ACCORDING TO HIS ADVISERS, BUSH IS COUNTING ON THE IGNORANCE OF THE AMERICAN VOTER.

One Bush adviser "conceded tonight that in selecting debates that would be moderated by the journalist Tim Russert in one case and the talk-show host Larry King in another, Mr. Bush was guaranteeing that he would take questions from people who had quizzed him before, and with whom he felt familiar. One Republican strategist in Washington said that by spurning two of the three commission debates, which would be more structured, Mr. Bush was showing 'that he's concerned about filling the full two-minute answer' in a debate with formal time parameters. 'Larry will bail him out,' said the strategist, referring to Mr. King. 'Larry will keep it moving.' But several of Mr. Bush's advisers said that while journalists were sure to deride Mr. Bush's decision, most voters would care only about the fact that Mr. Bush was debating and would find all the noise surrounding the negotiations to be meaningless. 'We're not stupid. We've been looking at this,' said one adviser. 'Nobody knows who the commission is.'" --NYT, 9/4/00

"The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 [with the active backing of Presidents Reagan, Ford, and Carter] to ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners. Its primary purpose is to sponsor and produce debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates. The organization, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation, sponsored all the presidential debates in 1988, 1992, and 1996.To meet its ongoing goal of educating voters, the CPD is engaged in various activities beyond producing and sponsoring the presidential debates. Its staff prepares educational materials and conducts research to improve the quality of debates. The CPD is currently compiling an oral history of debates as recalled by presidential debate participants. Further, the CPD provides technical assistance to emerging democracies and others interested in establishing debate traditions in their countries. In the last four years, the staff worked with groups from Brazil, South Africa, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Japan, and Namibia, among others. Finally, the CPD coordinates post-debate symposia and research after each of its presidential forums." --Commission on Presidential Debates

Gore Then Proposes Bush's Three Debates Plus Two More By Debate Commission, As Package.

Although Al Gore had previously proposed that he and the Republican candidate meet for three debates already scheduled by the Presidential Commission, prime-time network debates that would ensure the largest possible audience and would be held under the most nonpartisan of conditions, Bush has counter-proposed that he would only debate three times and that he would only debate once on a network during prime time under the auspices of the Presidential Commission. One of the other two debates would be held during a TBA prime-time on NBC's "Meet the Press," an hour-long political talk show. The third would be held during prime time on Larry King Live, an hour-long cable entertainment that does not reach the homes of those who do not pay a fee for cable transmission. The latter two shows also include commercials, and when the Republicans debated on "Larry King Live," commercials were included. The Gore camp has found Bush's terms unacceptable.

Bush's proposal is an indication of the lack of confidence he and his handlers have in the Texas Governor's abilities to take on Al Gore in debate. The Bush campaign has attempted damage control by wanting to limit the number of debates to three, cutting two of the three to an hour or less, and limiting one to a single major networks and the other to a cable channel, moves meant to diminish the importance of the debates, themselves. (The four major networks have already responded to the Bush proposal, stating that they would not show debates from single networks or cable channels because of branding, one reason the Debate Commission was formed in the first place.) Further, the Bush proposal that one debate be moderated by Tim Russert and another by Larry King, suggests that Bush was uncomfortable with the more neutral and impersonal tone, the longer duration, and the more issues-oriented setting of the Debate Commission's proposed debates. The bottom line, of course, is that Bush wants to move the debates away from the issues, where he is generally losing to Gore at the moment, and towards a contest of personalities, where he is placing his hopes to turn the poll numbers around. It hardly seems fair of Bush to demand control of the formats and durations of two of the three debates that he is willing to engage in. One would think he would want to provide voters with as much information about who he is and what he would do as president as possible. While it's nice that Mr. Bush has a sense of humor, as adolescent and sometimes tasteless as it is, the fact is a would-be president who likes to sleep well and is a friend to his dogs and cats is not a guarantee to the American family of safe housing, healthy food on the table, and affordable healthcare, to name a few real concerns of the voters. Further, since Mr. Bush is losing to Gore in the polls, he is hardly in a position to make such debate demands, and then, to add insult to injury, to tell Mr. Gore, "Take it or leave it." Some observers have termed this attitude "arrogant." Gore's position is that the American voters should have full debates in prime time on all major networks sponsored by an experienced, nonpartisan organization. Since Bush does not really want to debate, anyway, he's hoping that Gore will turn down his demands, giving him an excuse to stiff the American voters and blame it all on Gore. As Bush has said on previous occassions, the object is to win. Clearly, Bush is willing to say anything to win. --Politex, 9/4/00

William M. Daley, chairman of the Gore-Lieberman campaign, said: "We reject George Bush's plan to shortchange Americans by cutting tens of millions of people out of the presidential debate audience.... Al Gore has already accepted all three of the Presidential Commision's debate invitations. It's time for George Bush to act in the public's interest and do the same." While spokesmen for the Gore camp have indicated that their candidate would be willing to consider other debates once the three Debate Commission debates were accepted by Bush, Don Evens, the head of the Bush campaign, indicated that the proposal was actually an ultimatum: "This is our final answer. This is it," Reuters reported.

Bush Watch is a daily political internet magazine, a non-advocacy site paid for and edited by Politex, a non-affiliated U.S. citizen.
Based in Austin, Tx., publication began on February 1, 1998, prior to any other official or unofficial G. W. Bush site.
(c) 1998-2000 Politex. Permission of author required for reprinting. The duration of the working links is not under our control.
Bush Watch has not reviewed all of the sites linked to our site and is not responsible for the content of any off-site pages
or any other sites linked to our site. Your linking to any other off-site pages or other sites from our site is at your own risk.

Send all e-mail to Politex.