?

This writer was a member of a debating team in college and the No. 1 rule was that no “personal remarks” about debating opponents were allowed. Only subject matter could be discussed. Anyone who broke this rule was immediately slapped down.

It’s no coincidence that the CNN/ORC poll on the debate found that Clinton won by a margin of 57% to 34%. ORC was formerly Opinion Research Corp.

Fox, meanwhile, found that Trump won.

A Variety poll that garnered 113,357 votes as of Monday a.m. had 63% saying Trump won and 36% saying Clinton won.

Bob Shieffer of CBS: “Disgraceful”

Bob Shieffer of CBS captured our view of the “debate” when he called it “just disgraceful” and said it was a blot on what is “supposed to be a campaign for the most powerful office in the land.”

He thought Trump gets “most of the blame” but “doesn’t see much to be proud of on either side.” Twenty-one members of a 30-member CBS focus group on the debate found that Trump had the “greater positive impact on their voting choice.”

Bob Schieffer: Presidential Debate 'Was Just Disgraceful'“I just hope to God I don’t see another campaign like this one,” said Shieffer.

“Trump Comes Out Swinging and Wins Second Debate,” says the head on a posting by William Whelan, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, writing for FoxNewsOpinion.

Major Issues Glossed Over

Since about 30 minutes was given to back-and-forth personal remarks, there was not enough time for major topics such as tax reform and the economy. “Race, the Supreme Court, guns and abortion were all pureed into one serving at the 86-minute mark,” noted Whelan.

Trump continued his position that immigrants to the U.S. must be closely vetted while Clinton defended her plan to expand the Syrian refugee population from 10,000 to 65,000.

The degraded, dysfunctional nature of public discourse, as evidenced by Sunday’s debate, reflects the withdrawal of governments, corporations and institutions from previous press relations practices that were led by PR departments. It’s common for institutions to have no PR people at all.

PR Values, Principles, Practices Needed

Cordial, if careful, relations with media were the norm. Corporations and institutions did not wait for press calls to come in but reached out to reporters in numerous ways.

Both sides seemed to be in “armed camps” currently. Trade associations, including those in PR, have opted to have either no press relations or only those with media deemed “friendly.” An example of current armed conflict is the New York Post’s relationship with Mayor Bill de Blasio. NYP’s complaint is that de Blasio will not answer questions about sensitive topics such as the 264 “special assistants” that supposedly have “vague titles and responsibilities.”

America needs the politeness and the conciliatory approach of PR. PR associations should lead in returning these values and practices to public discourse.