and the rebuttals are given to the candidates in advance... and the rebuttals to the rebuttals are given to the candidates in advance... and so on and so on.
In fact, the candidates have pretty good ideas what the positions of their opponents are, and the nicest thing about the debates are that when candidates mischaracterize their opponents on purpose they are responded to in real time.
Your second paragraph explains why the events in your first paragraph are not needed.
See this Newsroom clip.
Basically, their news network is trying to change the way political debates work by having the moderator force the candidates to answer the questions that are asked of them, not interrupt each other, justify arguments that are based on obvious falsehoods etc.
How big of a positive impact do you guys think that this would have on society?
My initial thoughts are that it would be huge. It would lead to better politicians, which would be a high level of action. The positive effects would trickle down into many aspects of our society.
The question then becomes, "can we make this happen?". I don't see a way right now, but the idea has enough upside to me that I keep it in the back of my mind in case I come up with a plausible way of implementing the change.
Thoughts?