{"id":22,"date":"2004-09-28T22:50:06","date_gmt":"2004-09-29T05:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=22"},"modified":"2005-07-17T12:21:49","modified_gmt":"2005-07-17T19:21:49","slug":"the-official-debate-rules-handbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=22","title":{"rendered":"The Official Debate Rules Handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li> The candidates may not ask each other direct questions.\n<li> The candidates shall not address each other with proposed pledges.\n<li> The candidates will refrain from acknowledging that anyone else is in the room.\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Prior to the debate, each candidate must submit any paper, pens and\/or pencils to the Commission staff.\n<li> Prior to the debate, audience members will be asked to submit their questions in writing to the moderator.\n<li> Prior to the debate, the FBI will conduct background investigations on all participants to affirm appropriate loyalty to The Leader.\n<p><\/p>\n<li> The candidates shall enter the stage upon a verbal cue from the moderator.\n<li> The candidates shall proceed to center stage and shake hands.\n<li> The candidates shall take their postions behind &nbsp;their podiums.\n<li> The candidates shall do the hokey-pokey and turn themselves around, because that is what its all about.\n<p><\/p>\n<li> The Oct 8 debate will be conducted in an audience participation (&#8220;town hall&#8221;) format.\n<li> If an audience member attempts to participate in the debate&#8230;the moderator shall instruct the audience to refrain from any participation.\n<li> If any audience member poses a question materially different from the one submitted, the commission shall cut off the microphone, cover his\/her head with a bag and administer a shock to the genitals.\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Each candidate may move about in a pre-designated area.\n<li> At no time shall either candidate move from their designated area behind their respective podiums.\n<li> The pre-designated areas of the candidates may not overlap.\n<li> Allemande left and do-si-do, dixie twirl and away you go.\n<p><\/p>\n<li> The parties agree that they will not issue any challenges for additional debates.\n<li> The parties agree that they will not appear at any other debate.\n<li> The parties agree that they will pretend that these are actually debates.\n<p><\/p>\n<li> If a candidate exceeds the permitted time for comment, the moderator shall interrupt by stating, &#8220;I am sorry, your time is up.&#8221;\n<li> If a candidate exceeds the highest deficit in history, presides over a loss of 2 million jobs, and engages in an elective war that makes the nation less safe, the moderator shall interrupt by stating, &#8220;I am sorry, your time is up.&#8221;\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The candidates may not ask each other direct questions. The candidates shall not address each other with proposed pledges. The candidates will refrain from acknowledging that anyone else is in the room. Prior to the debate, each candidate must submit any paper, pens and\/or pencils to the Commission staff. Prior to the debate, audience members [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6273,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6273","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":0},"title":"Laugh-Track Republicans Need Debate Audience To Tell Them What To Think","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/24\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Republican Party has made a pariah of Hollywood, which they regard as a bastion of liberal propagandists bent on manipulating public opinion. But after the reaction to last night's debate in Tampa, Florida, it is apparent that it is the GOP that is wedded to Tinseltown's tactics. Commonly known\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59263,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=59263","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":1},"title":"Upcoming Republican Primary Debates May Have Only Two Candidates &#8211; But Still No Cowardly Trump","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/9\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The race for the Republican Party's nomination for President in 2024 has been a laughably lame affair that appears to be modeled after a third rate reality TV show. It's \"Apprentice - White House\" without the boorish board room finale where the playacting potentate pretends to fire one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Republican, GOP","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-titanic-gop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-titanic-gop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-titanic-gop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1082,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1082","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":2},"title":"The Hermetically Sealed Presidential Debate","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/7\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Heading into the final month of campaigning, John McCain is showing signs of desperation. His aides have announced that they cannot talk about the economy or they will lose. So they are resorting to personal smears and distractions. Sarah Palin is doing her part by associating Barack Obama with controversial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30110,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=30110","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":3},"title":"GOP Debate On Fox Business Wants To Know: Whose Plan Would God Endorse?","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/10\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The rancorous aftermath of the Republican debate a couple of weeks ago on CNBC laid the foundation for a comparison to what Fox News would do when they hosted their second GOP debate on their sister network, Fox Business. The hype prior to the FBN affair was all about how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox Business","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fbn-gop-debate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fbn-gop-debate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fbn-gop-debate.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32582,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=32582","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":4},"title":"Big Baby Trump Is Still Afraid Of Hillary And &#8216;Rigged&#8217; Debates","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/13\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the many firsts of this unprecedented election year is that one candidate has distinguished himself as being obsessed with debate moderators and formats. Guess who. Donald Trump has spent much of the campaign complaining about everything being rigged to crush him. The primaries were rigged. So are the polls\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-shout.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-shout.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-shout.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30015,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=30015","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":5},"title":"GOP Candidates Frightened Away From Scary Debates They Can&#8217;t Control","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/30\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Republican field of presidential primary candidates are cowering together to formulate a new debate process that isn't so darn frightening to them. Following the debacle on CNBC, they are taking steps to insure that such ghastly encounters are avoided in the future in favor of more friendly frolics through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Republican Debate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/gop-debate-halloween.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/gop-debate-halloween.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/gop-debate-halloween.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}