Posted on 12/08/2011 5:49:24 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Republicans should “jump at the opportunity” to share the stage with property mogul Donald Trump in the Newsmax ION Television 2012 Presidential Debate, says former Ronald Reagan aide Jeffrey Lord.
Trump’s record as a job creator makes him precisely the kind of person the GOP should embrace, Lord writes in an article for the American Spectator.
And he said GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich hit the nail on the head: “If the candidates can’t handle Donald Trump, why in the world would anyone think they can handle [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad or [Venezuelan President] Hugo Chavez or al-Qaida?”
Three candidates — Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Jon Huntsman — have turned down the invitation to appear in the Dec. 27 debate in Des Moines in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses.
“Yes, yes, yes, The Donald has morphed into a so-called ‘reality TV’ star,” writes Lord, who was Reagan’s associate political director. “But no one in their right mind thinks of Donald Trump as other than what he, in fact, is: a highly successful businessman and entrepreneur....
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I think its a dangerous proposition due to the fact that Trump both knows who he’ll endorse and has said he may still run.
Why not a debate hosted by Ron Paul or Mitt Romney? Kinda the same thing really.
The Democrats had a debate hosted by the Daily Kos in 2008.
Who is Jeffery gonna stump for post debate?
Being as it's a lefty website, the Daily Kos wasn't threatening to run a 3rd party bid for President. It is just plain silly for Republican candidates to attend a debate with a moderator who is actively discussing running against them. Additionally, the setup smacks too much of his realityTV show where he judges their performance and picks a winner (his endorsement). It's just a bad idea and most Republican candidates are going to avoid it. I wouldn't be surprised if the thing is just canceled for lack of participation.
I thought Sarah Palin made a good point in her interview with Eric Bolling on this: Trump may expose the candidates to a new and more diverse market segment - people who don’t usually follow politics. Hearing the conservative message may be a real eye-opener to the People Magazine crowd.
I think the majority are out now - Paul, Huntsman, Perry, Romney and Bachmann have all declined. The only 2 who agreed to attend are Newt and Santorum.
That’s gonna be SOME kind of a debate. /s Yawn................................It’s just a mental exercise for Gingrich.
Because Donald Trump is threatening to run for President AGAINST the Republican candidates. Why would GOP candidates want to attend a debate moderated by someone who is actively discussing running a 3rd party indie bid against them. It's just silly. Further, Trump is a realityTV show host, and the setup of him hosting a competition, judging the performance of the candidates and picking a winner (his endorsement) afterwards is strikingly similar to his realityTV show format. The entire thing is silly and I am glad enough of the candidates have rejected it that the thing will hopefully just be canceled.
I don't think Trump is going to plan to be a third party candidate since I doubt he wants four more years of the current regime.
Sorry, who?
“I don’t think Trump is going to plan to be a third party candidate since I doubt he wants four more years of the current regime.”
The question in Donald’s mind is “How can such create more exposure/profit for me?”
Exactly how many people - even Trump’s celebrity-crazed followers - are going to be watching a debate on ION TV two days after Christmas?
What the heck is ION TV anyway?
Bloomberg is on that list. He has talked about running as a third party candidate. Did you object to that debate or just don’t like Trump? Most of those news outlets are the avowed enemies of everything we stand for. Why does the Republican party allow anyone to the left of Fox News (who really aren’t that conservative) to host our debates?
The people who are criticizing the debate don’t want them to do it, because of the birther issue. Trump isn’t going to run.
Bloomberg himself was not moderating the debate.
Why does the Republican party allow anyone to the left of Fox News (who really aren’t that conservative) to host our debates?
If a major network of some kind is not involved, the debate won't likely be televised. You've got Fox and everyone else. I hate the media too, but there is no way to avoid them completely. I am completely fine with having debates sponsored by conservative think tanks and organizations, but not a giant RealityTV ego who regularly threatens to run a spoiler indie bid.
Trump is out for Trump. I don't want him to be any part of our debates unless he is running as a Republican candidate. He had that opportunity and declined.
Actually I watch that channel because they run hours and hours of Criminal Minds almost every night and I never watched that show when the episodes were new and on network TV.
But yeah, probably less than 1% of the population has ever heard of it.
Sarah was right in that statement.
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