Jim Webb: Democratic Debate Was “Rigged”

Jim Webb says that CNN’s Democratic Presidential Debate was “rigged” by the network and moderators to favor Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Webb stopped by the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday to talk about his views on foreign policy. When the topic of the debate came up, Webb was candid in his remarks.

“I’m going to be very frank, it was rigged in terms of who was going to get the time on the floor by the way that Anderson Cooper was selecting people to supposedly respond to something someone else said.”

Webb, a combat veteran, former Senator, and renowned author, has devoted most of his life towards the service of his country. Despite this, he was treated with disregard at the first Democratic debate.

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“I even turned around to Bernie Sanders at one point and said, Bernie, say my name, will you? Say my name,” Webb joked. “So you know, in that kind of an environment, you know, I was either going to be Mr. Angry or I was going to be a potted plant. That was the only way to try to get into the conversation.”

Webb lamented that such a format did not allow for substantive back and fourth on the issues. He concluded, “it’s very difficult to win a debate when you don’t have the opportunity to speak the same amount of time on issues as the other two did. It’s a reality that the debate was being portrayed as a showdown between Mrs. Clinton and Bernie, but if you’re going to be invited to participate and people are going to judge whether you, quote, “won” or not, at least you should be able to have the kind of time that’s necessary to discuss the issues that you care about, that you’ve worked on.”

Webb was disregarded and even mocked after relaying one of his experiences in the Vietnam War.