September 15, 2016 | No Comments
If Carolyn Lukensmeyer has her wish, the four general-election debates this fall will be nothing like their primary counterparts.
No more morning-after memes featuring the nicknames bestowed on political rivals the night before. No candidates deciding to battle the moderator along with his or her opponent. And certainly, not a discussion of how big one’s hands or anything else might be.
Lukensmeyer is executive director for the National Institute on Civil Discourse, a nonprofit founded in the wake of the 2011 Tucson shooting that left six dead and then-Rep. Gabby Giffords and 18 others wounded. The center has sought to stem the tide of partisanship on the state level.
But on Thursday the group injected itself into what Lukensmeyer charitably calls a “unusual election cycle” by releasing civil discourse standards for each of the three presidential debates and the one vice-presidential debate.
“What we heard from people is, ‘Good God, we don’t want to watch it … be the same mudslinging in the primaries,’” she said.
The standards lay out a range of guidelines for candidates, moderators and audience members. They touch on everything from taking personal responsibility for past mistakes to reminding moderators to move the conversation to a more productive dialog.
The first showdown between New York real estate mogul Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is less than 11 days away. Fittingly, it will take place in the Empire State.
While it remains to be seen just how Trump will approach this fall’s debates, ratings surged during the primaries as his combative nature transformed the traditionally muted forums into must-see TV. In perhaps the most notable example, Trump took offense at Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s remark that the mogul has small hands. His response touched on far more than his 10 fingers.
“I have to say this, he hit my hands,” Trump said of Rubio. “Nobody has ever hit my hands. I’ve never heard of this one. Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands if they’re small, something else must be small,” Trump said, as he flashed his hands for the crowd. “I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee you.”
Across the aisle, Clinton did not bestow nicknames on her rivals. But she elicited a collective eyeroll when she was pressed to explain speaking fees from Goldman Sachs and other big banks.
“I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked,” Clinton said, explaining her support from financial industry contributors. “Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan, where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy, and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country.”
Despite Lukensmeyer and the center’s hope for less fireworks, she expects the contest of ideas to be far from boring.
“There is enough difference in position in terms of the vision of the country,” Lukensmeyer said. “There is so much distance between kind of name-calling and discussion of body parts and dismissing of subgroups. It’s miles away from being boring.”