# RNC and Commission on Presidential Debates **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 14, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831 "2022-04-14T17:29:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/21 "2022-04-16T18:46:13Z")
> [@anny\_m](#): > > I have a vague recollection that in the 2008 Vice President debate, Palin outright said she didn’t want to answer the question and used her time to talk about something else. I thought at the time and still think that’s wrong and should not be allowed. This kind of thing is pretty routine in press conferences. Politicians do it all the time, including in debates, they just aren’t as forthright about it as Palin was in that instance. If the candidates are going to be the same as the last Presidential election, I see no reason for any debates. Pretty much everyone has already made up their mind about the two, so let’s just skip them. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/22 "2022-04-16T20:14:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Ask the same question to both guys, for a start. Make them actually answer the question. If they keep dodging it, moderator keeps saying, “You didn’t answer the question. The question was [x]. Please answer the question” until they either answer it, or the debate time is all up and they look like an utter fool. Or better, until the debate time is half up, after which point only their opponent is allowed to say anything. Presuming, of course, that the opponent answers the question. – or we could try @anny_m’s technique. Though today, I don’t know how we’re going to get a panel of five judges who are approved by both parties. And I would like to see them made to answer the question, not allowed to evade it at the cost of missing only one turn. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/23 "2022-04-16T20:18:09Z")
It’s pretty screwed up from the get-go. The people hosting/moderating are rather conflicted in the first place. The coin of the realm for journalists is access – who takes their calls, answers their emails, and grants them interviews. It’s not in a journalist’s (or their employer’s) interest to piss these people off, even when it’s the right thing to do. I’d rather have PoliSci professors, or something similar, conduct the debates. They probably have much less to lose for doing right by the country (instead of the candidate or the network). Santos-Vinick was a good start for a model: > **[The Debate (The West Wing)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Debate_(The_West_Wing))** > > "The Debate" is the seventh episode of the seventh season of American serial political drama The West Wing. The episode aired on November 6, 2005 on NBC. The episode was a live stage performance, recorded twice for the Eastern and Western Coasts of the United States. During the episode, Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda spar as Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick, respectively, in their roles as candidates for president of the United States. > The episode begins by focusing on both presidential candidates in th... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/24 "2022-04-16T20:43:02Z")
Both of those guys were honest and polite, unlike real candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/25 "2022-04-17T16:44:15Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > They probably have much less to lose for doing right by the country (instead of the candidate or the network). As long as they’re ready for the online deluge of criticism from any perceived mistakes or favoritism. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/26 "2022-04-18T11:23:37Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Make them actually answer the question. If they keep dodging it, moderator keeps saying, “You didn’t answer the question. The question was [x]. Please answer the question” until they either answer it, or the debate time is all up and they look like an utter fool. It isn’t necessarily evasive to question the assumptions the question is based on (I found it a useful exam technique, back in the day). Even if it isn’t obviously a “When did you stop beating your wife” kind of question, it can help widen the terms of the debate and shift it on to your ground. Of course you have to be clear about what you’re doing and why, rather than just trying to wrench it back to a prepared but irrelevant line: but sticking to the “question as put” isn’t necessarily informative to the audience. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/27 "2022-04-18T12:46:19Z")
I’d accept it as answering the question if the debater explicitly took the question apart, explained what was wrong with it, and then answered the sense of the issue. But that isn’t generally what people running for office are doing. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/28 "2022-04-18T12:51:34Z")
Yeah. One of the oldest rules in politics is: don’t answer the question you _were asked._ Instead, answer the question that _you wish you had been asked._ Tolerable – maybe – in daily life, but during the debates ? I’d like to see something more substantial than stump speeches (a/k/a finely honed and poll-tested public relations press releases). ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/29 "2022-04-18T16:45:30Z")
I would think in this day and age of AI anything a debate performer says can be fact-checked in nearly real-time. I would love it if that technology could be deployed for these debates, along with a buzzer for when someone tells a lie or mistruth. “The economy grew at record levels during my term as President”, “BZZZT! I am sorry, but that statement was flagged as not truthful. Please try again.” …in a polite Alexa-type voice. I agree 80% of voters have made-up their minds by the time of the first Presidential debate, and likely little changes for any additional sessions. The whole “undecided voters” thing is just a smoke screen for the networks to sell more advertising. Especially for the last election - who was undecided by that point? - I mean, you had Trump’s record for the past 4 years, and Biden’s long record in congress - these infotainment sessions cannot provide anything useful for anyone, but are a potential treasure trove of gaffs, gotchas, and mudslinging. If I were a candidate, I would not want to participate, either. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/30 "2022-04-18T18:09:46Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I mean, you had Trump’s record for the past 4 years, and Biden’s long record in congress - these infotainment sessions cannot provide anything useful for anyone, but are a potential treasure trove of **gaffs** , gotchas, and mudslinging. If I were a candidate, I would not want to participate, either. [bolding mine] Not making fun of a typo, but pointing out the wry smile that I got from the word you wound up with: > **[Definition of GAFF](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaff)** > > a handled hook for holding or lifting heavy fish; a spear or spearhead for taking fish or turtles; a metal spur for a gamecock… See the full definition > [@](#): > > Definition of _gaff_ (Entry 2 of 5) > > [transitive verb](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transitive) > > 1 **:** to strike or secure with a spear or hook > – gaff a salmon So … I’d definitely tune in for that 😉 the other word has an ‘e’ on the end of it ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/31 "2022-04-18T18:12:16Z")
LOL. Yeah, I would be down for that, too!! 😀 Brings new meaning to “Time to give 'em the hook!” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/32 "2022-04-18T18:43:25Z")
He did okay… vs trump. So, it all depends on who the GOP nominates. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/33 "2022-04-18T19:01:50Z")
I don’t really have anything to add to the topic other than re-proposing that we move to a debate system format more like TED talks but where the candidates will each do two sessions - one to present their vision and the other to respond to their opponents vision. Snake turn order. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/34 "2022-04-18T19:52:51Z")
On the other hand, given the media bubbles in which some people live, the debates forces those who watch them to actually hear the opposition unfiltered. If all you know of Biden is what you hear through Fox you might assume that he can barely string two words together, hates the police, and wants to outlaw beef. For those tuning into cheer on Trump, seeing him being alert and coherent, and offering sensible policy might open a few eyes, (probably not many but maybe a few). ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/35 "2022-04-18T20:11:37Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > For those tuning into cheer on Trump, seeing him being alert and coherent, and offering sensible policy might open a few eyes, (probably not many but maybe a few). I assume you mean Trump supporters seeing _Biden_ as “alert and coherent” with sensible policy recommendations. But if they valued alertness, coherence and sensible policy, they wouldn’t be Trump supporters in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/36 "2022-04-19T21:17:56Z")
Unfortunately, long experience has told the politicians that telling the truth loses you elections. I don’t see how it’s in their best interests to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831/37 "2022-04-23T20:28:34Z")
When that happened in 2020, Fox News commentators kept talking about how Biden must be taking cognitive enhancement drugs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-and-commission-on-presidential-debates/962831.md?page=1)