How to Fix the Debates: Five People Who Would Be Better Moderators

How to Fix the Debates: Better Moderators
byJohn Nichols
The Nation
10/15/2008

Ideally, however, presidential debates would be moderated by journalists, thinkers and activists who could force the candidates to actually say something.

Here are five suggestions:

AMY GOODMAN: The host of Democracy Now takes no prisoners. She challenges politicos of both parties with questions that no one else has the guts or the understanding to ask. Dial back to her Election Day 2000 interview with then-President Bill Clinton if you want a sense of Goodman's skill set. And she has only gotten better over the ensuing eight years. No one would bring a broader range of issues to the stage and no one would do a better job of pressing the candidates to address them.

PAT BUCHANAN: The paleo-conservative commentator, television personality and three-time presidential candidate has big gripes with both candidates and both parties. He thinks Obama's a social libertine and McCain's an imperialist. He would challenge both candidates aggressively, using barbs, wit and an encyclopedic knowledge of the domestic and foreign-policy matters in which he has been intimately engaged -- often controversially, which should be a moderator qualification -- for more than four decades.

NOMI PRINS: A former managing director at Goldman Sachs and head of the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London, Prins left Wall Street some years ago to write and talk about corporate corruption and the scandals, crises and meltdowns she so presciently predicted. Now a senior fellow with Demos, her 2004 book, Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America (The New Press) was chosen as a "Best Book" by The Economist, Barron's and The Library Journal. Prins knows how to discuss finance, the current crisis and possible fixes in the language of Wall Street and Main Street. She could lead the candidates through a real discussion of the economic issues that are the definitional concerns of this campaign.

CAROLE COLEMAN: The toughest interviewer of George Bush during his presidency was not an American journalist. It was the Washington correspondent for RTÉ, Ireland's national network. Coleman interviewed the president in the summer of 2004 and actually demanded that he answer questions. The White House was furious. Coleman was undaunted. "Should I just have been more deferential to George Bush?" she mused. "I felt that I had simply done my job and shuddered at the thought of the backlash I would surely have faced in Ireland had I not challenged the president on matters that had changed the way America was viewed around the world." Imagine a debate moderator who actually thought her duty was to the voters, as opposed to the candidates and the CPD.

RALPH NADER: The nation's leading consumer activist should be on the tonight's stage as an independent candidate who has qualified for ballot positions in 45 states -- as should Green Cynthia McKinney and Libertarian Bob Barr. But Nader's history of challenging both parties, his disdain for the compromises of official Washington and his refusal to countenance political doublespeak is what makes him moderator material. He would stir things, to be sure. But Nader's deep understanding of and respect for the republic and its potential could conceivably introduce Obama and McCain to their better angels.

Please read the entire article at:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/372399/how_to_fix_the_debates_better_moderators

:rofl:

hell I would do Pay-Per-View to watch Rachel do one :)

You have to find moderators that would be acceptable to both parties.

:headbang:

He wants to see his "Culture War" start up again.

Hey, what fun it would be to have Keith rip McCain on stage. But I don't think it's fair to have one-sided moderators. I think Pat would be great. He can attack both parties.

The first two debates have been total snooze-fests with both candidates parroting their stump speeches. There haven't been any probing questions. I don't recall any questions on abortion, gun rights, the Supreme Court, and other "gut" issues. The moderators have been too vanilla and too easy.

The best interviewer in America.