Still No Democratic Debates. What's Going On?

[marmar]

Still No Democratic Debates. What's Going On?

Friday, 18 September 2015 00:00
By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | News Analysis


The second Republican Presidential candidate debate is tonight. The ratings for the first one were through the roof and tonight's is also expected to be a ratings blockbuster. People are interested and tuning in to the campaign and the Republicans are getting all the "eyeballs."

Meanwhile there hasn't been even a hint of a Democratic candidate debate. What's going on? Why are the Democrats letting Republicans have the attention? Do they feel the party has nothing to offer – or something to hide?

"Just spell my name right." It is basic marketing that any publicity is good publicity.

The Last Time, Debate After Debate

As of this date in 2007 there had already been several Democratic debates.

The first debate was April 26, 2007, at South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, South Carolina. Present were Senator Joesph Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Senator Barack Obama, Governor William Richardson and the debate was moderated by Brian Williams. Afterward Democrats debated at these events:

• June 3, 2007 at Saint Anselm College, Goffstown, New Hampshire.
• June 28, 2007 at Howard University, Washington, D.C.
• July 12, 2007 at the NAACP convention, Detroit.
• July 23, 2007 at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.
• August 4, 2007 at the YearlyKos convention in Chicago.
• August 7, 2007 in Chicago, sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
• August 9, 2007 in Los Angeles, an LGBT debate sponsored by the LOGO cable channel.
• August 19, 2007 in Des Moines, the Iowa Democratic Party/ABC debate.
• September 9, 2007 at University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, broadcast by Univision and simultaneously translated to Spanish.

So that is 10 debates up to now in the 2008 "cycle," 11 if you count a September 12 "mashup" debate comprised of individual candidate interviews conducted for Yahoo News and The Huffington Post.

This Time, Silence

This time the Democratic Party has disappeared entirely from the 2016 presidential campaign – at least as far as prime-time, televised, mass-audience, attention-grabbing, awareness-driving, conversation-starting, media-triggering debates are concerned. The party has taken itself out of the game, and more and more people are asking why. ....................(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32862-still-no-democratic-debates-what-s-going-on

[fredamae]

1. Hoping Total Invisibilty Will Win This Time?

hahahahahahahahahaha The Dem Party has "Flatlined"
Face it, the message from the DNC under Debbie Wasserman-Schultz clearly (to me) means the Dem Party has abandoned it's base, folks. If it wasn't obvious over the past 7 years and corresponding elections...it is undeniable now.
And it's loyal followers in Congress etc are nothing more than mere sheep, imo. We need to replace them as well.
At least, imo.

[99Forever]

2. It's Hillary's turn, dammit.

And Debbie is under direct orders nor to fuck that up.

[randome]

3. I don't see the point of trying to 'compete' with the GOP Bozo Show.

Let them get their incompetence out in the open and then we'll have a better contrast.

He who laughs last laughs best, right? It's sort of the same concept isn't it? Whoever gets the last word sticks in people's minds more.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[jeff47]

5. You don't create a contrast by being absent.

There would be a contrast if there were Democratic debates. No Democratic debates, no contrast.

Instead, we're letting the Republicans set the terms of the discussion, thus turning everyone off.

The reaction of "marginally attached voters" to the eventual Democratic debates will be "Ugh, we've had all these stupid debates already. Why do I want to watch another party do the same dumb shit?"

If you wanted to actually create a contrast, you would schedule a debate a week or so after every Republican debate. Give the voters crazy -> sane -> crazy -> sane, over and over again.

[rhett o rick]

6. Oh pleaz. The Democratic Party Elite are playing the game to put H. Clinton in

as the nomination. Having only a few debates threatens our chances in the general, but the Democratic Elite don't care.

Big Money controls the Elite of our party. We need change from this corruption.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. She who has the gold makes the rules.

[TwilightGardener]

7. It's weird. Need to get our message out there.

[sabrina 1]

8. They learned from the last time, that if the people get to hear a progressive

message, if the candidates records are discussed, look what happened?

So this time, DWS isn't going to let that happen. When millions of people hear Bernie Sanders and O'Malley they know that people are going to be surprised to learn that are actually two candidates in the race who better represent their interests.

What's happening is undemocratic and possibly illegal, especially the exclusionary rule.

[kenfrequed]

9. This absurdity must end.

We are giving away free airtime that we could be using to put forth the range of ideas that our party has into the public consciousness.

Doing this to favor a candidate is bad enough. I don't want to believe the DNC is being that foolish about it, but I don't have a better explanation

But the real problem is twofold.

1) We need to articulate our vision to get support for the issues that downticket candidates will be running on. By stalling on these debates for whatever stupid tactical reason we are actually making it harder for our ideas to take up "head-space" later.

2) The GOP is plotting another (yawn!) shut down. The best thing we could do right now is to make that shut down part of the debate and part of the discussion between our candidates. The surest way to assure that their planned shut ends up with egg on their face is to be able to talk about it. A debate helps our current president and will put pressure on the candidates on the GOP side AND it will do damage to any GOP congressman running for the oval.

Why the hell are we stalling with our debates again?

[hifiguy]

10. I wouldn't be surprised if they were cancelled entirely

by HRH's attack poodle DWS.

The reason is simple. If HRH spends two hours on stage with Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders, who answer questions with genuine straight answers that don't have to be parsed with an electron microscope for any hint of content, at the end of said debacle she'd be in fourth place in a three horse race.

And all of TPTB on the DNC know it.

[left-of-center2012]

11. Says she does what she's told

Said she appears when and where the DNC tells her.
Uh, that's not leadership we want in a President

[merkins]

12. CLOCK BLOCKED (nt)

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[HereSince1628]

14. No one has held a position with such determination since Stonewall at the 1st Manassas