Democrats’ presidential primary debates proving to be a debacle

The Democratic National Committee's (DNC) decision to exclude Fox News from hosting any of the 12 planned presidential primary debates has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Fox News.

• That decision has enabled Republican voters to:
• Claim the moral high ground and criticise the DNC for not wanting their candidates to be exposed to probing questions that would never be asked by the Trump-hating media.
• Accuse the DNC of attempting to manipulate public opinion.

Maintain their rage at what they regard as a cover up and continuing conspiracy by the DNC and Hillary Clinton to weaponize their paid-for unverified and unverifiable Steele Dossier to spy on President Trump's 2016 election campaign.

The DNC decision has prevented Fox News questioning front runner Joe Biden in prime TV time on his knowledge of what had occurred during 2016 and January 2017 under the Obama administration in relation to spying on Carter Page and the non-prosecution of Hillary Clinton for storing classified information on a private server.

Perception in politics is very important. The DNC decision has had a decidedly bad look – with not one question to Biden so far on his knowledge of or participation in the Carter Page and Hillary Clinton scandals that are currently under investigation by Attorney-General William Barr.

Each of the first two debates took place during two consecutive nights, with a maximum of 10 candidates per night – answering questions put by:

• 5 anti-Trump reporters chosen by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo for Debate 1 and
• 3 anti-Trump reporters chosen by CNN and CNN en Español for Debate 2

The DNC did not anticipate any problems with the candidates when the ground rules for the first debate were aired:

The candidates will have 60 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for any follow-ups.

After the first debate fiasco that saw a free for all ensue particularly between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris - the ground rules for the second debate were tightened:

You will each receive one minute to answer questions, 30 seconds for responses and rebuttals, and 15 additional seconds if a moderator asks for a clarification. The timing lights will remind you of these limits. Please respect them, and please refrain from interrupting other candidates during their allotted time. A candidate infringing on another candidate's time will have his or her time reduced.

• In addition candidates had been privately told:
• A candidate attacked by name by another candidate would be given 30 seconds to respond.
• There would be no show of hands or one-word, down-the-line questions.

The candidates paid scant attention to these Debate 2 time limits.

President Obama's legacy was trashed as many candidates sought to distance themselves from his administration's decisions – but still no questions to Vice President Biden on the Carter Page and Hillary Clinton sagas which have cost taxpayers well over $50 million dollars – and the metre is still running.

No question was asked on four key word issues of great public interest and intense media scrutiny over the previous two weeks:

• Mueller
• Impeachment
• Homelessness
• Anti-Semitism

What has emerged however is an ever-widening divide between the Moderate and Progressive wings of the Democratic Party - ensuring that whoever wins the nomination will have a lot of disgruntled Democrat voters from the other side who will simply not vote.

Biden must at some point - before the Democratic Party's Presidential candidate is finally selected – answer moderators' questions on the Obama administration and Biden's involvement in the Carter Page and Hillary Clinton debacles.

The Biden elephant in the room cannot avoid scrutiny – even if Fox News moderators are not there asking the questions.