By rigged, i mean the ask different candidates different questions and give them different amounts of time
Absolutely, and the networks that host the debates would be lying if they didn't admit they have an agenda. I recall during one debate in 2020 that Trump said to the moderator "so I guess I am debating both of you now... ok.."
I don't think he was wrong about that either.
There was also the instance where they were talking about health care ages ago when Ron Paul was running and they basically ignored him despite the fact that he was the only MD on the stage at the time. Seems to me that if the debate was truly about the issue you might want to talk to the only doctor that was there.
Do you remember when George W would only agree to debates if there was some sort of red light up timer that would switch on depending on the length on the responses? That was pretty damn funny in my mind.
I don't really remember the George W thing. I probably wasn't paying attention. I definitely remember the Ron Paul thing though. Jon Stewart had a hysterical commentary on how the media and debate moderators treated him. It would make me angry if it didn't make me laugh so hard. I just watched it again and almost snorted my coffee.
https://www.cc.com/video/in35c7/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-indecision-2012-corn-polled-edition-ron-paul-the-top-tier
thanks for the link, I remember that particular segment well and it was great to see it again.