Rachel Maddow, the left-leaning primetime host on MSNBC, thinks Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is onto something with his proposal to dramatically shake up the 2016 primary debates.
On her show Tuesday, Maddow said Sanders’ proposal to have the Democratic Party to sanction more debates and to allow Republican candidates to participate “makes sense.”
Maddow said more debates with candidates from both parties would allow voters more opportunities to see how potential presidential nominees would take on the policy ideas of their opponents. She said it would also free up Republicans, many of who may not qualify to participate in GOP-only debates.
“If some of the candidates decided to go rogue, forgive the phrase, and organize this and start debating each other outside the party structure because the party structure doesn’t serve them, I would at least attend that debate,” Maddow said. “In fact, I would probably show up several hours early so I could be up front. I’d love to see that. I hope this whole debate system they planned for this year blows up. It’s not serving either party and the idea that Bernie Sanders has is a better one than anybody else has put forward.”
On Monday, Sanders wrote an official letter to the Democratic National Committee, which sanctions the party’s primary debates, saying he believes “these inter-party debates would put in dramatic focus the shallow and at times ridiculous policies and proposals being advocated by the Republican candidates and by their party’s platform.”
The DNC has not, however, made any adjustments to its debate schedule, which so far only includes six debates.
