GOP Candidates' Demand Letter to TV Networks: No 'Frivolousness' or 'Lightening' Rounds in Debates

By Anna Merlan  |  November 2, 2015 | 6:45pm
Politics

The GOP presidential candidates, as we know, are very mad about being asked questions during the CNBC debate, and would like to keep such a thing from ever happening again. Washington Post reporters Robert Costa and Dave Weigel got hold of the letter they sent to every network hosting a debate. It’s amazing.

Costa and Weigel wrote about the letter Monday morning, and Costa also posted a copy to Twitter. It repeatedly demands that the networks promise not to do “lightening” rounds (they must mean lightning), not engage in “gotcha” questioning or other “frivolousness,” and not show empty podiums after commercial breaks or “describe how far away the bathrooms are.” Wait, how far away are the bathrooms?

It is, in short, a flawless piece of writing on par with the Declaration of Independence, penned by a group of serious-minded individuals who want to engage in a substantive debate and become president. A debate in which they know every question in advance, no one is mean to them, and the network does not use “behind shots of candidates showing their notes.”

Every morning for the Democratic party lately must feel like a glorious and unending Christmas.

Update, 4:30 p.m.:

And now, again per the Post, Trump’s campaign is going to break with this new fragile candidate alliance and write their own damn letter to the networks. Costa and Weigel report that the Trumpery plans to “take a lead role in negotiating the format and content of primary debates.”

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