A Quote by Mark McKinnon

Presidential primary debates are an important part of our political process. But the media has wrested complete control from the parties and candidates over everything, including the number, the format, the qualifications, and the moderators. And they've become a circus.

Mark McKinnon

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Become Candidates Circus Complete Control Debates Everything Format Important Important Part Including Media Number Our Over Part Parties Political Political Process Presidential Primary Process Qualifications

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Mark McKinnon
American - Businessman

The world of TV debates is antiquated. What looked smart and modern in 1960, with Kennedy versus Nixon, looks quaint and over-rehearsed between Obama and Romney. We need a new format; even if we have the same moderators and candidates, there needs to be a more nuanced way for audiences to connect with and shape presidential debates.

Ruzwana Bashir

The debates are part of the unconscionable fraud that our political campaigns have become a format that defies meaningful discourse. They should be charged with sabotaging the electoral process.

Walter Cronkite

Presidential and vice-presidential debates are not about campaign staff or consultants, and it is high time we as a people took control and reminded them and their candidates of that important fact.

Bob Barr

I really do not like having media moderators. Lincoln and Douglass didn't have moderators. Let the candidates ask one another questions.

Ann Coulter

The campaign in the media takes place in many different formats, such as in citizens forums or town - hall shows. And because we don't have a presidential system in Germany, people vote for parties instead of specific candidates. From the perspective of smaller parties, even one single televised debate is a detested anomaly, because only the lead candidates from the conservatives and the SPD take part.

Angela Merkel

I don't think people have fully processed how deeply television has changed the political process in our own world. Political parties have become vestiges of what they were and individuals with large amounts of money can leapfrog over that process, which can have a positive mediating effect. And so I think there are things to worry about.

Alexander Stille

The presidential and vice-presidential debates are those rare moments when people come together, but to even call them debates is a stretch because they're played by such negotiated rules, and they're so over-rehearsed.

Morgan Neville

In 2016 we are faced with a particularly bizarre and unappetizing choice as regards the two main political parties' presidential candidates, in my opinion.

Viggo Mortensen

I agree that the two-party system stomps on any kind of competition. A great first step is to open the presidential debates to all qualified candidates, including the Libertarians. If that happens, the Libertarian party will experience unprecedented growth.

Gary Johnson

The debate corporation is a corporation. It's funded by corporations. It's relayed by media corporations to the public. It's created by the two parties, which are corporations. We should have public presidential debates all over America run by public institutions.

Ralph Nader

Any time you get into a presidential campaign and the stakes are so high, all candidates - they want to be in complete control whenever they can. And you can't blame them for that.

Bob Schieffer

Mexico isn't a country of routine debates among presidential candidates.

Denise Dresser

As yet we use our media only for selling things - including, of course, political candidates. What will happen when someone masters the art of selling souls?

Erica Jong

The main influence on voters should be a series of robust debates among the candidates. It's a free country, so this is a tough problem to solve, but I'd love to see an election season with zero political ads, and all voters had to decide based on watching four national debates over the two months leading to election day.

Douglas Brunt

While it's true that the vice presidential slot isn't the most important thing on people's minds in a presidential election, these debates frequently matter.

Mollie Hemingway

Social media and smart phones have become an inevitable part of our lives. We shouldn't be under their control, which is wrong. It is mere stupidity, and we must be aware of everything around us.

Aishwarya Rajesh

A Quote by Mark McKinnon

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