I’m a little surprised, frankly, that the Bush campaign’s apparent desire to avoid John Kerry in a debate isn’t a bigger story. Maybe reporters suspect this part of an elaborate ruse, which it very well may be, but I expected the “debate over the debate” to be a bigger story.
As it stands now, the Bush campaign has to agree by Monday to show up for the first debate in Miami, scheduled for Sept. 30, just 13 days from now. For reasons that have not been articulated in public, Bush aides refuse to agree. Rob Garver made a very compelling case yesterday in The American Prospect that these discussions over who will participate in which debates should cease immediately.
Here’s a modest proposal for the Commission on Presidential Debates: Stop negotiating right now.
Inform both campaigns that the commission will be sponsoring three debates, the times, dates, and formats of which have already been announced. There will be a seat and a nameplate for each candidate; if only one of them shows up, he gets to answer the moderator’s questions all by himself for 90 minutes, while the cameras show an empty chair where his opponent ought to be.
Now this is the kind of idea I can get behind.
The independent, non-partisan debate commission has allowed itself to be pushed around. The whole reason the commission was created in the first place was to make the process of negotiations easier and less contentious. Commission members select venues and make the necessary production arrangements; the candidates show up. Less wrangling, less whining, less negotiations — at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.
This year, the Bush campaign has offered demands and ultimatums every step of the way, putting the commission on the defensive and forcing members to try and accommodate constant whining. If the commission would just stand up for itself and end negotiations, all of the debates would go off without a hitch — with both candidates participating.
Garver explains the alternative.
Kerry has already agreed to the three-debate schedule, and if the commission places its imprimatur on the event he will show up. This puts the Republicans in a dilemma: either allow Kerry 90 minutes of uninterrupted access to voters nationwide, or put President Bush on stage with him.
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The major television networks may not always acquit themselves perfectly when they cover presidential elections, but one thing they have an unerring nose for is high political theater. A commission-sponsored debate between a major-party candidate and his opponent’s empty chair would be too much to resist.
Hell, the ratings would probably he higher for that than an actual debate with both candidates.
Garver’s advice should be heeded. Bush is acting like a spoiled bully and the sooner the commission ends these pointless negotiations, the sooner the necessary preparations can be made for the events themselves.
A quick reminder for the members of the commission: The man seeking another four years in the nation’s highest office is not doing you, or the American people, a favor by agreeing to show up for debates about the future of this country. President Bush is obligated to make his case to the voters and to face difficult questions about the difficult issues facing this country.
So far in this campaign, President Bush has thoroughly failed to meet that obligation — and the members of the commission must know it. Every day he faces only pre-screened crowds whose loyalty oaths are on file somewhere in the Republican National Committee’s headquarters. Given the circumstances, a few hours of honest debate aren’t too much to ask.
Commission officials say they are unwilling to speak publicly about the discussions with the campaigns while negotiations are ongoing. But it’s the negotiations that are the problem, and they ought to stop. The commission has the moral high ground here, and they need to use it.