June 26, 2008

Commission on Presidential Debates releases sham debate proposal

The Commission on Presidential Debates has released their plans for three debates, one in the townhall format, and the other two in a sit-down format. The latter format would negate Barack Obama's height advantage over John McCain. Unfortunately, that format would also result in yet another sham debate:

The proposed debates also would feature a more open format to encourage the candidates to talk more to each other directly. The debates would be broken into eight 10-minute-long segments, each devoted to one issue. The moderator would pose an opening question, then prompt the candidates to discuss it themselves.

Those would be a sham because there are topics on which McCain and BHO agree, such as immigration. If the moderator asks about the latter topic, they'd spend ten minutes just agreeing with each other. And, since they agree on the topic, the moderator might not ask about it at all.

What we need are policy debates, in which subject matter experts from across the spectrum would be allowed to ask the candidates a series of questions designed to point out the flaws in their plans. An expert who's willing to ask "prosecutorial-style" questions on immigration of either candidate could have a devastating impact on their chances, so don't expect the candidates, the Parties, the MSM, or the CPD to be interested.

Links to coverage of past "debate" are in this post, with more here, here, and here.

Posted to Politics at June 26, 2008 12:02 PM