Minutes before the pre-debate instructions commenced on Monday’s first 2016 presidential debate, MSNBC personality Lawrence O’Donnell griped to his cohorts and viewers that rules and time limits make it “actually more burdensome” for the more substantive candidate while the debates showcase “no actual presidential skills” for who would be best for the job.
MSNBC breaking news and The 11th Hour host Brian Williams teed up O’Donnell by informing viewers that he “also finds some of the rules for tonight's event interesting” to say the least.
“[R]ules generally usually favor the weaker debater because it basically allows you to go into your corner. When there's a time limit....that kind of thing favors the person who only has two minutes of material and is actually more burdensome on the person who could do eight minutes on that same thing,” O’Donnell dithered in his elitist tone and clear shot to Trump.
O’Donnell later continued to downplay the importance of debates and build a case for Clinton by ruling that “there are no actual presidential skills on display tonight” because “[t]he job of president takes place in quiet and serious rooms surrounded by advisers with memos, with documentation with all sorts of things to check.”
Before being interrupted to show Hillary Clinton arriving at the debate venue, O’Donnell excused any inability of a candidate to think on the fly in debates because if they win the presidency, “[y]ou're never forced to answer a question without checking your notes or without checking with your advisers...what is not on display here tonight is how the job of the president is actually done.”
Earlier in MSNBC’s pre-debate coverage, Matthews somewhat humorously asked Mike Pence if he’s told Donald Trump to channel Bobby Kennedy in 1960 telling his brother John to “kick [Richard Nixon] in the balls” when giving advice about debating Hillary Clinton. This, of course, doesn’t make sense because Clinton is a woman.
The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC Debate Preview on September 2016 can be found below.
MSNBC Debate Preview
September 26, 2016
8:35 p.m. EasternBRIAN WILLIAMS: Lawrence O'Donnell, also part of our coverage, also finds some of the rules for tonight's event interesting. Lawrence?
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Yeah, Brian, rules generally usually favor the weaker debater because it basically allows you to go into your corner. When there's a time limit, say, as there will be tonight on a debate response of two minutes followed by another two minutes from the other candidate, that kind of thing favors the person who only has two minutes of material and is actually more burdensome on the person who could do eight minutes on that same thing and so you will often see the weaker debater use those rules and you can actually — you can usually tell how they are using those rules. The other thing that must be said, though, that all debate watchers should keep in mind is, there are no actual presidential skills on display tonight. The job of president takes place in quiet and serious rooms surrounded by advisers with memos, with documentation with all sorts of things to check. You're never forced to answer a question without checking your notes or without checking with your advisers and so this is something that the campaigns have developed as that final attempt to distinguish from the other candidate, but it — what is not on display here tonight is how the job of the president is actually done.
