And give Hillary the whole time to herself.

I can see it now. Have you ever debated a 3 year old? That's Trump. I don't think he's capable of having a meaningful debate.

The entertainment.

Seems kind of unfair to rob us or Hillary of it

She can answer a question, then run over and imitate Drumpf with the doll...

Moderator-

"Secretary Clinton, could you expand on the situation in Ukraine and what you believe Putin's intentions are?"

Clinton-
"Sure Rob, first of all, we need to stand by our NATO allies, etc.,etc.,etc"

When done she runs over to Drumpf Doll in her best Drumpf voice
"You are just crooked, so so crooked! Your answer was crooked! We need to make NATO pay, NATO pay their share! I saw NATO on a plane once, a big plane! They have the money!

and let her debate him instead.

I remember the Republican Party when they had a vision that I disagreed with. First Nixon, then Reagan. Bush 1 didn't have a vision, just a private agenda to keep the status quo with Suadia Arabia. After that, nothing. No alternative vision to Clinton, no vision under Dimson, no alternative vision under Obama. And here we are today...a Party so bereft of vision, that they don't want to even talk about the future in this election cycle. What a bunch of losers...they cant lead, they cant govern, they cant even manage their own Party and Nominee.

he was an ignorant blowhard of an ACTOR, and a shitty one, at that.

the popularity of trump is just another example of how EASILY fooled a large plurality, if not majority, of the American public is.

if you think he had a vision, you need to read On Bended Knee, which details the media's prime role in concocting the myth of the sage Reagan, and how they completely ignored all the horrendous effects of his lawless regime, from the October Surprise TREASON, to the Iran Contra TREASON, drug running, genocide, etc. that was really the low point of American journalism......up to that point. with the advent of Bush 43, though, it got even worse, and is on the brink of surpassing even that nadir today.

only diehard Trump supporters think he won't blow the debates. Bush the younger was a poor debater with a limited understanding of the English language, but he could at least play the part of a respectable politician. When Cindy Sheehan was protesting Bush, he said he respected her son's death while saying he disagreed with her politically. Trump can't even manage that.

Trump couldn't avoid getting baited into assuring a debate audience that his dick was of adequate size. This is not a man who has the self-control to not say something overtly stupid and/or offensive. Sure Clinton won't ask him to measure his penis, but she will be able to make him say something idiotic and clobber him with it.

and let Hillary pull a 'Clint Eastwood' and debate an empty chair, with an empty suit on it.

n/t

He was last used in 1992 when George H.W. refused to debate Bill so the chicken showed up at every Bush rally holding up signs calling George a chicken.

It is probably stored at the Clinton Library.

Donald saying "I can't wait to debate Hillary"

later (T-rump's excuse).

I look at it this way. If T-rump can't handled a debate or debates with one person, how in the hell can he cope with the real world. He CAN NOT.

The parties had nothing to do with it.

The Debates were scheduled by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., President, Purdue University
•Charles Gibson, Former Anchor, ABC World News with Charles Gibson
•Jane Harman, Director, President and CEO, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars
•Leon E. Panetta, Chairman, Panetta Institute for Public Policy
•Olympia Jean Snowe, Former U.S. Senator
•Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman, Former President, Princeton University


four of six are former politicians

EDIT: from 2014, which is completely representative of the makeup for years

the PARTIES got pissed at the league of women voters, who were TOO nonpartisan, and took it away from them, in terms of deciding the rules and timing of the debates.

http://lwv.org/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud

But the campaigns themselves do not sit down and negotiate with each other to set up the debates.

The individual match ups weren't known but there were going to be games those evenings. Part of the problem is that there are NFL games Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights. And there are college games Saturday nights. So basically that leaves Tuesday and Wednesday, assuming a desire to avoid Friday night.

reschedule that nights game for the debate. Right after trump uses it as his excuse. They could put the kibosh on his excuse.

The NFL will have higher ratings then the debates. Plus Monday night football has been around forever.

to screw over tRumps excuse and make him debate Hillary. I don't think moving one game would hurt anyone. Even saying they might consider it would put tRump in a bind.

"Plus Monday night football has been around forever..."

That particular seems at its best, irrelevant; at its weakest, easily and obviously overtaken by the greater historicity of political debates. Most probably, both...

In this case, tradition ("been around forever&quot goes to Politics rather than Sports.

This excuse is stupid..

If a sports game is more important than a debate to Trump and the RNC, that's fine. His base will be thrilled they don't have to DVR one while they watch the other. of course they're already sure thing votes, but let's not make this more compicated than it needs to be for the Donald.

How the rest of America feels we'll all know soon enough. It's not as if politics are more serious than sports or anything, right?

I think we can do better than the previous relic chicken from the past now. Any suggestions?

They must be drunk as skunks in hillland! And she's doing the right thing: staying out of it.

when he has to stand toe-to-toe with his adversary.

Weak water. Oy!

or youtube.

Though he may watch what he considers a reality show called, "Benny Hill" occasionally.

Please allow me to point out that the Republican target audience requires children to program their DVRs, thinks that PBS and NPR are acronyms for socialist terror groups, and wouldn't watch a debate over a football game if you held their own guns to their heads.

We're talking about the proverbial "blinking twelves," here.

Blinking twelves...

... coming to a disastrous third wedding near you!

In this day and age, there is no such thing as "I couldn't watch the debate, because it was on at an inconvenient time".

Does anyone know a single person who is a Game of Thrones or Walking Dead adherent who would actually miss an episode if it aired at 4:00 a.m.?

If you really want to see a debate, you can record it, catch it at another time (there are usually multiple airings), or watch it on-line.

The "I couldn't see it because it was on at an inconvenient time" excuse is as dead as "I wanted to come and see you last night, but there were no horse-drawn carriages available".

Now we're here and he is scared.

clip of trump saying that, following by a flock of chickens. no other words needed.

sure do with we at DU could help with ad development !!

is terrified of strong women.

If Trump is getting buried as it appears he will be then appearing somewhat competent in debates may be his only hope of turning the narrative. I realize that's not at all likely but the alternative is probably losing in a landslide so whats the risk?

It was obvious that he was nothing more than a blowhard when he declined to debate Sanders. And now Trump is complaining about the debate schedule. Is there ANYTHING that this man won't complain about?

This nonsense is just more proof that Don is unfit for president, just like Obama said.

Trump is doing his best to lower all expectations. That in effect, simply showing up will be a check mark in win column, regardless of how poorly he performs; while the RNC is doing its best to convince everyone through implication and innuendo that it's already rigged, to more effectively reinforce and prop up Trump's (again) poor performance.

Why give Trump a chance to pour even more gasoline on the fire and have the GOP lose even worse in November? Priebus knows Trump is just going to use the debates as another opportunity to say something incredibly stupid and/or outrageous.

I'll be very surprised if Trump debates. Preibus must already know this which explains why he's laying the ground work for Trump's non-appearance.

Fill in for him?