GOP candidates skipping out on debate...in Baltimore

[micfranklin]

Hmmm....

Smiley warns GOP contenders about political consequences of skipping minority debate

"Three of the four leading Republican presidential candidates turned down invitations to a PBS debate this month at a historically black college in Baltimore, leading moderator Tavis Smiley on Thursday to accuse them of ignoring minority voters," Jill writes this morning in USA TODAY.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have all declined to participate in the Sept. 27 debate at Morgan State University.

"No one should be elected president of this country in 2008 if they think that along the way they can ignore people of color," said Smiley, host of radio and TV talk shows. "If you want to be president of all America, you need to speak to all Americans."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/09/smiley-warns-go.html

I happen to be a student at Morgan State University, and even though I'm a little unsure of them, I find it very bizarre that Giuliani, McCain, and Romney (the 3 big names in the GOP race) showed up to every other debate but won't come to this one.

In a way I'm almost offended.

[Cobra]

Seems just plain stupid. It couldn't help them to skip out on these type debates. Probably wont get the minority vote anyway but wouldn't hurt to try with things like these. Maybe they just have a busy schedule or something.

[micfranklin]

They didn't have a busy schedule any other time a debate came around....

[ECW]

and they screamed bloody hell when Democrats skipped a FOX sponsored debate. This should be all that many folks need to see when it comes to evaluating the GOP and their willingness to reach out to ALL Americans. Personally, I think it's because most of the GOP frontrunners are racist and they could give a s hit less about people of color. Kanye West had it right about Bush and here's the proof about the rest of them.

[ViolaLee]

It just goes to show.....consider them by what they do, not by what they say.

That Tavis Smiley PBS debate was the most fair one so far when the Dems were on it. Smiley gave them equal time, and Mike Gravel even commented on it. At the other debates he was always complaining because the front runners always get more time to speak.

Those Repubs are making a grave mistake. I guess they've given up on trying to get the black vote.

Meanwhile Rudy was sucking up to the NRA and McCain told the evangelicals that he does God's work in Satan's city.

Christ....

[micfranklin]

On the other hand, since these 3 won't be coming it would give the rest of my college a chance to hear from the lesser known candidates, the ones the media loves to ignore.

[Kyi Yo]

It's a troubling trend for the GOP line up if they expect to be the potential leader of ALL of America. Ignoring Black and Hispanic voters really doesn't seem to be very smart.

Univision, a Spanish-language media company, canceled a GOP debate focused on Hispanic issues when only McCain had agreed to appear. All the Democratic candidates attended a forum on black issues moderated by Smiley in June, and all but one attended a debate sponsored by Univision.

It wasn't that they were busy, or didn't have ample time to reschedule other events. They were invited months ago.

The GOP leadership even tried to talk the four front runners, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson to reverse their decisions and attend. The Republican leadership understands full well the implications of ignoring the minority voters of this country.

I think this is going to bite them in the butt.

[ViolaLee]

Maybe they think they've got it in the bag. Maybe they are counting on the voter caging and disenfranchising and computer hacking and redistricting and splitting up the
electoral votes <-- that's what the republicans are trying to do in California. I should make a thread on it.

[Kyi Yo]

Maybe they are counting on the voter caging and disenfranchising and computer hacking and redistricting and splitting up the
electoral votes <-- that's what the republicans are trying to do in California. I should make a thread on it.


Please do! We made it a law in Montana that the electronic voting had to be backed up by paper ballots. Thank goodness we did or Burns woulda beat Tester without the re-count!

[ViolaLee]

I put in the poll booth forum.

I don't understand why the Republicans won't debate for NPR host Tavis Smiley. It really was the best Democratic debate so far.

Oh well, we'll get to hear more from Ron Paul this way :D

[micfranklin]

I put in the poll booth forum.

I don't understand why the Republicans won't debate for NPR host Tavis Smiley. It really was the best Democratic debate so far.

Oh well, we'll get to hear more from Ron Paul this way :D


Something good came from this. But I only wonder if the big 3 will show up for every other debate session after the one on Thursday?