'For the second time this year, we, as Democrats, have had to sit idly by and listen

[elleng]

to the racist, sexist, and hate-spewing remarks that the Republicans have to offer. And what is our response? Silence. Crickets. An empty stage. ‪#‎WeNeedDebate‬. Join if you agree: http://omly.us/1LhLVXq '

https://www.facebook.com/MartinOMalley

[NCTraveler]

1. This is who should have a serious beef with the debates not being held earlier.

Love what he did at the DNC.

[elleng]

2. Yes, and he does have a serious beef with dnc.

[NCTraveler]

5. He should and I love how he is taking it to them.

This coming from a DNC gal. I have repeatedly said I can live with the number of debates but we should have already had one or two. When I say I'm fine with the number, I would also be fine with ten or so. I do think with six they are getting the biggest bang for their buck. They just should have started spending those bucks last month.

[randys1]

3. I agree, but not giving them my email. Does anyone do these things and put in phony

email addresses?

[TheKentuckian]

27. Just make a yahoo or a Hotmail specifically to route stuff to ignore, will take but minutes and then

you'll have it for similar things and like a super junk box going forward.

[Texas Blues]

4. Silence is actually the most damning reply

My opinion, but when opponents spew all their vile, then by not subverting ourselves to their level, we win.

This is why we should not have debates on our side, but engineer them more for discussions. When Bernie Sanders wins the primary, he will have that much more credibility to take on the vile republican candidate.

[jeff47]

18. Silence is agreement.

Also, one does not need to directly reply to their debate. Go ahead and let their debate be a shitshow. And then have a debate with competent people discussing policy.

Imagine if the DNC had scheduled a debate about 1-2 weeks after each Republican debate. We give the voters crazy -> sane -> crazy -> sane over and over.

Ya think that might be more effective at showing the difference between the parties than silence?

[Texas Blues]

20. Actually, our debates would be more intellectual discussions

We wouldn't be as crass as the republicans. We would be spirited but cooperative, and the moderators wouldn't have to goad us into telling the voters our true positions.

That said, we shouldn't actually have to debate, as it gives more ammunition to the GOP crazies to take our words out of context, which is what I fear most of all out of a debate. Of course we make sense, but I'd much rather keep our ideas to the vest, so to speak, and not get called out by the biased right-wing media and the nutjobs on the right.

[RKP5637]

31. Hopefully that will occur. To me, Bernie speaks for millions and millions of Americans. All of us

that are left out of the DNC and GOP machines dedicated to the 1%'ers.

[FSogol]

6. K & R. n/t

[SheilaT]

7. Does your TV not have an off button?

I rarely watch the debates because I feel I learn absolutely nothing from them.

I doubt they are actually useful, and in any case the format is totally stupid and no good follow-up questions are ever asked.

I must also point out that since I don't own a TV it's easy for me not to watch. Not sure if these have been available by some sort of streaming on Fox, but I didn't even bother to find out.

[upaloopa]

8. Better to lite one little candle than to curse the darkness

[SheilaT]

11. Not sure if watching the GOP debates

could possibly count as lighting a candle. I can assure you that NOT watching the debates does not count as cursing the darkness. It means I didn't waste however much time they took, time that you'll never get back.

I read a book instead.

[RKP5637]

32. I watched because I can not really believe how crazy most of the republican candidates are.

They claim equality, freedom, rights for everyone, all of their patriotic BS ... and then speak the entire debate about more restrictions and inequality, basically, if they get the presidency.

And I really think a few of them are certifiably off their rocker, to say the least.

Damn, several of them sound ready to start WWIII if elected to the presidency.

None of them speak of bonding the US together, rather, they mostly resort to divisive tactics for the populace, pitting Americans against Americans. Often, they sound like third world candidates. A number of the are scary as hell.

No, I won't be watching all of them, but I like to have a glimpse into the minds of these yahoos and their proposed shenanigans.

[RKP5637]

9. Silence indicates agreement with what the GOP said. Very sad. IMO the DNC is very poorly run.

I also quit all of my donations and membership to the DNC a year or two ago. I feel the DNC does not represent me, so I contribute to individual candidates.

[lostnfound]

17. IMO the DNC is scared that debates will turn D voters even more progressive than they already are

And if the independents and others who hate citizens united find their way in the party too, the establishment pols will lose control of the process and the party.

[RKP5637]

30. Exactly! The DNC is a dinosaur, a relic, and has drifted so far from being what they once were.

Much as the GOP is a dinosaur, a relic, and has drifted so far from being what they once were.

And the ridiculous emails the DNC keeps pumping out. They all go automatically into my delete folder. I glance at them briefly, all of the panic emails, and then they all get deleted. And then I donate to individual candidates.

My greatest wish is that voters see these organizations for what they are and turn at least the DNC progressive. The general population is really getting fed up with establishment BS.

[AtomicKitten]

10. 22.9 million people watched the GOP debate.

That's for all the people here that claim nobody is paying attention now, probably the lamest of the excuses for the delayed debates.

[SheilaT]

12. 22.9 million out of 319 million.

That's well under 10 percent of the population. I wonder how many people are normally watching any broadcast TV or cable during that time frame?

[MoveIt]

13. wonder no more

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/17/media/cnn-republican-debate-ratings/

23 million watched GOP debate, a record for CNN

normal cnn viewership as of august 2015:

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/august-2015-ratings-cnn-remains-in-no-2-spot-among-cable-news-nets/270910

Primetime (Mon-Sun): 585,000 Total Viewers for ALL of their 7 hours of east-west primetime shows.

So for a given show, that's divided by 7 to get the average viewers per show, and another 7 for the week.
585k/7=~85k/7 =~ 11938 viewers per show.

So the debates got them a roughly 20x increase in their viewership.

[SheilaT]

14. What I want to know is how many people

total were watching any broadcast TV, cable, or by satellite dish, during that time slot. I did a google search and couldn't quite find out, just that the average American watches somewhere between 4 and 5 hours of TV per day. If I've done the math right, and with a little rounding, about 60 million people would be watching TV each hour IF television viewing were distributed equally during the 24 hours of the day. I hesitate to guess how much of the viewing is actually occurring during prime time, but might it be fair to say 100 million viewers each hour of that? Perhaps a third of everyone watching TV during prime time?

Which does of course mean that 23 million, a little over 20% of all viewers, watching the debate, which is impressive considering how many choices almost everyone with a TV has.

[MoveIt]

16. I was surprised how low their normal ratings are, the death of tv and cable cutters etc.

And my math is certainly wrong but maybe not off by a magnitude or more

[TheKentuckian]

29. That is a huge number in today's environment particularly when we account for the huge

levels of political disengagement. That is a good chunk of the actual electorate.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/22/50-most-watched-broadcast-shows-2014-15


1. NFL Sunday Night Football (NBC) 21.03 million
2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 19.05 million
3. NCIS (CBS) 18.25 million
4. NCIS: New Orleans (CBS) 17.42 million
5. Empire (FOX) 17.33 million
6. NFL Thursday Night Football (CBS) 16.82 milion
7. NFL Sunday Pre-Kick (NBC) 15.81 million
8. Dancing with the Stars (ABC) 14.76 million
9. Madam Secretary (CBS) 14.32 million
10. Criminal Minds (CBS) 14.11 million
11. The Voice (NBC) 13.80 million
12. Blue Bloods (CBS) 13.77 million
13. The Blacklist (NBC) 13.76 million
14. Scorpion (CBS) 13.62 million
15. The Voice, Tuesdays (NBC) 13.45 million
16. OT (FOX) 12.756 million
17. Scandal (ABC) 12.65 million
18. 60 Minutes (CBS) 12.58 million
19. Hawaii 5-0 (CBS)  12.28 million
20. Dancing with the Stars results (ABC) 12.27 million

That is a significant multiple of the normal audience for news and politics for one outlet and may well be a bigger audience than all the major channels in the time slot.

You got 60 minutes at nearly half that and nothing else scratching up something to really compare. I'm also thinking this is total viewership not any particular airing.

You think it doesn't matter until you have Super Bowl comparable numbers or something?

How loudly do you intend to whistle past the graveyard? The number is fucking madcap crazy for what we are talking about, it isn't entertainment but rather torture that is painfully grating, mind bogglingly boring, dumber than Honey Boo Boo, and more redneck than Duck Dynasty.

This is a third of the Obama/Romney debate and nearly half of Kerry/Bush.

This one debate will possibly equal 20-25% of the total number of primary votes between both major parties.

[SheilaT]

33. Thank you very much for those numbers.

It helps put everything in perspective. It also shows both how fragmented the audience is, as well as how much the original three networks dominate the airwaves.

In part because I've been without a TV for more than seven years now, I tend to be somewhat disconnected from what happens on TV. Not totally. I have Netflix, and although I'm often watching shows some time after they're aired, that's not always the case.

[JoePhilly]

15. A Democratic Party debate would not be a "response" to those nut jobs.

And I'm not sure why anyone thinks it would be.

The GOP debates are not covering anything of significance.

Their debates are basically 16 or so intellectually naked nut jobs playing a RW version of the reality show Survivor.

[jeff47]

19. It's not a response, but a contrast.

The wild difference in content would be very beneficial to our party.

[restorefreedom]

21. the dnc does not care

that is exactly what they are afraid of. The people will hear a progressive message coming from Bernie or O'Mally and start to support them in favor of the anointed one. She's trying to protect Hillary at all costs. Democracy, free-speech, the party itself, the entire country, and the will of the people be damned. She does not care.

people of had at least three months now to lap up the sweet entertainment milk that the Republicans have been putting out. And as you point out, nothing from the dems.

sad how blind devotion can cause people to act so crazy

[jeff47]

22. Wait, you mean DWS who repeatedly stabbed liberal Democrats in the back

might do something underhanded to help the establishment Democrat in the race?!!?!

Make sure you don't say anything to me about the Easter Bunny. I'm not sure I can handle two shocks that enormous!

[restorefreedom]

24. sorry. i guess we can wait

to discuss santa claus....

[morningfog]

25. The GOP goons are discussing current events on national tv. The Dems? Nothing.

A debate with the Dems discussing current and relevant events on a national stage would be a great counter and distinction.

[JoePhilly]

34. The election is more than a year away.

No one will remember anything about these debates, except tgat there were 16 nutjobs.

[morningfog]

35. Why concede the frame to them for any time?

It's not just about the election. It's te framing of the issues. We are losing valuable opportunities. Current event change.

[reformist2]

23. Our frontrunner isn't too big on debates, she's big on cakewalks and coronations.

[underthematrix]

26. I didn't watch the debate but I generally turn off CNN and MSNBC with any mention

of TRUMP. Yes i turn the channel just at the mention of TRUMP's name. Why people watched a bunch of people spew hate, homophobia, sexism, racism, and stupidity is beyond me.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

37. +1,000 n/t

[AgingAmerican]

28. DWS

Is to the Democratic party, what the anti-Christ is to Christianity IMHO.

[bigtree]

36. Silence. Crickets. An empty stage.

...huge blunder.

[Zorra]

38. K&R nt