I find the decision of the organizers of this Saturday's debate at St. Anselm College to be disgusting. My goodness. In a democracy? In the First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary? What is politics coming to?
The news media already "create" candidates and their "who's-on-first" standing by running their own polls, managing minutes of coverage for each, selecting the questions they'll throw at them on the campaign trail, doing long stories about how much money candidates have received (while ignoring where they got all that money), and even setting up focus groups with hand-held dials to have a second-by-second, word-by-word bell-curve on-screen display of instant reaction to answers in debates.
NOW the media wants to limit the candidates who have been invited to virtually all the Democratic and Republican debates in the past many months based on the results of some party meetings in Iowa this coming Thursday?!
The news media should play no role in limiting official candidates who have already participated in previous debates. Nor should an educational organization. That's not what the New Hampshire First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary is about.
Further, I could strongly suggest that the Iowa Caucus is NOT a real election -- it is a statewide collection of political party meetings where members publicly support their candidates of choice. That's not what we do in November, when Americans go into the privacy of their voting booths to exercise their right to vote in our democracy. New Hampshire's Primary is a real election. Party members in Iowa should not be determining who may or may not debate the issues in New Hampshire.
I would give any of the candidates who are "chosen" to participate in Saturday's upcoming St. Anselm College debate a bow of respect if they stand up, as Ronald Reagan did, and insist that the others join them on the stage. That would be leadership of the first order. In fact, they should be challenged to do that: to stand up and fight for the right of legitimate candidates to speak and be heard.
In the interest of full Blogging disclosure, I've often mentioned in my posts that I'm supporting Hillary Clinton. She'll make a great President. And I fully expect she will be among those insisting that all the nationally-recognized candidates participate in the Democratic debate. I'd be disappointed if she doesn't.
This election isn't a TV show. It's about democracy. It's about our future. It's an important reality show for all of us, and the news media shouldn't be selecting the cast of stars in it.
ADVERTISEMENTS 