Whereas, the Fox Propaganda Network is disappointed that the Democrat (sic) Party has decided to cancel the Nevada presidential primary debate and whereas they have decided to call Democrats Stalinists for opposing their generous attempts to help Democrats reach their massive audience of mostly right wing viewers and whereas several prominent Democratic "stategists" have joined them in their concern troll outrage, I hereby propose that the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy make it up to them by hosting and moderating a debate of all the Republican candidates for president.
If ALL the GOP candidates agree to the rules as set forth by a significant portion of the members of this site, then we shall consent to give the mouthpiece of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy back the canceled debate and urge all Democratic presidential candidates to attend. I feel that the concern trolls are right and our democracy CANNOT function if the candidates are afraid to answer questions from those holding opposing viewpoints. I think it's only fair that if they are going to try do us such a huge favor them maybe we should help them in return.
I'm asking you to join me below the fold and in the comments to help mold the rules of the debate and make this official so we can start alerting the candidates and the media.
The first order of business is to create a structure for the debate. I think that should include naming the moderators. I think the members of the Daily Kos should be given a chance to vote on this through a front page poll. I think the people should be chosen from the rank of front pagers (and perhaps even a small cluster of lefty blog all stars like Atrios, Digby, Glenn Greenwald, and Tom Tomorrow- or whoever you'd like to nominate).
Next, I think there should be an open thread taking suggestions for questions from the community at large. Even concern trolls could vote if they choose to. I think perhaps half of the debate should be questions from the panel and half chosen from the open thread questions receiving the most votes. Candidates should have a time limit and not be able to address each other directly.
Then, I think we should hold the debate in Berkeley, California since the Republicans need help there reaching an audience that isn't exposed to their viewpoint often enough. The GOP has had designs on California for many presidential election cycles and would surely not be able to turn down this perfect opportunity to reach the millions of Californians who would surely vote Republican after getting to see the candidates close up and personal and maybe even ask them a question or two. That the audience would be made up mostly of "pot smoking feminazis with multiple abortions under their belt" and "draft dodging, Hate America First welfare cheats" then all the better to help the Republican candidates get their message out to this oft-neglected portion of the potential GOP-electorate. Also, the location would serve a dual purpose in allowing Kos to attend the debate without much travel since his second child is due any day now.
Finally, should the Republican candidates refuse to debate we shall all get to refer to them as Stalinists and talk about their disdain for free speech and how they are beholden to the far right (all of which happens to be true anyway, but you get the idea).