Today, Opposing Views has launched a beta web site that pits liberals against conservatives, the pious against the heretics, and butch dykes against twinks, all in realish-time political match ups. On the docket this afternoon: Obama’s economic advisor squaring off against McCain’s senior advisor over which candidate is more fiscally capable, and Sierra Club debating global warming (which is somehow still a debate) with the National Center for Policy Analysis, among others. In some ways, this is like a live-action voter’s guide, beginning with statements, rebuttals and rejoinders—only it continues ad nauseam. A few steps into the enviro debate, the global-warming-doesn’t exist crowd declares, “The rate of sea level rise since 1961, less than two-sixteenths of an inch annually, is far lower than the historic average.” None of the parties have gotten too bloody with each other today, but in time, what’s to say it doesn’t turn into this:

What I find most exciting about the site isn’t just in-depth written versions of the same oral arguments on mainstream news shows, nor the fact that people can comment, but that is opens the door for meaningful discussions of third-tier issues that aren’t tied to current events. It may even give high-profile figures (like the drug czar, who won’t debate drug policy in person) a venue where he might actually confront his opponents.