How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates

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Everybody should give this a watch or listen to see how the Prez & VP DEBATES are really a farce...

No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates

What we NEED are THIRD Party's to make a real difference.

Peace

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AMY GOODMAN: Open Debates is a nonprofit committed to democratizing the presidential debate process. Last month, Open Debates and nine other pro-democracy groups called on the Commission to make the contract public.


George Farah is the founder and executive director of Open Debates, author of No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates, joining us from Washington, D.C.


So, George, well, what are these rules tonight? What will they abide by, and who is making them?


GEORGE FARAH: Unfortunately, Amy, we don’t know the extent of the rules, because, precisely because, the Obama and McCain campaigns have absolutely refused to release the detailed contract that dictates the terms of tonight’s debate. We only have limited knowledge.


With respect to the new rules that we do know about, because the campaigns are terrified that both Biden and Palin will make a major gaffe during tonight’s performance, they have severely restricted the response times, so each candidate only has ninety seconds to respond to a particular question and then, only two minutes afterwards, to have some sort of discussion. This is in sharp contrast to the amount of time that was given to Obama and McCain during their debate.


And, of course, Amy, you’re not going to see any third party voices in tonight’s debate. The Republican, Democratic parties, who exert near absolute control over these public forums, have determined and made sure that no third party voices are ever seen on the debate stage and can challenge their dominance of our political system.


JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, walk us through how we got to this stage, who originally was sponsoring these debates years back, and how this secretive nonprofit organization gained control of them.


GEORGE FARAH: We used to have a fantastic, genuinely nonpartisan presidential debate sponsor: the League of Women Voters. From 1976 until 1984, the League of Women Voters hosted our most important public forums, and they made sure the debates served the public interest rather than the interest of any political party. And they had the guts to stand up to the two major parties.


In 1980, for example, former Republican Congressman John Anderson ran as an Independent for the president of the United States. President Jimmy Carter adamantly refused to debate him, but the League said, “You know what, Mr. President? Too bad.” And they hosted a presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and John Anderson that was watched by over 40 million people.


Fast-forward four years later, the Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan campaigns actually vetoed sixty-eight of the moderators that the League of Women Voters had proposed for the three debates. What did the League do? They issued a scathing public press release castigating the candidates for abusing the process, and the Reagan and Mondale campaigns were forced to accept aggressive moderators.


Again, four years later, the League of Women Voters were refusing to implement any contract that was negotiated by the George Bush and Dukakis campaigns. They had negotiated the first secret contract, a twelve-page memoranda of understanding, that dictated who would participate and how the format would be structured. The League said, “This is an outrage!”

I gather if this was one side secretly setting up these debates more would be interested but aw well.

Peace

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Yes thanks for posting that. Non-partisan...umm...yeah ok. League of Women Voters....too non-partisan....not enough control over that situation....must kill...hulk smash....

All I see in the debates so far is two candidates talking about themselves, and agreeing, while trying to say why they are better. To call it a debate is a misnomer...it's more like a TV show popularity contest...

LeilaMoonTurtle

secretly?

g under p wrote:

Everybody should give this a watch or listen to see how the Prez & VP DEBATES are really a farce...

No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates

What we NEED are THIRD Party's to make a real difference.

Peace