I had forgotten the role of the League of Women Voters in the Presidential debates oh so many years ago, but Bill Moyers and Michael Winship on The Daily Kos repair that forgetfulness in great detail:
A little history: From 1976, when President Gerald Ford faced off against Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate were administered by the League of Women Voters, which did an admirable job under trying circumstances. But then, as historian Jill Lepore writes in an excellent New Yorker article on the history of presidential debates, the Reagan White House wanted to wrest control from the League and give it to the networks. According to Lepore:
“During Senate hearings, Dorothy Ridings, the president of the League of Women Voters, warned against that move: ‘Broadcasters are profit-making corporations operating in an extremely competitive setting, in which ratings assume utmost importance.’ They would make a travesty of the debates, she predicted, not least because they’d agree to whatever terms the campaigns demanded. Also: ‘We firmly believe that those who report the news should not make the news.’”
Ridings’ prescience proved correct and then some. In 1988, the League pulled out of the Bush-Dukakis debates, declaring in a press release, “It has become clear to us that the candidates’ organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.”
Interesting that a journalist doesn’t hesitate to point the finger at the journalistic empires for usurping the debates for their own financial purposes:
But as Ridings said, it’s not just the candidates involved in this criminal hijacking of discourse. The giant media conglomerates — NBCUniversal (Comcast), Disney, CBS Corp., 21st Century Fox, Time Warner — have turned the campaign and the upcoming debates into profit centers that reap a huge return from political trivia and titillation. A game show, if you will — a farcical theater of make-believe rigged by the two parties and the networks to maintain their cartel of money and power.
While I’ve become a big fan of not permitting the various sectors of society to use each others’ methods, as they often operate at cross-purposes and corrupt the sector doing the borrowing, I’m a little hesitant about letting politicians regulate their own debates. I just see these big ol’ softballs being used as questions. Which is why the League of Women Voters and similar civics organizations should be in charge of these debates – and the campaigns should not be permitted to influence them.
Go, Bill & Michael!
