Republicans revolt over debates, but agreeing on demands is more difficult

The Republican presidential candidates are still in an uproar over the debates, and they're organizing to change things. Top advisers from 11 of the campaigns held a meeting on Sunday to discuss possible changes to the debates. The one thing they could all agree on: Fox News still gets its debate next week, on the Fox Business Network. Beyond that, the demands are still about as up in the air as you'd expect from a gathering of any 11 of these candidates. But no one besides Fox News is definitely safe:

One campaign manager, speaking about the private meeting on the condition of anonymity, wrote: “Major question is if the RNC should be involved at all.”

That's right. The Republican candidates may not want the Republican Party involved in the presidential primary debates. But do they want all the candidates on the stage, or fewer candidates on the stage? More time to talk or not? Depends who you ask. Ben Carson's campaign wants a single debate with all the candidates, but still a two-hour debate:

“Of course, we’re not going to get five-minute opening statements,” Bennett said, but “you can do a lot in two hours.”

Really, though? Can you? With 15 candidates?

Some tension was already in the air about that idea. Several campaigns, including Trump’s, were more interested in reducing the number of candidates on the stage.

“One of the big goals is allowing for more substance and equal time,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the campaign manager for her father, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. “It does make that difficult if there are multiple candidates but the debate’s capped at two hours.”

Huckabee can't seriously advocate for fewer candidates, because he'd be in danger of being bumped, so more time is the only answer, I guess. Meanwhile, Carson thinks he has the answer to making a two-hour debate with a million candidates (or 15, or whatever) work out:

"Some people pretty much ignore the time constraints, while others are very careful to stay within them, and I think that creates inequality," Carson said. "We need to tighten it up a little bit and do it more like a professional type of debate."

Sen. Lindsey Graham appears to be auditioning for a career as a comedian when he says "I want smaller groups on the stage, better debate questions and let us all be heard from equally." Psst, Lindsey: You've been on stage with three other people. Your problem is not the number of people on the stage, it's the time slot you've been forced into by your lack of support from voters.

Your Republican candidates, ladies and gentlemen. United in the belief that they've been done wrong and that they shouldn't have to answer difficult questions, but not agreeing on much else. (About debates, that is. They generally agree on tax breaks for the rich, criminalizing abortion, promoting war, supporting bigotry, and keeping workers down.)