A Piece of Advice for Hillary
And here it is: The minute that it becomes clear that Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee, announce that you will not debate him. State openly that he is a racist, hate filled liar, and you will not participate in any event that he is involved with, nor aid him in promoting his hatred. State publicly that you know that the press will do anything to present this as a horse race between two candidates who both have the ability to function as President, but we all know that this is a preposterous lie, and you will not give anyone a chance to whitewash this hateful man as a legitimate candidate to become President of the United States.
That would be a way to immediately perform a service to the American people.
That would be a way to immediately perform a service to the American people.
Comments
Screech, sad to say, you are absolutely right. And the consequences will be exactly what you imagine. I'm sure you have heard the saying, "Don't get in a fight with a pig. It only gets you dirty, and the pig likes it." That's exactly what the consequences are when Democrats agree to treat seriously the endless series of corrupt, stupid jackasses the Republicans try to manipulate into office.
1. The moderator and questioners cannot be journalists. The questioners must be economists, political scientists, teachers, union representatives, heads of charities and community organizations, and so on. Nobody from any political organizations or "think tanks."
Journalists are not there to inform or enlighten, but to raise controversy and drama, so as to generate ratings and profits.
2. Announce that only serious policy questions will be addressed, in order to avoid the ugly spectacle from the GOP "debates," where candidates were openly encouraged and urged to attack each other.
The debates are NOT entertainment, they are there to provide information to voters in order that they make an informed decision on election day. The mainstream media may thrive on drama, but they need to leave it out of national elections.
I would advise Hillary to announce at the beginning of the debate that she will not dignify "gotcha" questions with a response, as this is not a game show or a reality show. I never want to see the like of Bernard Shaw's complete bullshit question to Mike Dukakis about the death penalty and the death of his wife ever repeated again.
3. No "horse race" questions about polls or any of the other kind of crap that the media obsesses about, but no one else cares about. They don't tell anyone anything about the candidate or their positions, and are completely pointless and useless.
I have some more points but they're less than half formed, so I won't waste time and space with them.
One thing I will say though, is that I personally would love to see the debates revert to being handled to being done by the League of Women Voters. I don't remember the debates put on by them being the laughable bullshit we have to put up with now that they're handled by media organizations.
And the debates should be taken out of the hands of the media because Trump is their darling and their creation. As has been said, and with which I agree, Democrats can't win against both the GOP and the media.
These are just my off the top of my head comments--I'm not married to them, and I hope they don't come off as completely stupid.
We are dealing with an issue which I first encountered some decades ago, among people trying to find a way to deal with holocaust deniers, and which has since been discussed by scientists trying to respond to the idiocies from creationists: If we allow their maunderings to stand without criticism, we leave the field to them, at least among the ignorant and impressionable; but when we do engage their lies, they portray that as an admission that their position is reasonable enough to be debated.
Well, the entire political and economic program of the Republican party has degenerated into something similar to holocaust denial or creationism- absurd on its face, but pushed again and again by people with a personal, usually financial, interest in conning the gullible. How to deal with this is now a problem for all of us, and I fear that until a significant part of their aging base dies off, there will be no solution.