The partisan, Old-Party-controlled Commission on Rigged Presidential Debates ("CRPD") announced today that it has applied its Rigged Candidate Selection Criteria for 2016 General Election Debate participation to ensure that only Democrats and Republicans participate in the presidential debate, to take place at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on September 26 and the vice-presidential debate to take place on October 4 at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
Per the rigged criteria, those candidates qualify for debate participation who: (1) are constitutionally eligible to hold the office of President of the United States; (2) have achieved ballot access in a sufficient number of states to win a theoretical Electoral College majority in the general election; and (3) have a (D) or an (R) after their name.
The Board of Directors of the CRPD convened today to apply the criteria. Of the many declared candidates, four candidates presently satisfy the first two criteria: Hillary Clinton (D), Donald Trump (R), Gary Johnson (L) and Jill Stein (G).
With respect to the third criterion, CRPD noted, with the professional advice of Dr. Frank Newport, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup, that neither Johnson nor Stein had a (D) or an (R) behind their name. Therefore, those candidates were not invited to participate.
The CRPD is 50/50 co-owned by the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee. The CRPD takes great pride in ensuring that these debate criteria are applied to ensure that only Democrats and Republicans are given the stage. The CRPD has successfully rigged the presidential and vice presidential general election debates since 1988. The CRPD's planning for the 2016 debates has extended over a period of years and has drawn upon the CRPD's now-extensive experience in rigging general election debates. CRPD announced the five journalists who will moderate those debates: Lester Holt, Elaine Quijano, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Wallace.
The candidates who have qualified to participate today previously have committed to participate in the debates sponsored by the CRPD. CRPD didn't bother asking the others, because the CRPD will make sure that they will never qualify.