Posted on 02/16/2012 12:45:46 PM PST by KansasGirl
The front of the GOP pack will be absent at the March 1 debate in Atlanta sponsored by CNN and the Georgia Republican Party, CBS News/National Journal has learned. The Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum campaigns said they have decided to skip the debate, throwing into question whether it will happen as planned. "With eight other states voting on March 6, we will be campaigning in other parts of the country and unable to schedule the CNN Georgia debate," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. "We have participated in 20 debates, including eight from CNN." The 20 debates include one scheduled for Feb. 22 in Mesa, Ariz.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
March 5, 2012 debate - Cancelled.
Super Tuesday in March 6 and we have debate cancellations on March 1 and March 5.
And we have Rick-fans here rationalizing Rick (and Mitt) dropping from those debates.
Unbelievable.
I could like Santorum on a number of issues, and I give him a BIG thumbs up for the way he talks about freedom, but talk is easy, and specific proposals are hard. Just as bad, so far I’m not seeing anyone effectively responding to the bulk of the questions about him and many of his Senate votes. (See editor-surveyor’s long list on multiple threads, which is part of what got me really doubting; I am not going to repeat it here.)
Newt spoke to supporters for almost an hour! He took questions from supporters all across the country. He mentioned Santo and McRomeny dissing OH and GA by not attending the debates and said he'd be putting together some sort of forum for those who had hoped to hear Newt debate both of them.
Went in to a lot of detail about all of his plans for BBA, domestic energy, reducing spending and government waste/fraud, etc.
It’d be interesting to see how many people in states that have not already had primaries have seen more than the equivalent of one or two debates. I don’t think it’s a high percentage at all, judging by people I talk to, who I certainly think would average as “more than typically interested in who becomes the Pub nominee”.
Hey me too! Excellent questions and answers, His point about the duo pulling out of the debates was terrific in that the conservatives in the super Tuesday states should be very offended that they are being denied an opportunity to participate.
Sorry if it’s been said:
Santorum = Coward
I hope Sarah Palin Browbeats the ever lovin’ stuffing out of Santorum and Myth on their disgusting cheap trick. I had said I would reluctantly vote for Santorum if Newt didn't get the nomination ...scratch that; not gonna happen now!
GO NEWT!!!
Newt won’t let this pass. During the upcoming Feb. 22 CNN debate live on TV, Newt will expose to the world how the others chickened out on a most important pre Super Tuesday debate and why they did so.
Newt won’t let this pass. During the upcoming Feb. 22 CNN debate live on TV, Newt will expose to the world how the others chickened out on a most important pre Super Tuesday debate and why they did so.
I’ve skipped far more than they have.
This debate merry go round has been way overkill IMO.
Thank goodness I missed that, I see no reason, at all, to watch BOR.
I keep thinking Newt needs to SOMEHOW get his longer talks out to a lot more people. Maybe run a tele-internet town-hall where the best three follow up questions of topics covered in the first hour have a chance to win $5000, or something like that. (Is that legal?) If yes, advertise it widely, in advance.
Or get some local media in OH to sponsor a debate, or in lieu of that, another townhall forum to answer citizens' questions. (Can Santorum and Romney both afford to diss Ohio?)
Mail out CD's or DVD's containing policy issue discussions to prospective voters, encouraging them to copy and / or pass them on? (CD's are REALLY cheap in bulk, these days.)
Something... I just don't think even 10% of Republican voters have heard much more than soundbites from Gingrich, when it comes to real policy matters, because most of the media is in the Establishment tank. Saying "go to Newt.org" is just not enough.
One caller mentioned they'd watched Newt's Facebook speech and loved it. He's also going to do more of those.
I'd personally like to see more follow up via emails (for those of us who are FB/twitter challenged) from Newt, his campaign and those who've endorsed him. I did receive the Gov. Perry email, but would like to see a lot more info-filled emails I could then forward on. That was going to be my idea/suggestion ;)
BTW, is there a link to a replay somewhere? YouTube?
Hmmm... let’s see now...
There’s fear of heights... fear of flying... fear of spiders... etc... etc.
These conditions all have a scientific name.
I wonder what the “Fear of Newt” is called?
>> did you bother reading the article? <<
Hey, don’t spoil our fun and games! We’d don’t need to read no stinkin’ article. We’d much rather bash Santorum without knowing the facts!
If he does this, Newt should present some solid numbers on how much of the electorate has seen over, say, 2 hours of the debates so far. I’m sure it’s not a high %. Plus, multiple new or resurfaced issues have cropped up in the last couple weeks.
That makes a lot of sense ...hope they do that!
Not to the tele-townhall, that I know of. But, who knows...with the great response it seems like they’d like to promote it. He mentioned that his speeches from CA and his FB video would be posted on Newt.org.
Anyone see Rambling Rick ramble on Greta just now?
Willard thinks he’s sly..... he knows how great Newt does at these debates...sooooo he cancels cause of super tuesday is coming and he knows hes not doin too good right now....
Mark Levin bought a Camaro SS and says vote RS so we get more of the same BS.
February 22, 2012
8pm ET on CNN (Originally Dec 1, then Nov 30) Location: Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona Sponsor: CNN and the Republican Party of Arizona Participants: Romney, Santorum, Paul, Gingrich
March 1 and 5th are cancelled
Put in your FAVORITES for future debates.
I wish CNN would call a Mitt/Rick/Ron bluff and invite candidates from other parties to participate and go on with the debate. That would make the three look pretty cowardly.
Romney has stacked the deck with the debate in Mesa Arizona..That is Mormon territory. Romney is very afraid of debating Newt in Georgia. Hope that this strategy backfires big time. Time for those in Mesa to come out to protest against Romney in Mesa.
Paul cancelled too... It would have been Gingrich all by himself.
Actually a dual beneficiary...Gingrich and Romney have been going after each other very heavily via superpacs. This is kind of what I thought was a possibility that Santorum would have opportunity to rise if Romney and Gingrich just kept beating up on each other so much directly. As a result, Romney and Gingrich’s negatives both rose while Santorum’s did not. Time will tell now that Romney’s superpac is going after Santorum if the dynamics change again.
Paul had already declined as well.
“Newt won’t let this pass. During the upcoming Feb. 22 CNN debate live on TV, Newt will expose to the world how the others chickened out on a most important pre Super Tuesday debate and why they did so.”
I don’t think he’ll do that, but instead he will dedicate all his time in the debate to present to the American people his plans for redressing the economic situation and restore America greatness, and look as presidential as possible, leaving the two chicken little out in the cold.
The best thing is to IGNORE them and talk to the men and women who will watch him. This will make a helluva difference.
Anyway, we will see soon if you were right or I was :)
I’ve just read that Newt intends to organize a TV forum on March 1st in Georgia, for the public, to replace the debate which was dropped by lack of candidates ... If those cowards run away from public debate, what would they do in the national campaign?
Facts aren't relevant to many...it's what you "feel" that matters.
"Feelings...nothing more than feelings..."
Unbelievable. Wonder what they’re afraid of? I knew Mitt was a coward, but now we know Santorum is just as bad. I hope this comes back to bite them. And for those who say we’ve had enough debates???? If the primaries were all held on the same date, yes, but a lot of people in upcoming primary states haven’t paid that much attention until it’s time for them to vote. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of folks walking into the voting booth casting their vote for the best hair. I’m for the candidates to debate and hold themselves accountable to the voters as much as possible. Why is Paul bowing out? He has nothing to lose. Staying in the debates would give him a chance to snag some of the cowards’ votes.
Good, glad to see Newt is finding a way around the cowards' way out. I was going to suggest we all bombard CNN with requests to let Newt go on with the debate, because I guarantee if it did, the cowards would suddenly find time to participate. Doesn't really matter anyway, Newt will get 'em in another debate, unless, of course, they chicken out from all the upcoming debates.
It is not an issue about being "chicken".
It is about the liberal media continuing to bash the living SNOT out of the GOP, to set up the pitch for the home run for the Messiah.
Enough of this crap.
Enough of these debates.
Enough of CNN.
Wise move. They should have cut this off a long time ago, or at least insisted people like Breitbart or Hot Air or Christian Broadcast Network host the debates.
It’s Santorum, or bust. At this point.
CAn the elephant be so easily charmed?
On the upside, this will allow Newt to spend more quality with Nancy Pelosi developing plans for giant space mirrors.
Give it a rest.
I guess you are one of those “anybody but Romney” people that’s not serious unless “anybody” is named “Newt Gingrich”.
More disgusting weasel behavior from Bland and Blander, Ltd.
When does Newt rise in the polls? When people get to see him in the debate. When does he fall like a stone? When people DON’T.
Good grief... is this ALL a friggin’ set-up from the get-go?! Is it preordained to end up with the Romneybot as the candidate, with Santorum granted the VP spot to “placate” conservatives?
Paul pulled out also. CNN Cancelled it.
The candidates have finally figured out that any debate “set-up” by the old media is nothing more than a RAT trap. The demorat controlled old media has no intention of setting up a real debate for republicans.
EXACTLY.
Nope. They all will be debating Feb. 22nd in Arizona. You can see your progressive Gingrich then. CNN has cancelled the debate in Georgia since Gingrich was the only taker.
If only a national TV gave two hours to Newt to address directly to the American people all the real problems and solutions on what America is ailing of, and how to overcome them, instead of the gotcha questions and 30 second replies...
But they won't. CNN preferred to drop the "debate" when Mitt&Rick chickened out.
They would rather endlessly blather about Ms.Houston dying of abuse of drugs...
There were several debates co-sponsored by outlets like the Wall Street Journal
Christian Broadcast Network? Really? We’re not electing a national priest or pastor, we’re electing a president. Of course I realize Santorum supporters don’t understand that. They’d rather vote for someone who “shares their values” even if they have no executive experience other than managing a charity where 2/3rds of the money went to him and his buddies. They’d rather vote for someone who helped send the country into the debt crisis we’re in now with vote after vote after vote to increase spending.
Santorum supporters don’t seem to realize that once we go bankrupt like Greece, our military is going to go down with the rest of the country. Then evil will spread throughout the world unchallenged, sooner or later invading our shores and destroying what remains of our way of life. But the Santorum fans can sit back and smugly tell themselves that it’s not their fault. They voted for someone who “shares their values,” and they can’t help it if no one who “shared their values” and had any competence, creative solutions or leadership skills was running.
We probably didn’t need the 10 or so debates before October of last year. But now is when we REALLY need them. The closer we get to the election, the more likely the issues of the day are going to be relevant. We’ve whittled down our pool of candidates to the likely nominees, who now each have more than double the time to talk in the debate than they did last year before voting started. And this is when people are actually VOTING. Who voting now is going to remember what was discussed back in the fall? Backing out of debates now is an insult to the voters and a corruption of the political process. Debates foster an open and democratic process. Attack ads funded by millionaires and Wall Street tycoons do not.
I see, so we'll have to wait until Santorum goes up against Obama in the fall to see if he knows how to answer the birth control question? What a strategy. Just imagine if we had waited until then for someone to ask Romney about his tax returns.
The chickens will be coming home to roost, and they’ll be left with egg on their faces.
Newt will debate anywhere, any time, because he’s unafraid. He hides behind no one. What a concept.
No, we have Newt’s speeches and his policies to point to. All of them blow away Obama’s, Mitt’s, Rick’s and Paul’s. All of the candidates benefit from the practice of the debates. Newt will be able to iron out his few wrinkles if they go on and the other candidates will hopefully find a way to polish up their flimsy, tepid, hollow answers as well.
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