Senate Floor Debt Ceiling Debate

Was anyone else watching the debt ceiling debate on the Senate floor this afternoon/evening? Like most of the Senate debates that I have watched or listened to, it seemed as if the Democrats and Republicans were talking about two completely different bills. Both sides were talking about the fact that the other needs to compromise and touted the compromises that they themselves had made. The tone wasn't nasty, but it is clear that there is so much animosity between these two sides. It's called a debate, but it is really just a sequence of speeches. Just once I want a senator to respond directly to a claim made by the other side. To acknowledge a good point when it is made. To refute a misstatement or exaggeration. To accept a critique and consequently alter their position or explain themselves more thoroughly. I know the senate floor is mostly political theater, and the real negotiations happen behind the scenes. On the floor, each senator wants to put in her/his two cents for the record. But is that really helping us get closer to compromise? Or is it just entrenching the already disparate views?