Dear Mr. Tom Perez:
The three candidate “debates” devised by the Democratic National Committee have been unwatchable disasters for the party, the candidates and the voting public. They must stop.
The format of these sorry events is not the fault of the candidates or the networks. It is the DNC’s fault, your fault. The DNC has put the candidates in a deep hole from which they may never extricate themselves. The first rule of holes is stop digging!
The last debate, on September 12, is a good example. Ten candidates, standing side-by-side, each opining on numerous topics for three hours; grasping and struggling for recognition; damning their opponents with false accusations and innuendo; giving non-answers or evasive answers to accusatory questions by network questioners seeking to do abusive “gotcha” for their own personal benefit (YOU, Mr. Muir); favoring three “leading” candidates to the detriment of the others; and driving viewers to their refrigerators to find non-fattening snacks. This is what you have wrought.
Bernie (Gimme a Lozenge) Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden have had worse nights, but not many. For all I know, Bernie is not an irascible scold; Elizabeth Warren is not an unpleasant know-it-all; and Joe Biden is articulate and exceptionally precise. Not under your “debate” scheme, Mr. Perez!
No wonder many consider you the Honorary Chair of the Trump campaign. Your good intention to assist your party in the selection of a winning candidate in 2020 has crashed into the reality of your own incompetence.
These “debates,” actually joint appearances, demonstrate that you know nothing about television. There is a good deal of stupidity in the world of politics. The stupid abound.
But the real danger is aggressive stupidity: initiating action that is beyond your ken. Doing television shows as part of the nomination process is not for amateurs. We would not permit an accountant to do brain surgery because brain surgery requires knowledge, expertise and experience. So too, the production of television programming cannot be left to a DNC that permits formless “sage on a stage” drivel and justifying it as a product of “rules” and time limits.
“To be clear,” the throat-clearing intro misused by many of the jousters and guaranteeing that no clarity will ensue, there are a lot of people in politics who understand television and practice its use professionally in their everyday lives. Why can’t you hire them and get out of doing the damage that you are doing? Clear?
There is serious danger in the future. Democrats are having their presidential nominating convention next summer in Milwaukee, nominally run by the DNC.
This essential opportunity to use television and digital to persuade the voters to select the Democrat must be programmed by professionals working with the candidate who emerges as the nominee.
That nominee should and will take over the Convention. You must not insert yourself into the programming process beyond the use of professionals for the initial planning.
The Democrats want to win the White House. Please get out of the way and let the process begin at last.