On "Forbes Newsroom," former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE) spoke about the nominating process from the political parties.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I talked to multiple lifelong Democrats after the debate.
00:04They were very more than surprised about President Biden's performance.
00:08Yes.
00:09Yes.
00:10None of us are life.
00:11None of us are lifelong Democrats.
00:13We have to wait till we're 18 to register.
00:16Sure.
00:18OK, so you've got 18 years.
00:21So after 18 years on the free market, after 18 years on the free market,
00:27from 18 years and up, they were voting for Obama, Hillary Clinton, President Biden.
00:35They were surprised by President Biden's performance.
00:38They felt gaslit.
00:40One of them said to me, if I didn't know President Trump's performance as president,
00:45I would think he's more presidential right now.
00:47What do you say to these voters who feel angry with the Democratic Party right now?
00:53Well, I don't know.
00:55I've never it's not my best behavior to make a decision based upon anger.
01:00It just isn't.
01:01I find it to be understandable.
01:03I have plenty of it.
01:05And but I don't.
01:07It's it's the wrong mood to make a decision, especially as important as this one is.
01:13And so what do you think?
01:15What do you think is the future for the Democratic Party then?
01:19Because there is this sense of panic after this debate.
01:23There is this sense that they're at a crossroads right now.
01:26Do we support President Biden? Do we move on?
01:29Well, it takes me, I think, to a different question than one you're asking.
01:35I mean, I think our presidential nominating process has to change.
01:39I think it's been corrupted by both by both political parties.
01:42And it it makes it difficult to select the best the nation has to offer.
01:47You know, they both voluntarily went out of the presidential debate process.
01:52That was a process intended to try to create a nonpartisan environment and didn't work.
01:58So, I mean, we don't have a federal law.
02:01The two parties decide when the caucuses are held, when the primaries are held.
02:06They get to decide all of that.
02:08And as important as this particular office is, it's the only office when you go to vote that has an impact on the entire country.
02:16But we have a crazy nominating process.
02:19I take the power away from both parties and establish a federal law that determines what's the terms and conditions under which we decide who's going to be president.
02:28How much money? When does the money start to be spent?
02:31There's lots of things that could be done to improve the quality, not just for the purpose of saying academically it's better,
02:38but to increase the trust that people have that we have a process that leads to the best two people that we can possibly find to do the job.
02:47Uh-oh, balloons are going up. Did I do that?
02:50They agree with you. There's a celebration for what you're saying.
02:55But what is that solution?
02:57Did you do that? Did you have the balloons?
02:59I didn't have the balloons going up. I think that was when your hand went up.
03:03But I think that's, I mean, the balloons honestly were an interesting touch there because I think there is this sense of distrust in this system right now.
03:14So what is the biggest thing that you would say would add trust to this whole entire political presidential process?
03:22Write a federal law that governs the terms and conditions of the presidential campaign.
03:27Don't leave it to the two parties.
03:29They have all the power in deciding who's going to what you have to do to become a nominee of the party.
03:35It's a it's a corrupt process. It doesn't lead to the best outcome.
03:39It just doesn't. So we need a federal law. You need to take the power away from those two political parties.
03:44You don't put them out of business. You still have a political party.
03:47But don't give them the power and authority to decide who are who are nominees are going to be.
03:53I know circling back to the very beginning of the conversation.
03:56I know you didn't think that the national debt question was answered in a way that you would like to see.
04:02If there is a debate in September 12th, by all indications, there is going to be a debate in September.
04:08Do you want another question on the national debt? And what exactly would that question be?
04:14First of all, you're very good at answering questions. You should be asking questions.
04:17You should be one of the moderators because, you know, you don't forget what the conversation was supposed to be about.
04:23Look, I think I think I think you have to say, you know, I saw you guys do it.
04:29You got to a point you were paying off debt in 2000.
04:32What do you have? What is your proposal to get us back to paying off debt?
04:37And if they say, well, we're going to do with immigration or we're going to do it with growth.
04:42It has to be something that puts a constraint on spending, which Democrats agreed to.
04:47And in 1990, it has to do something that has some increase in revenue that doesn't impair growth in the economy.
04:55And in fact, in this in the third piece of legislation that we passed, we cut capital gains because we believe that would increase investment, increase the strength of the economy.
05:04And it turned out it did. So I think you've got to they've got to be very precise that they'll support a plan that includes revenue increases,
05:12that includes restraint on spending, that leads by every expert opinion to us being able to pay off debt.
05:19And if they weren't super precise and if you were the moderator, I'm sure you would turn off their mics until they until they.
05:26I would announce to the public, you know, I'm I've both those two moderators.
05:31So are they going to do the September one? No, I believe it's either NBC or ABC.
05:37OK, so they'll send somebody from NBC and ABC that knows how to answer, ask questions and can tell inside of their bony little heads.
05:45They can understand when somebody is not answering the question or when they're giving a answer that sounds like it's an answer, but it's not.
05:52They've got to force it because if they don't force it, they move on to talk about gun control or some other issue.
05:57It's all over. They've never put the pressure on what I think is the most important issue in this in this campaign.