Mitt Romney’s fear of a black hat - on a snowman
Posted on July 28th, 2007 at 11:19 pm by Contributor ArchiveSome Republican presidential candidates, in the wake of last week’s CNN/YouTube Democratic debate, have indicated that they might not attend the Republican version that is scheduled for Sept 17th. As the date falls near the end of the 3rd quarter, a heavy fundraising time, the Romney and Giuliani campaigns have given hints that they might be too busy gathering cash to show up. To meet these concerns, CNN, for its part, is working with the campaigns to try and find a more amenable time to hold the debate.
That may not help, though, as fundraising crunch time may just be an excuse, and some candidates, namely Mitt Romney, may be uncomfortable with the debate’s unique format. Perhaps scared at what may be asked of him, Romney referenced a question from the Democratic debate when he scoffed that it would be unfitting a presidential candidate to “answer questions from a snowman.” Romney apparently feels he is above answering important questions if he doesn’t like from where or whom a question originates. This might help Romney get along well with Joe Biden (who, in poor attempts at humor, insulted three debate questioners), but such lame, evasive excuses are not likely to fly with voters.
Romney’s spokesman added that “a lot of Americans would wonder whether we should be answering questions from a cartoon.” Perhaps, but many more Americans would wonder, and rightly so, why Romney wouldn’t just answer the questions.
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He also thinks that YouTube.com is actually MySpace.com. See: Anti-porn Romney confuses YouTube with MySpace
You are so biased against mormonism that you cannot stand to see the tremendous good that Romney would do for our country. The only thing your doing here is twisting his comments (which are very difficult to twist) into total nonsense.
I disagree entirely. The YouTube debate was a farce. And why should republicans do the CNN debate if the libs won’t do the Fox debate? And tossing in the YouTube partnership just makes it worse. Google, which owns YouTube, is run by liberals. I don’t blame the GOP for being uninterested.
Funny thing - hardly anyone in the media talked bad about all the Liberals when they decided that they didn’t want to debate on Fox News. And yet, if a Few Republicans say that they do not want to debate using the YouTube format - “OH MY! Shame on those Republicans!”
We are choosing the leader of the most powerful nation on earth - PERIOD! And we want some circus atmosphere like this kind of format to do it in?
I don’t blame Romney, Giuliani, or any of the other Conservatives for not wanting to debate under such a format…
…it’s NOT that they have anything to hide, or any question that they’re afraid of answering - it’s that there is seriousness to all this and yet, we’re treating it with too much lightness.
I agree the format is a little goofy, though I think it’s a mistake for the GOP to not show up. They can’t risk looking “too good” for it. And they don’t need to provide any more ammo that they’re out of touch…
The YouTube debate was actually refreshing. You folks really mean to tell me that you don’t appreciate a break from people like Chris Matthews and similar pundits running these debates?
Todays “journalist pundits” generally travel in the same circles as the politicians they cover–and as such don’t ask questions relevant to people outside the beltway. At least the YouTube debate featured questions from actual human beings rather than the species know as “australipoliticus.”
I suppose this is just what worries Romney and all the other GOP cnadidates–except John McCain and Ron Paul. Although they tend to dislike the media folks who control the debate questions and moderate, these politicians prefer them because what they will ask is predictable. The candidates have it down to a fine art–pre-debate research tends to cover it all. No suprises from the beltway pundits.
On the other hand the YouTube-style debate features questions from real people. As such the pre-debate research has to be thrown out the window. Real questions from real people; what a concept.
Bottom line: Candidates of either party who wimp out on a Youtube-style debate are doing so because they are wimps. They fear the questions they might be asked from everyday people. They fear the unscripted, the unresearched. Sad but true.
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Just curious, Ethan. Why was Mitt singled out when Rudy and the others - except for deperate John McCain, who will soon be cutting ribbons at supermarket openings - said exactly the same thing?
Very good question. I thought the exact same thing.
My guess is Ethan picked Romney because he “suggested he thought the format was beneath the dignity of any would-be presidents after watching the Democratic candidates.”
Giuliani stated he would likely miss the debate due to a scheduling conflict, and not due to the format. CNN stated they would be willing to work around scheduling conflicts, which may flush out if Rudy means what he said.
Rudy may or may not have spoken the truth, but to this point Romney is the only major GOP candidate to actually attack the format of the debate publicly.
Wouldn’t it seem just a little weird though being interviewed by people dressed up as who knows what? If I were to walk into a job interview and my interviewer was dressed as something weird like a snowman or such I’m confident I would lose enthusiasm for the interview. It might be fun for someone else to watch but I could understand why professional people running for one of the most powerful positions in the world might not be thrilled over the situation. If it were a blue collar comedy competition then it would probably be more fitting and more entertaining.
To answer your question, Peter (and similar to what David thought): According to the information I had, though both Rudy and Romney claimed that they may have had scheduling conflicts (which CNN was trying to work around), it was Romney’s campaign that had begun questioning the format of the debate. I agree with Dominick in that real questions from real people are useful, and perhaps even better than the asinine “raise your hand if you think…” questions that were much more of an insult to viewers and candidates than any YouTube video.
Also, Jason is spot on with the Republican risk of being out of touch.
I’m not sure if Isaac’s comment was directed at me, but I’ll just say that nothing I have written would provide any grounds for that statement, and I would challenge anyone to offer evidence to the contrary. As for Romney himself, I view his consistent flip-flopping as indicative of a lack of integrity. Further, I am insulted by his opposition to equal rights for gays, and I believe that kind of thinking (second class citizens, separate but equal, etc.) is so backwards and back-dated, it doesn’t merit discussion.
Pray tell, how is answering a snowman any different than kissing a baby during an election?
Neither can vote, but everyone who can is watching.
Pay attention Rudy McRomney, pay attention.
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