GOP Contenders Will Not Commit To CNN/YouTube Debate
By Nicole Belle Thursday Jul 26, 2007 11:45am
Jose Antonio Vargas of the Washington Post reports:
Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C,. more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube -- targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at videopopulism on Sept. 17.
But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg.
"Aside from those two candidates, we haven't heard from anyone else," said Sam Feist of CNN, who's co-sponsoring the debate with the popular videosharing site.
Aww....whassamatter, Republicans? Afraid to stand up to the scrutiny of non-loyalty oath-signed crowds? Can't stand to answer for all the misdeeds of the rubberstamp Republican majority for the first five years of the Bush Administration? Don't want to justify your continuing loyalty to party over country? Afraid to have to answer to the grieving mother of a fallen soldier?
Hmmm....didn't stop the RNC from encouraging their mailing list to send in questions for the Democratic candidates, did it?
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If they can't face YouTube, how can they handle Al Qaeda?
If they can't face youtubers, how can we expect them to handle Al Qaeda?
I think it would be fun for Dennis Kuchinich to volunteer to appear and make up a quorum if they don't have enough republican candidates.
Haha great minds! :D
But the CNN YouTube Debate Videos Should Have Been Voted On for the Democratic Debate. I think the plan is for th Repuiblican Debate videos to be selected by "the CNN political team" as well.
Commercials should be run. Bash them repeatedly over it. What are the Republicans afraid of? Seize the initiative. CNN isn't a partisan outfit. And if I ran commercials, I'd use the point about crowds that have to take a loyalty oath and all. Bury the MF'ers!!!!
If the Repubs can't stand up to some guy on YouTube, how can they stand up to the al Queda terrorists?
Republicans won't do Youtube? LOL! Where are their balls?
Here's some neocon video on Youtube you ALL should see:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ePb6H-j51xE
Cowardly lying repugs!
soothsayer @ 2:
wf @ 1:
Bastards. :)
They can't face their own constituants.
Cowards. Every fucking one of them.
They are all cowards, craven crooked cowards. They make over half this country want to vomit.
"Youtube is a liberal smear site, next on the O'Reilly Factor"
Bill-O, July 24, 2007
Oh the irony...
Isn't it funny how a group of people claiming to be most in touch with mainstream America are afraid to directly speak to ... mainstream America?
They probably thought it would be too hard to
pre-screen for only the loyalist who think
the GOP is GOD.
Democrats refuse propagandistic debate on FNC.
Republicans refuse democratic debate on YouTube.
Its obvious who hates our freedoms - the Republican Party.
Umm, let's not get too carried away over this.
We had no problem justifying the Dem boycott of the Fox opinion Channels debate.
The right wing predictably started the meme, if they can't face fox, how can they face Al Qaida.
Now we are pulling the same, low tactics.
of course not...a Republican showing up at a debate where they are not guaranteed softball questions, that will never happen!!!
What a joke the Republican candidates are. I mean, wow.
we should submit questions anyway - such as "if you win - how do you plan on continuing with bush's plan to suppress the freedoms of the american people?"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fCutvXccFlA
What girly men.
My guess is, that those that have not answered can not afford to go off the Republican message. If they do not know what question(s) will be asked they have no way of knowing how to respond or at least how the Republican Party will respond. McCain has no choice as he is barely holding onto his campaign so he has nothing to lose and Ron Paul does not stick to the Republican Party message anyway.
Richterscale @ 16:
yeah, because you know how biased the American people are.
Republicans can't face real questions by real Americans. Instead they'd rather have the nice softball pitches from Faux Noise and the intellectually incompetent rednecks.
Richterscale @ 16:
Faux is clearly the media arm of the GOP.
How is youtube affiliated with any political party or represents some sort of partisanship?
It would be nice for C&L to also link their own story, found here, about the GOP backing out of the NCAAP sponsored debate as well. Just reinforces how terrified the Right's presidential hopefuls are of REAL Americans asking question versus closed caption audiences.
Why should they waste their time? Even if they did show up, more people would watch "The Singing Bee" or some other *reality* teevee show instead.
Furthermore, why waste their time when there isn't even going to BE an election in 2008.
We'll be under martial law, military rule, by then.
But, enjoy the theatrics of it all anyway, while you still can.
I sincerely hope that empty chairs with the names of the candidates are placed on the stage, and the moderator(s) asks those empty chairs the same questions that will be asked of those present...with the observation that those who should have been there can't answer for their lack of presence...in more ways than one.
Each question addressed to a missing candidate's empty chair will be a reminder to the American people just how contemptuous their 'betters' in the Republican Party are towards them.
Just proves that Republicans love Snow, hate Snowmen.
It's because Youtube has not yet sworn allegiance to the GOP, like all other media has.
Dr. Matt @ 24:
Thanks for playing along with the Globalist Elite's game, Matt.
Answer me this: If "Faux", as you call it, is the media arm of the GOP, then why is it that HClinton has received campaign donations and even had a fundraising party thrown for her by NewsCorp's (and "Faux's") owner, Rupert Murdoch? And, why is it that the Clintons are so chumy with Murdoch if "Faux" is the media arm of the GOP?
Nicole, your questions are highly suggestive of pre-9/11 thinking. Remember - everything changed that day, including the need for repugs to actually answer real questions.
I think the Democrats should do the debate and answer all of the questions for the Republican candidates. Answer them like this:
"Well, since Mr. Romney has found you not important enough to be here, I'm going to say the way I would get out of Iraq is to listen more to the Democrats."
Zenrage @ 23:
They follow the lead of their leader. How many "impartial" crowds has the President spoken in front of in the last six years.
peter @ 19:
honk if you think these republican traitors should [deleted--do not advocate violence on this site] a fair trial!
Richterscale @ 16:
So you don't appreciate the delicious irony of using their own words against them? What a pity.
Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 30:
The same reason that Bill does charity work with the old man.
The Clinton's sold out to Bushco. They are part of the cabal. But you already know this. The bashing of Clinton at Faux News is to appease the knuckledraggers in the Party. But the elites WANT Clinton to win. They KNOW a GOP Presidential candidate is dead in the water. They KNEW that this was was gonna go south and create the problems it did. Murdoch is APOLITICAL. He is not a REPUBLICAN. He is a rich power broker, brokering power to enrich himself. His ideology is CAPITALISM...and his god is money.
Jeff Gannon can't figure out how to upload his video questions I guess...
Oscar, the Grim-Reaper cat, has been seen walking the halls of National Republican Headquarters.
Liberal AND Proud,
You may have a point but try not to feed Orwell’s Illegitimate Son. He would have us wallowing in cynicism to justify our inaction (i.e. reading the sports page).
Well, they still got 7 weeks or so until the debate. If no more contenders step up to the plate in the next month or so, then I'll start bashing them.
This should not be shocking. Most of these candidates are so plastic and rehearsed that I would think that taking questions which are unfavorable would not be something that they would wish to do. If nothing else, this does show how these candidates view an open forum.
what price glory? if the republican barrel is empty of presidential candidates from what sewer did they skim to come up with so much worthless scum , the republicans are allready bankrupt , it only remains for them to bring the rest of us down with them, they stole their last election bloods going to run if they try another one!
This is the second time in two weeks the Republican candidates have cut and run before the American people. All but one of them skipped the NAACP event in Detroit on July 12.
For the details, see:
"GOP Candidates to Add YouTube Event to NAACP Boycott?"
tyree @ 34:
H-O-N-K!!!!!!
A quick search of You-tube make me think that
only Ron Paul supporters on the Republican side
can even use the the The Tubes/inter-webs. Which
make some sense Libertarians hate the Neo-Republican
as much as the left.
Stream of conciousness:
Conservative > conservatism > contempt > concealment > crooked > commandeering > COMMUNISM
That's why they won't participate...
"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. -Josef Stalin
They can't hide behind the green curtain forever....
Richterscale @ 16:
I don't know that this is the case. They have not declined based on any principles, whereas the Democrats did. The Democrats pulled out because they viewed Fox as biased. The Republicans are making no such claim here. I have yet to see any reason given for this.
Firstly, the requisite how can the GOP candidates be expected to keep us safe from teh Islamonazis when they are too scared to face YouTube?
Seondly, just imagine the great airing of the bat-shit insanity that is the GOP base to whom the GOPers are beholden, if YouTubers were given a public forum on live television. How funny would THAT be?
Thridly, I love the idea of stand-ins answering the questions for the candidates. Hmm, I wonder if someone will post a YouTube video depicting an actor depicting Mitt Romney answering YouTube questions.
PNAAC Minister @ 39:
Yes, please, don't feed me. I'm on the "Posh Spice" diet.
Whay you refer to as cynicism, I much prefer to refer to as realism.
I'm neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Time spent debating whether a glass is half-empty or half-full is still time wasted, and itself spurs inaction.
Tit for tat Thugs...they don't have anything to say anyway
THANKS THUGS, FOR NOT WASTING OUR ELECTRONS!!11!
Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 49:
I know this has been mentioned several times, but I'm adding my comment just because this will be a point that many Americans will bring up. It does seem hypocritical that Democrats refused to debate on Fox yet mock Republicans for backing out of a YouTube debate.
Some mitigating factors:
1. From what I saw, YouTubers were not exactly gentle with the Democrats. Many of the questions were not softballs and called for accountability and definite plans of action.
2. The Republican party is co-hosting this debate and therefore have some say in what questions will be picked.
What do you think? Please, no flaming: I'm looking for solid information I can give my friends when they ask me about this.
Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 49:
And your incessant need to tell us how completely empty the glass is spurs . . what exactly?
Liberal AND Proud @ 51:
As I stated a bit earlier, I don't think it is the same thing. The Democrats withdrew from the Fox debates because they felt that Fox was unfair and biased. The Republicans are neither claiming that CNN or You Tube are unfair or biased, they just aren't interested. If they had a reason for doing this, I would then say that it is a valid reason, whether I agreed with the reason or not. Thus far, they have not even done that. They are simply avoiding it.
Until they give reasons for this, they seem to just be uneasy with the format of taking questions that they will not be able to rehearse.
Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 49:
PNAAC Minister @ 53:
Acceptance. It's the final step in the grief cycle, y'know? I had grieved over coming to grips with the truth about our world and who truly runs it for over two years now, and I just recently came to the final step of this cycle.
I know it's not pleasant to think about, but once you accept the way things are and always have been, the better you will feel.
Cut and run cowards.
The Republican Party = The Dying Party
OK, if they can't handle UTube let them have their traditional forum, what does it matter?
Let them pick FOX and 25% of their bottomfeeding fat-lipped dullard splorts of a viewership Forum and it will all pass.
Like Tony Snow all they can do now is shit out their sides into an embarrassing little bag.
It's a big, scary world outside of Fox.
crazylove @ 59:
Universal tube & rollform equipment corporation??? That UTube?
/snark
Sorry. Sorry... I just couldn't resist.
Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 57:
If that works for you - fine. Personally, I'd rather go down swinging than trying to convince someone else to give up. Fight the good fight, etc. etc.
Targa@61, d'ya mean condoms? Or is that a private joke?
I can't wait 'till a youtuber asks, "Do you wear boxers or briefs?"
And Gulliani answers, "Panties."
It would be a hoot to watch Ghouliani answer his questions.
if he were asked what type of grass seed he uses on his lawn, his answer would be '9/11!!!!!'
Cowards always hide misdirect and Lie.
Start checking their association with BlackWater Mercenaries, the move is now to demonize anyone that is contradicting what is being said.
Notice the lack of schock and outrage in the mureder of Spec. Tillman, notice the lack of outrage, by the smae Cowards out he nonsense stupid answers of BOZO GONZO, yup! these clowns are waiting to totally dum,p the Constitution.
Notice how they keep trying to justify the power of the state over the power of the people. These are Cowards and they will will sell us out, this is why they are not taking sides.
What has Blackwater been doing lately?
Richterscale @ 65:
Anything, as long he can keep his cigar and cognac by the fireplace.
His big surprise, Reality is serving him with divorce papers. You can't go home again Rudy.
Richterscale @ 16:
Don't care. I'm tired of playing fair with these assholes.
Dr. Matt @ 24:
***You are 100% CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***
Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp--parent of FAUX News--held a fund raiser for Hillary Clinton. Therefore, that PROVES that FAUX News is the media arm of the GOP!
You're logical reasoning skills are brilliant, Dr. Matt. You are brilliant, as are all liberals.
repubs are afraid of a snowman how are they going to protect us from terrorism?
I still hope that cnn decides to air it...Imagine how great it would be to see just two candidates up on stage given plenty of time to air their ideas and beliefs. Then maybe alot of you democrats will open up your eyes to Dr. Paul's unique message about government. I used to be a die hard Dem, but seriously all of them disappoint me...I mean in this day in age who the heck believes we should use nuclear weapons as a preemptive strike on iran...apparently 9/10 of the repubs and 6/8 dems (minus gravel, kucinich)...that just sickens me and should sicken you guys too
No Neocons! @ 8:
Great video and even greater sentiment!
**************NO MORE WAR FOR OIL**************
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ePb6H-j51xE
**************NO MORE WAR FOR OIL**************
Republican Lions Acting Cowardly
Apparently most of the Republican presidential candidates are afraid of the YouTube citizen-driven format of the upcoming CNN/YouTube Debate that's now only six weeks away. I'd have guessed that Fred Thompson would be too damned afraid to let everyon...
Really, why play with them at all? Repugs HAVE NO TANGIBLE REFERENCE POINT with which to engage on a reasoning basis. Something COHERENT with which each view can consider the other. Their open secret is that they DON't HAVE ONE. They don't share real views because there aren't any.
Aggression is all they've got because of their desperate impoverishment.
E in MD @ 68:
As we say in Texas, "You don't go to a gun battle armed with only a spork."
They'll agree to do it as long as if Frank Luntz organizes it, and its on an aircraft carrier filled with 'willing participants'. And its not youtube, but on BillOreilly.com. Then its a done deal! Aw hell, even Freddie Thompson might show up....if he wants to.
BushCo killed the GOP.
StriFry@75,
"BushCo killed the GOP."
...as the GOP is now discovering.
Who'd a thunk that a bunch of chicken hawks would be such chicken shits.....
dot @ 69:
Well, at least we have eyes, try look at this:
http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2007/03/fox-news-at-its-fine...
and this, less funny though
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=25279
lol. what good is the GOP gonna sayy to a question like "how to cover all americans with healthcare?" Free markets? I don't wanna pay for anyone except myself? I don't care about others?
Any man, woman or child who calls themselves a Republican is an absolute disgrace.
I gasped out loud when the upcoming September 17th repuglican CNN/youtube debates were announced. I mean, even on paper, how could the idea possibly work ... ?
Inquiring minds will tune in, if it actually happens. There might be a few empty podiums though, lol
ysbaddaden @ 64:
And Fred Thompson answers, "Depends."
Republipussies! WTF are they afraid of? The internets? The YouTube? Questions from us ordinary folks?
Well, they shouldn't agree to that idiotic, stupid, dumbed down, piece of s*** YouTube Format.
Please, somebody make a youtube video asking these people if they support the Bush/Cheney concept of the unitary executive. And if they would support that theory if a Democrat were president.
Does their rection really surprise anyone? All but one skipped the NAACP debates and I'm sure they really do not want to debate with Tavis Smiley either in September. On the other hand:
Tom Murphy @ 5:
If CNN again selects the questions, that should give the Repugnits some relief. The RNC is probably trying to figure out how they could create a NeoYouTube and do their debate on NeoFOX using high rsoulution CGI created characters asking exactly the appropriate questions of them.
Poor wingnuts, its all slipping away on them.
If Republicans hate the internets so much, they must be good. Create and tag your blog as inspired by bill to show Bill O what an inspiration he is.
Liberal AND Proud @ 33:
Apparently YouTube isn't a considered to be a registered "Free Speech Zone"
Of course they didn't want to do it. They believe it's beneath them to answer to the people they deign to rule.
They're not able to tell the truth, so the bedwetting Rethugs. can't go on TV.
There's a lot of things to be pissed at Republicans for, but this isn't one of the. I don't blame them, the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate was a joke.
No sane American needs to hear any more from these Imperial Yes Men
anyway. Besides Ron Paul (whom the Party Bosses have already said
will get no support) there is not an ounce of difference between them.
What the republican party needs is a true Conservative. We won't hold
our breath. The republican party is a reactionary cesspool.
The Voters are going to hold the republicans responsible for their actions
in this next election. They have a pretty shabby record to stand on, and
no amount of Swift Boating, and Willie Horton tactics are going to save
them. But we can rest assured the republican slime machine will be running
at maximum output. Its all they have left.
Pat @ 92:
Right on - that format was a total piece of s***, and a waste of time.
Are these "The Tubes" that that the GOP are talking about?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kP8nGNbk7oQ
Come on Republics, the American primary candidates did a youtube debate, why can't you?
While I agree with the points made about the difference between this and the Dem/Fox thing, I still think that the Dems would have been better off doing it anyway. It would have really increased the pressure on the Rethugs to not back out of any forum, and would eliminate their childish "they did it TOO!" excuse. And as it's been said, it's fine for us to write off the Fox audience, but it isn't for a presidential candidate. Right or wrong, it just feeds into the spineless rap on "our guys".
I don't blame them. With the exception of a very few questions, like the one from the Iraq war casualty's mother, the You Tube 'debate' was a waste.
can we preview them?
[...] Clark Contact the Webmaster Link to Article ron paul GOP Contenders Will Not Commit To CNN/YouTube Debate » Posted at Crooks [...]
Is it a mystery to all of you WHY the Repubs are not debating?
How about the fact that EVERY TELEVISED DEBATE.. Had Dr. Ron Paul winning it by polls or text messaging... And don't tell me those BIG campaigns couldn't afford to GET OUT THE VOTE!! LOL!!
Look, nothing was funnier than the look on Mitt Romney's face when Sean Hannity announced that Dr. Ron Paul was winning the poll.. with Mitt Romney taking second!.. That was a FUNNY LOOK on ole Romneys face..LOL!!
The MORE Dr. Paul's message is heard by the people.. the more it will catch on... I didn't even support this guy until after the FOX debate.. then I looked him up on the computer.. and on youtube
Peace
Atvdude
Whether the demo utube debate had any worth or not... This response from the field of GOP contenders to a like debate from their side of the street on utube screams one word to me...CHICKENSHITS!!!! JD
They are all a bunch of chicken shit chicken hawks.
This just does to show that the Cons know they do not represent the will of the American people. They are afraid to answer questions -- even those that would be filtered by CNN -- from real American people, some of whom have been affected by the Chimp's and the Cons' crimes.
you know they are going to use how democrats refused to appear on the Faux news debates as some sort of justification for this.
and atvdude -- ron paul seems to be a good candidate--at least on Iraq--- however, when you dig a little bit deeper...on other issues, i flat out disagree with him.
He is pro-life and is against universal health care. He argues against abortion, saying that gov't has no part in it, but votes to ban it. He said he would've voted for the Defense of Marriage act if he had been in Congress. He may be A-ok with his Iraq stance, but I think he's dangerous to others' rights.
Tim Ed Anshabby @ 97:
No. They'd think that of the Dems regardless. The Fox audience isn't to be convinced.
soothsayer @ 83:
Hey-yo! (no wonder why fred looks like his pants are soggy all the time)
Who can blame them... People submitting questions thru their pets, having the 5 year old ask questions... Give me a break... This was a dumb idea from the get go and those who tried to be clever at creating their questions demeaned the entire process... I watched all of the legitimate debates intently but I passed on the last YOUtube debate and will pass on all future such events...
wf @ 1:
that sums it up perfectly
The idea that these questions are unfiltered questions from American's is ridiculous. It's CNN editors letting people ask what they would like to ask. It's still CNN's questions. In that light, why is Republican's refusing to do a CNN debate any different from Democrats refusing to do a FOX debate?
Why not just redo the Democratic YouTube debate to fill in for the missing republicans?
The Demo candidates would have a lot more fun answering the questions posed for republicans, especially if they could play off McCain's and Paul's positions.
geez, what part of this is not understood. the dems subjected themselves to idiot questions put on for the most part by a bunch of buffoons, not all, but a heck of a lot of them. remember, "and this is my baby." maybe with a serious debate they can make up some of the ground lost. hopefully there will be a couple of questions regarding the impeachment of gonzo at least or what is their plan on iraq. it would be nice to know.
so in effect, i don't know how they did it, but to have the dems subjected to the stupidity of the format of their debate and for them to opt out, score another for the repubs.
Ron Paul is the man, he gets most of the questions and will show his strength over the rest. Thats why they do not want to be on that debate.
At 25% popularity who is listening to their message anyway. They are doing CNN a favor.
I will agree with the poster above. Ron Paul does make the rest look like simple Bushbots.
Oh god no! The public might get to ask us a REAL question rather than our buddies in the "liberal" media!
What difference would it make anyhow?
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