About the debates & "a fraud on the American voter"

[bos1]

I remember when the League of Women voters, the traditional organizers of the US presidential debates, withdrew in 1988, back at the end of the Reagan reign when we were about to say hello a former CIA director, George H.W. Bush, as president. The League's statement read in part
"The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates ... because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter . It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."

Obama was in his 20's at this time. I wonder to what extent he knows that he is working within a process that, way back then, had already become intolerably corrupt to even a staid middle-of-the-road institution like the LWV? And to what extent "hope" and "change" can come out a process that was certifiably rotten 20 years ago, and has only become worse since?

[MsTryska]

1. does it matter? it's a necessary evil. nt

nt

[MrModerate]

2. I don't agree. Dumbed-down and degraded . . .

are not synonymous with fraudulent. While I'm not aware of the LWV's specific complaints -- although I do remember being surprised they weren't organizing them anymore -- I suspect it was the departure from the formal rules of debate more-or-less followed up to that point.

Let's face it: the methods by which public information is transmitted have changed. Not, perhaps, for the better, but they have changed. Formal debate is something most Amricans have never seen and wouldn't know how to process.

The debate format is not "corrupt" so much as it is "cruddy" -- and yes, hope and change can triumph over cruddy.

[bos1]

3. The League knows. They used the word "fraud" advisedly

and it is foolish to ignore this.

[No Elephants]

4. I agree with the League. And good for them. The debates are a sham.