DNC chair says 2020 climate change debate is 'not practical'

[left-of-center2012]

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez on Saturday said a presidential debate focused solely on climate change was not “practical” after a group of activists confronted him about the issue.

The DNC last week informed Democratic presidential hopeful and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) that it would not host a debate focused entirely on climate change, which has emerged as a hot-button issue among some candidates and voters. Inslee had been demanding that the DNC host a debate focused singularly on the issue.

“It’s just not practical,” Perez told the activists after delivering remarks at the Florida Democratic Party’s Leadership Blue gala, according to The Tampa Bay Times. “And as someone who worked for Barack Obama, the most remarkable thing about him was his tenacity to multitask, and a president must be able to multitask.” Perez stressed that each debate will cover a wide range of issues.

“So what we have said to everybody is that all of these issues are important.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/447655-dnc-chair-says-2020-climate-change-debate-is-not-practical-after-being

[msongs]

1. then dont penalize ppl who participate in non DNC climate forums xcpt maybe on fox nt

[George II]

2. I've watched just about every presidential debate going back to Nixon/Kennedy....

....I've never seen a debate limited to only one issue. There will certainly be questions posed to the candidates on climate change in each debate, address the issue then.

It seems to always be the marginal candidates who make unusual demands.

[FloridaBlues]

3. That's one way of getting through this large field.

There are so many issues we need to address and it would be informative to hear a range of topics from these candidates.

[pnwmom]

5. Bernie isn't a marginal candidate and he supports devoting one of the 12 debates to climate change

So do Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke, Kristin Gillibrand, Julian Castro and others.

Mother Jones says 12 of the candidates support having a full debate on climate change.

Climate change isn't just one issue. It is an overarching problem that includes MANY issues.


https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/06/jay-inslee-says-he-may-defy-the-dnc-on-a-climate-change-debate/

The progressive campaign to pressure the DNC to hold its first-ever sanctioned climate change debate first took shape in April. I originally reported that a number of groups, including Friends of the Earth, Credo Action, Greenpeace, Sunrise Movement, and 350.org, planned to ramp up the pressure on the DNC to finally devote the primetime opportunity to an issue that got short-shrift in the last cycle. Since then, about a dozen candidates, including Inslee, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Beto O’Rourke have joined the call.

SNIP

The reaction to this announcement was swift and critical. On Twitter, Al Gore called it a “mistake to refuse to hold a #ClimateDebate.” Elizabeth Warren chimed in with her disappointment: “Gov. Inslee is exactly right. Climate change is the biggest challenge we face. Every candidate running for president should have a serious set of policies to address it, and should be eager to defend those proposals in a debate.”

Inslee and the climate activists angling for more debates will argue that climate change isn’t as singular a topic as the DNC claims. It is intrinsically linked to the economy and national security—both themes of past DNC-sanctioned debates. Despite that, climate continues to be treated more as a niche issue by major TV networks and party officials.

“The DNC has said they won’t hold a climate debate because climate change is just a single issue,” Prakash says. “Try telling that the families who can’t afford to rebuild after the Camp Fire in California, the farmers in Iowa whose crops have been destroyed by floods, or the black and brown babies in Detroit who can’t breathe. Climate change is not just a ‘single issue’—it’s an existential threat that impacts every aspect of our lives.”


https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/29/climate-change-democrats-2020-1465563

Democrats across the ideological spectrum want their party to dedicate one of its presidential primary debates to climate change — despite the risk of exposing their own divides.

At least five presidential candidates have backed fellow presidential contender Jay Inslee's idea for a climate-centric debate, in a sign of the issue's growing profile among Democratic voters.

But a public debate might also force Democratic contenders to confront policy differences they have so far papered over, including how quickly they would push the U.S. to shift away from the fossil fuels that provide union jobs. The candidates would also face pressure to offer specifics on their position on the Green New Deal, the ambitious progressive climate resolution that Republicans have sought to tar as an expensive socialist boondoggle.

SNIP

The idea for a primary debate dedicated to climate change has been gaining traction since Inslee first proposed it in April. Fellow contenders Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have also backed the idea, as has former Obama Cabinet official Julián Castro. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who recently unveiled his climate pitch, told POLITICO he thought such a debate would be "great."

[George II]

6. He doesn't make the rules.

[pnwmom]

7. You just said only marginal candidates support it, and that's not true. And the irony is

Last edited Sun Jun 9, 2019, 10:55 PM - Edit history (2)

that some of Biden's supporters seem determined for him not to have to face these questions in a debate, and yet he has a detailed, thoughtful plan. They should be happy to have him present it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/politics/joe-biden-climate-plan.html

Mr. Biden’s plan calls for a federal investment of $1.7 trillion over 10 years into clean energy and other initiatives, which the campaign said would be paid for by rolling back Mr. Trump’s tax breaks for corporations. It also proposes leveraging state, private and local funds, for a total expenditure of $5 trillion over a decade.

It pledges support for environmental justice programs, designed to help minorities and poor people disproportionately harmed by pollution, and urges an end to new permits for oil and gas exploration on public lands.

Mr. Biden, who is seeking to appeal to blue-collar workers who helped deliver states in the industrial Midwest to Mr. Trump in 2016, promised retraining programs and new economic opportunities for coal workers and others displaced by the decline of the fossil fuel economy.

“We’re not going to forget the workers, either,” Mr. Biden said in a video promoting the plan.

[Lordquinton]

13. Who is "He"

I'm certain it isn't Elizabeth Warren, or Kamala Harris.

[George II]

14. This is the post to which I responded.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=145839

[Lordquinton]

16. Did you read the post you replied to?

if so, then who is "he?"

[left-of-center2012]

8. "It seems to always be the marginal candidates who make unusual demands."

Inslee is at 0% to 1% in an Iowa poll I posted here earlier today.

[JonAndKatePlusABird]

9. Unusual demands?!

Yes, because making sure our planet is habitable is such an unusual demand.

And you’ve watched all the debates back to Kennedy, good for you. Did you have an iPhone back then and the ability to instantly video chat with someone in Bangladesh?

Never mind, no point in changing things, what worked back then will always work now. The world, and especially the DNC, is a static entity that can never change.

To be honest, your glib response really pissed me off. Lets just ignore the fact that the west coast is on fire or that storms are stronger or that we keep having 500-year weather events. All issues are the same! Candidates will get their allotted time to speak, RULES ARE RULES.

[pnwmom]

4. That is a CROCK. There are many issues involved in climate change and the topic could easily

fill a debate.

It is nuts that the DNC thought 6 debates was enough for 2016 -- but 11 debates, plus 1 on climate change, wouldn't be enough for 2020.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

10. BINGO!!!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hekate]

11. I imagine the DNC has a subcommittee that will focus on a climate policy to which all candidates...

...may contribute ideas. As a plank in the final platform, climate policy will have great importance.

Remember Al Gore? His interest in climate change was not trivial. Every Democratic president pushes those ideas forward -- and every GOP Senator and Congressman sabotages as best they can. Twice now the sabotage has extended to stealing the office of Preside t away from the Dem winner.

Our candidates and our party are not about to forget this issue, but alas it is not the only issue facing them and us.

[MLAA]

12. Without addressing climate change ( unless it is too late) not much else will matter.

[Raine]

15. Hmmm so the most important issue facing the world

isn't practical enough to debate ... BULLSHIT!!!!