Debate disagreements hit Dems

[Panich52]

Campaign for America's Future

O'Malley campaign raises legal questions over debate schedule.

W. Post: "The memo released Tuesday takes issue with an 'exclusivity' requirement, under which any Democratic candidate who participates in a non-sanctioned debate could be barred from the DNC-sponsored debates, the first of which is in October ... Joe Sandler, a former DNC general counsel whose services have been retained by O'Malley's campaign, argues ... that the DNC has no legal authority to enforce it."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/11/omalley-lawyer-alleges-legal-problems-with-dnc-debate-plan/

[99th_Monkey]

1. Good for O'Malley. nt

[Puglover]

2. Good on him!

K n R!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Having the DNC run the debats is like having the Mafia run the lottery.

[jeff47]

4. "Congratulations Vinnie....again." (nt)

[lame54]

8. Or Fox running the repug debate

[Fred Sanders]

10. Yeah, much better to hand it all over to the corporate, propaganda media, like the GOP has. Am I right?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. Not right.

I'm talking about handing the debates over to the candidates. They get together and decide the when, where, how and how many.

[Fred Sanders]

20. Interesting idea. Who chooses who gets to sit at the negotiating table, and with which media?

Someone is going to have to write some rules just to get started with that and someone to enforce them...if only in a perfect world there was a political party power structure, maybe even one where all the identified, viable candidates had agreed to rules in advance that they would then abide by and then agreed to structure would handle it all?

Anyone late to the Party - or very, very late, indeed - need not apply for whining about the long known rules of the festivities.

It's my Party and I will Rule if I want to.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. We're not talking rocket science.

The candidates who want to debate, get together and decide where, when, how, and how much each pays. Then they agree on the format. If they are as intelligent and adult as advertised it shouldn't present any significant problems.

[RobertEarl]

5. So, this should be a GD post?

One such post was locked by the GD hosts, and we have been discussing this matter. Host feels that since it has 'Primary' in its name, it must be only allowed here and not in GD. My contention is that this is not a primary matter, but rather an issue that is current and about the party as a whole and not about voting or any one candidate.
See this in the locked thread and ask the host yourself:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7065202

[erronis]

9. Careful! Don't dis the hosts! This thread might get locked too!

[RobertEarl]

12. No host dissing

But... if you can't stand the heat, one should stay out of the kitchen.

Bernie allowed the people attacking him to actually take the mic!!

[erronis]

21. And that was a perfect example of how to handle the situation. Non-confrontational.

Totally unlike how our other/prior presidential contenders would like to handle conflict.

Many kudos to Sen. Sanders on understanding that the situation was a no-win for everyone.

[RobertEarl]

25. I disagree

It was a big win for Bernie. The free publicity he received from the altercation was positive, and he showed he is a common man who, unlike some other candidate, does not need ropes to keep others away.

But I would bet we actually do agree? ::grin::

[erronis]

28. Agree to agree. The other thing is that he didn't let temper stop his being rational.

Part of the benefit of being a bit more mature. (It's taken me more than 60 years to get there.)

[PoliticAverse]

27. I would think this is a GD Primaries topic. n/t

[Armstead]

6. Good for O'M. Needs to be done.

[appalachiablue]

7. K & R. Excellent & good for O'Malley. More debates & earlier debates.

This limited and late 6 debate deal is really messed up.

[JackInGreen]

11. Good man.

We need more. AND NOW

[Maineman]

13. So, the DNC has a problem with the First Amendment??

[Peacetrain]

14. I agree we absolutely need more than six debates..

And I am hoping all the candidates will get together on that and they can expand them to at least 8

I know the general public is not going to tune in to all the debates.. they like the what ifs of a Trump like thing.. but for those of us on the ground who work the elections.. and get out with our neighbors etc.. the more information the better!!

[daleanime]

15. K&R.....

[4dsc]

16. Boycott the DNC debates

How about them apples.

[brooklynite]

17. WHO should boycott them?

[RobertEarl]

26. Not I

In fact, the turnout for the first debate will be so huge it will show why the DNC is hiding. The DNC are the only ones I see actually boycotting, and they are boycotting the people's desires for more democracy.

[Deadshot]

18. Yes. We need more displays of political American Idol.

[staggerleem]

22. But ... y'see ...

... none of this was SUPPOSED to happen! We weren't supposed to need ANY Democratic Debates, because nobody was supposed to oppose Hillary for the nomination in the first place.

In fact, it seems that much of the media, and the party infrastructure, are doing their level best to proceed AS IF nobody was running in opposition to Hillary for the Democratic nomination. Like, maybe if we ignore them long enough, they'll all just go away.

This is what happens when someone who had been one candidate's surrogate in a prior election becomes the National Party chair. If the Party chair can't bring herself to at least pretend to be impartial with respect to ALL the candidates, I think we need to put a different butt in that chair.

[Fawke Em]

24. Go Martin!

Maybe he, Sanders, Chaffee and Webb can file a suit against this.

It's clearly not democratic.

[elleng]

29. Darn right!

Hope he/they don't HAVE to file suit. I guess we shall see, Fawke.

[tularetom]

30. I'm in agreement with O'Malley on this 100% but I still have to say this

Six debates is way more than enough to demonstrate to all Democrats that Hillary Clinton would be a terrible candidate and her nomination would ensure the election of a republican in November 2016.