Rand Paul Protests Likely Relegation to the Undercard Debate; Says He Might Skip Debate Entirely, Rather Than Being Branded by Media as "Second-Tier"

That's probably the best way to handle it, actually, to refuse to acquiesce in the media's Shaping of the Story.

As Ed Morrissey notes, the proper way to handle this was two panels, random draw (but with the top six seeds divided evenly between either panel, to make sure neither panel was lame).

The media never tried this. Fox actually set this terrible precedent themselves.

And I think they did it in hopes that everyone would take on Trump and knock him off his perch and gin up some enthusiasm for a candidate more acceptable to the Establishment.

That's not fair to other candidates hurt by this process -- Perry and Jindal, and Carly Fiorina (initially).

But I can't help but laugh that the Establishment's attempts to rig the game came back to rig the game against them, with Trump required to answer far fewer questions, and able to skate by with glib, superficial responses, the moderators stripped of the time necessary to probe further.

Having failed to rig the debates properly the first time, they're now trying to re-rig them.

We'll see how their latest attempt to put their thumbs on the scales of what is supposed to be a democratic, voter-based system works out for them.

I find it very amusing that the self-alleged Elite and the Masters of the Universe claim a right to rule based on their superior intelligence and judgment and vatic abilities, and yet, at every turn, they step on rakes and punch themselves in the puds.

If you can't even properly rig a primary, why should we listen to you about a general election contest?

posted by Ace at 02:18 PM

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