Ever since the formation of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) in 1987, there has been incredible bias against Republican candidates. The moderators and format have always favored the Democratic presidential candidates. Thus, it has been incredibly foolish for GOP presidential candidates to agree to participate in such an unfair process.
Once again, this year, the Trump campaign allowed the CPD to schedule and organize four debates, three involving the presidential candidates and one featuring the vice-presidential candidates. Not surprisingly, all the moderators selected were unabashed liberals.
The first presidential debate was a fiasco. It was moderated by the long-time liberal Fox News anchor Chris Wallace. He embarrassed himself with a stunningly biased performance. He interrupted President Donald Trump 76 times, as opposed to only 15 interruptions of former Vice President Joe Biden. The questions were slanted towards Biden and the only tough questions were directed at President Trump.
Wallace interjected almost every talking point for the Democrats. He asked about old issues such as the 2017 Charlottesville, VA rally and demanded that the president once again condemn white supremacists. Even though all the riots in 2020 were led by radical leftist organizations like Antifa and Black Lives Matter, Wallace was uninterested in discussing it.
Instead, he wanted to explore issues such as Covid-19, climate change, and anything that could possibly be detrimental to President Trump. Of course, Biden received a pass on his son’s questionable consulting contracts, his interference in prosecutions in Ukraine, his friendship with white supremacist Democrats in the United States Senate, his “manifesto” with radical socialists in the Democratic Party, his constant flip-flopping, his lack of law enforcement endorsements and his delay in condemning the Antifa riots.
The vice-presidential debate was not much better as liberal moderator Susan Page of USA Today showed her bias with her questions and her treatment of the two candidates.
The next presidential debate was supposed to be moderated by liberal Steve Scully of C-SPAN. Yet, his ideological preferences are easy to determine by looking at his resume. Scully once served as an intern to Biden when he was a U.S. Senator representing Delaware and was a staff assistant to former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). Clearly, his work for two liberal United States Senators shows that Scully is not impartial.
He also was pictured at the “Biden Beach Bash ‘16” with his arm around the former Vice President, tweeting “Gotta love the @VP.” This week, it was reported that Scully sent a tweet to Trump hater Anthony Scaramucci asking him how to respond to the president. While Scully claimed his Twitter account was hacked, an FBI investigation is not needed to determine his clear bias.
Thankfully, the second Trump-Biden debate has been canceled. The president rightfully declined to participate in a virtual debate, which was unilaterally announced by the CPD without consultation with either candidate. The CPD was supposedly worried about exposing the debate audience and the staff to President Trump, who has recovered from Covid-19. Despite the president’s doctors clearing the president to participate in events and his lack of symptoms, the CPD wanted to force a virtual debate on the American people.
Such a debate would have been a joke. Biden would have had a teleprompter with coaching from his aides. The president would have had his microphone easily turned off and it would have been difficult to connect with a town hall audience.
Currently, there is one more Trump-Biden debate scheduled on October 22 in Nashville. Another liberal reporter, Kristen Welker of NBC News, was selected to serve as moderator. To prevent embarrassment, Welker has already erased her Twitter account, undoubtedly, to prevent her liberal tweets from being uncovered. If the debate occurs, she will show her bias against Trump with her questions and treatment of the candidates.
The president should probably participate because it will be an opportunity to reach a large group of voters. The first debate achieved an audience of 73.1 million Americans. The final debate may reach an even greater audience. In addition, the president is accustomed to battling multiple foes at one time. He did it during the 2016 debates and he does it every time he conducts a press conference.
Going forward, the problem with the CPD must be addressed. White it is advertised as being impartial, it is composed of Democrats and Trump-hating Republicans. This week, 1996 GOP presidential candidate, former U.S. Senator Bob Dole (R-KS), identified the real problem with the CPD. He tweeted, “The Commission on Presidential Debates is supposedly bipartisan w/ an equal number of Rs and Ds. I know all of the Republicans and most are friends of mine. I am concerned that none of them support @realDonaldTrump. A biased Debate Commission is unfair.”
Well done Bob Dole! The CPD is totally unfair and should be scrapped. If it refuses to disband, the GOP should disavow any future affiliation and withdraw from working with the CPD, a total sham of an organization.
Future presidential debates do not need a liberal moderator pretending to be fair, but truly working in a feverish manner to help the Democratic nominee. Both candidates should participate in a Lincoln/Douglas style debate with equal time for each of them.
Moderators are biased, distracting, and unnecessary. After the disastrous results of the 2020 debates, this kind of unwelcome interference can no longer be tolerated. The Republican presidential candidates deserve better, but, more importantly, so do the voters of America.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com.