October 29, 2011 - 5:03 am
Perry seems not to be able to make up his mind whether or not to participate in future debates. Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post is right. “Really, the only reason I can think of for Perry to avoid the debates is the obvious one: He’s awful in them and can’t defend his own positions.”
If Perry bails out on debates, he won’t be President, period. He won’t have the luxury next fall to avoid debates. And if he shows up against Obama and is as terrible at debating then as he is now, Obama’s reelection will be assured. Debates still matter. Americans size up their candidates in head to head matchups. For Perry even to consider dropping out of debates is not a good sign for conservatives. Advantage Romney.
Balderdash (i.e., senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense).
One has to wonder why JRub has written more than 60 posts bashing Perry, eight of them in one day (last Tuesday). In doing so, she reveals much more about herself – and her employer – than about the candidate.
Rick Perry is about as scared as Romney is conservative.
If Perry doesn’t debate, he will not be President, period. People want to see their candidate mix it up, and mix it up better than their opponent. If Perry makes the decision to drop out of the debates, he will damage his primary campaign. More importantly, he will give people a reason to think he is not up to the task in the fall of 2012. It would be a big mistake.
The only people who will hold this against him are inside the beltway elites like yourself who wouldn’t vote for him anyway. Conservatives outside the Beltway are fed up with the venues of these debates, CNN, MSNBC etc.
Wouldn’t vote for him anyway? Swing and a miss.
Well I’m glad to hear that! But what about the venues these debates are at. All the liberal news media. You have to admit, most of the questions are ridiculous. How about one at Hillsdale College! That would be great.
Linking to a Rubin piece should always come with the disclaimer that she is a certified Romney supporter/Perry hater, as noted above.
Her writing is the equivalent of a Romney press release.
Rick Perr will debate.
Not necessarily……I could be arguing in my spare time…One thing I commend Newt for was his nailing it a few weeks ago debate…so far these things have been Game Shows…the NEW Reality Shows…Throw a bunch of bodies up there, ask some mostly non essential questions and them have ‘em go at one another for sound bites. Great for the networks, but the electorate???…Oh. well…I for one am not getting worked up over who bested so and so. We’re all grown ups here. So what you want is a Slick Debater, eh??? I’m sorry, haven’t you had enough of Cool Talkin’, Slow Walkin’ Mohair Sam? How’s he working out for you? We’re still in the exibition season here, pitchers and catchers have barely reported. This is still a Media Show and it’s all about them(Media) and for them. They are so predictable……
This comment is right on the money.
there is a name for those with those with quick comebacks. It’s called smartass. a smartass is not an intelectual. A smartass is a smartass. I have more respect for a well thought out informed answer and frankly I see no evidence where our present leadership is making well thought out informed decisions unless the intent was for negfative results
So, the JournoList Dinosaur Media has decreed that there will be 1,027 debates this year, and any candidate that does not participate in all of them will be deemed un-Presidential.
And what’s sad is, too many conservatives are going along with them.
I was fully ready and more than halfway on the Perry bandwagon but he has been terrible. Period. He doesn’t just seem like GWB. He seems like the SNL parody of GWB. I expect him to pull out a ball of yarn and start playing with it! I have to avert my eyes sometimes.
Perry supporters need to understand this! I am a born and raised southerner. This is not some elitist critique. He is doing really bad! I made excuses the first two debates. I can’t anymore. He needs to turn it around and stop sounding like an idiot. (I know it is harsh but an intervention is needed.)
Obama is already going to try to run against Bush. We can’t give him a candidate that makes it easy to do that. I truly hope he can turn it around and am pulling for him to do so. But pulling out of debates is a PR disaster that reinforces CW that he is an intellectual lightweight.
Don’t pull out. Just work harder!
The issue is not Jennifer Rubin (somebody I love, by the way). So any ad hominem argument against her would and should fall on deaf ears.
The issue is also not about how many debates there are, the propaganda machine’s interest in the debates, or the quality of Romney’s conservatism.
The SOLE issue…for Rick Perry/debates…is whether he attends, participates, does well.
Failure to do so will eliminate him. Period. Take all the other rubbish out of the equation. You can love Rick Perry as much as you want…if he can’t hit a curveball he won’t make the majors. If he refuses to bat because a curveball might be thrown, he won’t even get a further tryout.
So he must join the debates or quit the race. He has no other choices. He can skip one or two…give some reason that barely passes the smell test. But he can’t disengage from the process. Sorry. Those cards don’t play to Rick Perry’s strengths…but he has to play them the best he can, and make up the difference with his ground game. Or fold.
Analogies make for poor logic. Great pitchers and catchers make the team. They do not have to be great hitters, and often aren’t. They are the ones who win the game. Of course, if a team is looking for a slugger, then fuggedaboutit.
I do agree, though, that Perry must not dodge the debates. It just looks like cowardice. Yeah, it is a weak spot for him. I get it. Well, welcome to the NFL, rookie. Can’t take a little pain? Then run back home to your mama.
This story about Perry pulling out of the debates simply is not true. It is being pumped by those who want to believe it. The campaign has talked about cutting back on some (not all are televised), in order to conduct the real campaign that needs to take place. There are far too many debates — far more than before — & they put the media firmly in control.
Can Perry do better in the debates? Sure. But I want someone who can lay out a well-reasoned plan, which he does, that can’t be explained in a thirty-second sound bite.
This frenzy about staking everything on a glib game-show host is what brought us Obama.
I agree wholeheartedly with you! You said what I wanted to say, but much better.
The Perry campaign is looking at what debates will do the most good. With so many debates, it eats too much in what the candidate has to do in a regular campaign. He needs to do better, and he has, but he can’t limit himself to just debates. I don’t want MSNBC, NPR, etc to be the only judges for who they want to run.
But Perry dropping all debates? Not true, just like:
Jeffress introduced Perry with the “cult” comments about Mormonism – not true
Perry wants Texas to secede – not true
Perry gives free tuition, or tax-payer subsidized tuition, to illegal aliens – not true
Perry doesn’t want to secure the border (i.e., a fence should do it all) – not true
The list can on and on …
Let’s be fair: it’s awfully difficult to remember all the lies a candidate on the Right has to remember in order to get elected in Politically Correct America today. Lies which fly in the face of what they really think.
The Left has not only had decades in which to get to the point where they half believe their lies but get a pass on obvious racism.
The despicable Mary Frances Berry, who was amazingly a former chairwomen on the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights once said: “Civil rights laws were not passed to protect the rights of white men and do not apply to them” and also said the following:
“Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.”
I’m sorry if my memory doesn’t serve but I think it was the equally despiciable Loretta King, at the time the Acting Asst. Att. General of the U.S. who said something to the effect when introducing Eric Holder to a crowd at his new job, how wonderful it was to have 2 black men running the country.
A white person saying that would’ve been run out of town. The atmosphere in America is so relaxed when it comes to hate speech from the Left that in fact we can only hope they are being given enough rope to hang themselves.
To get it behind me – I have less than NO USE for the macaca WaPo and its smear staff including the “loved”??? Rubin and the NYT.
As for debaters – Dear Leader is pretty sad without his teleprompter and sometimes even with it (Corpse-men). Depending on the media presenting the “Debate,” he would have a major chore supporting his Administrations results vs Texas for example. He would have a bit of a challenge in supporting his Administration’s lawlessness. “The One” has a track record that pales as compared to Texas.
As for Debates … the one’s so far have been full of irrelevant questions. They have lots of “Gotchas.” They almost exclusively ask one candidate a question that should also go to others. They try and promote fights … which they use to discredit the participants and the party. The ankle biting has been disgusting.
If a Debate shows some sign of legitimate objectives and fair moderators on meaningful topics it may be worth considering.
In the meantime … I personally consider effective executive experience, a current familiarity with the evils of the bureaucracy, a promising track record of cooperation with a legislature, proposals that will help to turn around our ship of state as my primary criteria in assessing a candidate.
Admitting no tolerance for “go along to get along” “finger in the wind” moderates and a huge concern for a candidate who would need (like the Great O)to learn what the job is and how to do it and where to seek help (like the Establishment elites?.
Rigged debate participation and performance in the Primary are the very least of my concerns.
Great comment, I agree completely.
There are at least a dozen GOP debates scheduled between Nov. 9 and the Florida primary on Jan. 31. A few more are in the works but not yet confirmed. Given that there will be breaks in the debating for Thanksgiving and Christmas — nobody expects voters to pay attention then — that’s a lot of debates in very little time.
For example, there will be three debates in the six-day period between Nov. 9 and 15. The first will be a CNBC debate focused on the economy at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. Then there will be a CBS News debate at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., followed by a foreign policy debate put on by the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Did Perry or his people say that Perry would not do anymore debates?
NOPE ….. but that’s the meme that the Media and people like Jennifer Rubin are promoting. “Advantage Romney”??? His advantage is Rubin and those that promote him. Perry said he thought trying to do so many debates without preparation was “probably a mistake” to Bill Riley.
This is exactly what Perry’s spokesman actually said –
“Ray Sullivan, Perry’s spokesman, says Perry has committed to the Nov. 9 debate in Michigan and has not said no to any debate. (Perry has participated in all five debates since he entered the race.) But Sullivan says Perry will consider future debates on a case-by-base basis. “The schedule makes it extremely difficult for candidates to do important retail voter-contact campaigning in the early states,” Sullivan says.”
Will anyone remember that Rubin and the others claimed Perry was not going to do debates when he shows up on stage? NOPE No question that he is a poor debater, but he is also a hard worker – so I expect he will work on that. He made the choice to do some essential fund raising, you can’t win any race without significant funds. It’s every bit as important as debate performances in 2 minute sound bites.
Historically – Perry runs a different type of campaign in the State that all candidates in all parties say is the toughest to campaign in. He doesn’t use yard signs, he doesn’t do robo calls (thankyouthankyou) and he doesn’t pay much attention at all to newspaper endorsements – he got ‘none’ in the 2010 elections that was a huge win for him.
His campaign may already be beyond repair (no GOP candidate has taken as much heat from both opponents & the media), but I wouldn’t count on it. He is correct about one thing – you can count on what he says. You may not like it, but you know exactly where he stands – yesterday/today/tomorrow/next year/10 years from now.
The bizarre thing about Rubin is that she must have absolutely no clue about Rick Perry and Israel. He travels there often and was a big help in stopping the last flotilla that was aborted. Rubin is supposed to have a background in that sort of thing ….. apparently not.
I’m sorry, I find Rick Perry completely inarticulate. He makes GWB look like an orator. I was thinking he might make a comeback, but after today’s interview with Chris Wallace, I realized this man only talks in cliches and platitudes and can’t defend his way out of any question. I think today was the final nail in the coffin of his campaign. He would be a disaster against Obama. Unfortunately there is onl;y one person that’s running that can beat Obama. I’m not crazy about Romney as most conservatives, but we either want to beat Obama (and God knows we have to put his healthcare in the grave) or we go with a martyr. At this point I would go with Cain or Gingrinch over Perry as the Romney alternative, but they don’t have a fighting chance in the general.
And look who is the only candidate to commit to the next 5 debates while no other candidate officially has committed to the next 5…….. RICK PERRY!!!! This “scared to debate” bullsh*t is, well, bullsh*t!