Las Cruces Community Radio 101.5 FM
  • Home
  • Donate
  • Listen
    • Archives
  • Schedule
    • Programs
  • Underwrite
  • Merch
  • About Us
  • Events
  • Contact Us

Walt Rubel Commentary: Save debates by making them more boring

5/11/2022

 
​As things stand now, there may not be any presidential debates in 2024. And I’m not sure that would be a huge loss.

The Republican National Committee has announced that it will no longer participate in debates managed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has been in charge since 1988. RNC officials say they will find, “newer, better debate platforms,” but anything they propose will have to be agreed to by the Democrats. 
With so much division and distrust between the parties, I won’t be surprised if the election cycle passes without an agreement on debates. Republicans thought Chris Wallace of FOX News was unfair. It’s hard to imagine a moderator who both they and the Democrats would agree to.

It would be a break from tradition, and a blow to the fall TV ratings. But I’m not sure voters would lose much as to their ability to cast an informed ballot. There wasn’t much to be gleaned from watching Wallace repeatedly shouting “No!” at the sitting president in a futile attempt to enforce the debate rules, but it did make for some terrific television.

The problem with televised debates is they try to serve two masters, being both informative and entertaining. But once the TV lights come on, entertainment always wins. Which is why TV cameras are still banned at the Supreme Court. I disagree with that, but I understand their point.

Historians generally agree that most people who listened to the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debates on radio thought Nixon made the stronger points. But those watching on TV saw a young, telegenic John Kennedy against a nervous, sweaty Richard Nixon and came to a different opinion.

Debates are scored based on effective zingers and one-liners, not the ability to explain thorough solutions to complex problems. Nobody remembers what Ronald Reagan said about Russia, Central America or the economy during the 1984 debate. But we all remember the one-liner about not holding Water Mondale’s “youth and inexperience against him.” Mondale laughed along with the rest of us, and with one well-told joke Reagan put to rest all concerns about his approaching senility.

If I were in charge of debates, they would be a lot more boring. And the moderator would be completely irrelevant. Here’s how it would work:

Each candidate gets to pick four topics. The only job of the moderator is to announce the topic. Candidate A speaks first for four minutes, followed by Candidate B for four minutes. Candidate A then gets one minute to close, followed by Candidate B. Then we move to a topic chosen by Candide B, and reverse the process. Candidates always get the final word on the topic chosen by their opponent.

When they aren’t speaking, the candidate’s microphone is turned off, and the camera does not show their reactions. Debates will be held in a TV studio without a live audience.

It would be fair and informative, but I’m not sure if anybody would watch.

Participation in debates is always a tactical decision for political campaigns. Candidates who have a large lead in the polls, and incumbents who have strong name recognition have little incentive to participate in anything that could potentially shake up the race or increase the profile of their opponent.

Now that the RNC has broken the model that had pressured campaigns to participate in past debates, it will be much easier for whichever candidate who believes they have the lead in 2024 to skip the debates. It’s a move the RNC may live to regret.



Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected].
Listen to the audio version.

Comments are closed.

    Shows

    All
    All About Books
    Cafe Con Leche
    Commentaries
    Coronavirus Update
    Delving In
    Earth Matters
    Eye On Government
    Just Community
    Live From The Market
    Live True
    Local Vibes Live
    Mesilla Valley Sports Show
    Speak Up Las Cruces
    Special Broadcasts
    Take On Faith
    The Sunday Show
    Think Again
    This Week In Las Cruces

    Music Shows

    You can find a two-week archive of all of our music shows and nearly every other one of our shows by going to our Schedule page.

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly