Get rid of moderators altogether and replace them with a modified chess clock timer.
Not only do liberal moderators jump in to act as a second debater against the conservative, but it’s inherently biased to let a liberal supposed “journalist” pose the questions in the first place. Not a single question was posed on Hilllary’s illegal email server, or immigration, or the billions unaccounted for at the Clinton Foundation.
Let the debaters bring their own questions for the other. Begin with a coin toss. 1 minute question, then 3 minute answer, then 2 minute rebuttal, 1 minute counter-rebuttal, 30 second summery/final rebuttal. (These times are merely suggestions, but you get the idea. The mic will switch on and off on a set schedule, known and agreed upon by both debaters.)
The microphone goes hot and cold on this schedule. A soft chime alerts the speaker with the hot mic when they have 10 seconds left in any stage segment, and large countdown clocks will be visible to both sides showing who has the hot mic and their time remaining.
At the end of each 7 or 8 minute stage, provide a minute for a water break or note jotting while the clock resets. The next debater can then use his or her new 1 minute question period to revisit the previous topic, and run the stage again on that topic, or, they can switch to an entirely new topic with a fresh question.
Repeat the process, alternating sides, until both are exhausted and agree to quit, or until an agreed-upon time limit is reached.
Just get rid of 3rd wheel moderators, their interference, and their built-in bias.
I agree. Either Sean Hannity moderates or there should be no moderator.
That would be far better. Last night’s guy definitely did a bang up job for Hillary. They should have a debate where the moderators are you, Marcus Luttrell, and Alan West......
Excellent and fair.
What we have now is an unfair, biased circus in favor of the dems. And they love it.
Republicans will never learn.
I've been proposing a similar version of your proposal for the last 3 Presidential elections.
The "debates" are nothing but a series of position statements. A moderator has no place except to enforce the rules of the debate, but the debate commission insists on appointing moderators that run interference for the Democrat.
Many times her eyes zoned out like she was listening to voices.
Of which i have no doubts she was. Hers and the ones over her esrpiece or possibly the subcutaneous one implanted during a recent ear surgery.
All she needed was a pull string coming out her back.
Who on earth would vote for a old doll with a shrill voice and stuck on a looped stupid monologue?
The notworks would be part of the move to address this, and they won't. Kind of like Congress will never vote themselves term limits.
Need a COS approach - a bottom-up approach, to just do things differently. Create a new debate forum and venue, eg, with no moderator as you suggest, and then the candidates start going there, leaving the current system to wither on the vine.
>Get rid of moderators altogether and replace them with a modified chess clock timer.<
That is an incredible idea. And, you know the dems will never, ever agree. They only win by stacking the deck. We all know this.