AGAIN, Newt’s absolutely right.
Why have an audience AT ALL if they aren’t allowed to reflect any kind of emotion.
Knowing the way NBC thinks, I’m a bit surprised they don’t fill the seats with registered Democrats.
RTW
NO WAY would I let some little media intern tell me that I can't clap.
If the audience really was made up of conservatives and they sheepishly sat there because someone told them to do so, Lord have mercy what does that mean for our future?
“Why have an audience AT ALL if they aren’t allowed to reflect any kind of emotion.”
Exactly right. Why not then just sit at home and watch it on TV? This explains why the audience looked like a bunch of zombies (which is what the MSM wants).
Allowing this suppression of free speech — by the media no less — was yet another political blunder by the Stupid Party.
I absolutely agree with you. Don’t have an audience at all. This is supposed to be a presidential debate not a road game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. No home field advantage for anyone.
How do you know they didn’t?
Don't you know? They are saving that for the general election debates.
Seriously, though, excessive displays of applause can be distruptive to the tight schedules of debates and, in the extreme, can even be used to shout down other candidates.
If the debate moderates actually acted like baseball umpires rather than the ultra-partisan hacks which they are, then I would have no problem with limiting applause.
A decent compromise might be a Star Trek type solution where each audience member is equiped with a traffic light type device which could flash red lights (for disagreement) or green lights (for agreement). That way, you have visual feedback evidence without the time disruptions.