Chicken Run: Repubs Bail on September YouTube Debate?
“Because I’m sure that if Rudy skips the YouTube debate, his connections to various shady characters will never, ever become something that he needs to address while running for President. Just like when John Kerry tried to ignore the Swift Boat Veterans, the issue completely went away…” (Ross Douthat)
“I thought they were supposed to be the tough guys! What are they afraid of? A question about the war from a mother whose son died? Or are they just afraid to have fun?” (Ann Althouse)
“It was a presidential debate, for cryin’ out loud, and CNN’s decision to give airtime to a stack of frozen water lowered it to the level of an Internet chat room. Now “Billiam the Snowman” has a Facebook group to explore his own presidential run,” writes Danny Glover @ Beltway Blogroll.
David Weigel @ Hit and Run writes: “Seriously, though, Republicans would be foolish to wave off their own YouTube debate. I was a skeptic of the format, too, but it turned out to be a fecund source of out-of-the-box questions. The snowman was silly, but was it really a bigger waste of time than Chris Matthews asking the Republican candidates if they wanted Bill Clinton back in the White House?”
Rick Moran @ RWNH, like Patrick Ruffini, also think it would be a bad idea, and Allahpundit @ Hot Air reminds how everyone was criticizing the Democratic candidates for shunning the Fox News debate: “You can’t go crying about the Democrats ducking Fox and then pat Rudy Giuliani on the back for having the savvy to avoid a ‘set up,’ boys.”
“If ya scared say you’re scared!” (Pierre Legrand @ Pink Flamingo)
It will be good for Ron Paul, says Joe Gandelman. (The Moderate Voice)
“Go to all the networks and talk to all the journalists, yes … But skip the setups.” (Hugh Hewitt)
“Dignity is still a good thing for a president to maintain.” (Don Surber)
Silliness Over Substance: “Nothing against YouTube here, but the office of President of the United States of America, the one remaining superpower in the world, should be taken more seriously than some of the stunts I saw being pulled on that night.” (Wake Up America)
Too scary? “I’m not sure whether the resistance is rooted is the profound feebleness of the current GOP field or the fact that the current Bush Republican party is so beholden to a worldview based on denial and suppression of evidence that exposure to unpredictable questions presents too great a danger. But if they can’t face Youtube how can they defeat the terrorists?” (Josh Marshall @ Talking Points Memo)
“My recommendation is they swallow hard and attend. When historians look back at the 2008 election I think they will call it the YouTube election.” (Watching Those We Choose)
“Ducking YouTube after the Dems did so well will look like a party uncomfortable with the culture and uncomfortable with democracy.” (Andrew Sullivan)
David All is collecting video responses. On YouTube, of course. (techPresident)
In my opinion, the format demeans those taking the time to run for President. Not all voters in this Country are 20 some year olds that haven’t grown up if they think the question with the bookshelves or the snowman are funny.
This Nation is facing uncertain times and voters over 30 want real answers from real questions not some goofball format that even my youngest daughter in college and her friends thought was a bad idea.
Grow up and face the fact that most voters did not appreciate the U-Tube format and it was dumb.
Voters still want to meet the candidates up close and personal and not have them subjected to a snowman or salesman in a debate.
Misjudged the vast majority of voters including some younger voters who still believe that running for President is not a joke or just another acting job.
Wake up and have Americans see your generation as adding something to this Country not making it a joke for U-Tube.
Although it’s understandable that most voters prefer a presidential debate that’s more serious and addresses greater issues in a debate aired through a medium that everyone is used to, I think the attempt to reach out to this younger generation, through a medium that they are more familiar with and comfortable with using than the rest of us, is commendable. We want this younger generation, which is already skeptical and cynical towards our government, to become more involved and interested in the issues that they will eventually have to face when they grow up. If that means peaking their interest through a youtube presidential debate and asking more honest, and granted, silly, questions then so be it. This doesn’t mean that the following Democratic debates, which they could hold again for everyone else who didn’t appreciate the youtube debate, will be just as casual and “trivial”. One medium and presidential debate method doesn’t fit all, as we have come to expect. I think it’s about time candidates are focusing on everyone, instead of the majority.
The dem debate was like watching a high school debate. I was waiting for the question, “what will you do if elected to make recess longer”
The right is right to stay away.
It’s opened up to and come to a childish way to govern our country.That’s the liberal way of thinking,and this kind of debate proves it.Why should Republicans stoop to that level?
UPDATE:
Romney is on CSPAN right now and has taken a YouTube question!
He also said, due to his schedule, he is not able to make the CNN/YouTube debate.
In crime the rule is that if you are breaking the big laws, you can’t break the small laws. An (distant) acquaintance who was arrested with a pound of pot during a routine traffic stop for not wearing his seat belt proved that to me.
The Republicans can chicken out on the YouTube debate because they are not chickening out on the war.
Bad plan to be calling the Republican candidates “Chicken Run” because it highlights who is really panicking about things that matter.
Yeah, the republicans aren’t chickening out on the war, they’re just making sure their kids aren’t fighting it (just the .o1% of the population that keeps getting sent back over & over – nice job of permanently destroying morale and undermining the future of the services for God knows how far into the future). As for the snowman, yeah it was silly (although the question wasn’t). But then, when was the last time we had a serious DEBATE that wasn’t prescripted with canned answers?