Ugliest GOP Debates

The 2012 presidential election is 10 months away. Thanks to the large crop of contenders for the Republican nomination, though, we've already had 15 nights of live, televised debate excitement. In fact, in some ways, debates have a lot in common with reality T.V.: A group of ambitious, impeccably groomed type-A personalities battle it out for the prize—and when one goes off script, things can get ugly. Over the years, so many memorable moments have come out of the debates that it's hard to pick just a few, but we've narrowed it down to the most cringe-inducingly awkward. Here are five of the ugliest moments in debate history:

Dick Cheney

The Internet can be a dangerous place for politicians, as Dick Cheney learned in the vice presidential debate in October 2004. Cheney came under attack from opponent John Edwards for his association with Halliburton, an oil company that won contracts in Iraq. Cheney urged viewers to visit FactCheck.com, a respected fact checking website, to learn the truth. He meant to say FactCheck.org—and that tiny mistake had big consequences. The site he refered viewers to redirected to a page that read "Why we must not re-elect President Bush: A personal message from George Soros."

Ronald Reagan

In 1984, Republican president Ronald Reagan was seeking a second term. On October 7 he faced off against Democratic opponent Walter Mondale in a televised debate. Asked why he didn't attend church services regularly, Reagan responded, "I have gone to church regularly all my life, and I started to here in Washington." The problem, of course, was that the debate was held in Louisville, Kentucky. Seventy-three years old at the time, Reagan was the oldest president to have ever served. In retrospect, some believe that Reagan's confusion may have been related to his Alzheimer's disease, which wasn't diagnosed until 10 years later.

Gerald Ford

The list wouldn't be complete without a mention of the October 6, 1976, debate between incumbent Gerald Ford and Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter. Jaws dropped across the nation when Ford talked about Europe. "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration." He added, "I don't believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union." This was big news to viewers—because Soviet rule of Poland didn't end until 1989. Ford's comment was so far removed from the Cold War reality, that it made the public wonder whether Ford was out of touch. It remains one of the biggest blunders in debate history.