<$BlogRSDUrl$>

My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2007-07-29

Permission To Revise And Extend 

Two nights ago I wrote that the Republicans should not avoid the CNN/YouTube debate--that Republicans need to take advantage of every opportunity to talk to the American people as directly as possible.

I now wish to add a proviso for those who do not want to participate in this debate:

Don't use your schedule as an excuse, don't try to justify your non-appearance with fundraising events or other things--tell it like it is.

And then make sure that you're having a very public event at the same time in a different venue, one that is not controlled by CNN.

A statement that would earn my support would sound something like this:

Having watched the Democrats debate last week, and having analyzed the performance of CNN in running that debate, I have decided not to participate in the upcoming debate.

If you look closely at the Democratic debate, you will notice that the difficult and challenging national security questions were steered away from the major candidates; you will notice that, of the all the thousands of questions submitted, CNN did not select a single one challenging the obvious deficiencies of the Democratic candidates on experience or national security; and you will also notice that not only did the moderator NOT challenge any of the obviously faulty premises of the questions, he did not challenge any of the obvious non-answers from the candidates themselves.

A debate of this format does nothing to elevate the level of discourse in this campaign, and, likewise, trivializes the great seriousness of this moment in history.

Instead, I will be arranging for a town-hall meeting in Jacksonville, FL on the same evening; I will be directing my campaign to purchase as much television time as is feasible on one of the major television outlets in that market, so the people of Florida can see and hear this meeting; I will, likewise, invite the other major candidates (and pre-candidates) who are not taking part in the CNN debate to join me that night; and I will be directing my campaign to provide transportation to the town-hall meeting from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, so that the people of Florida, and America, can hear the great intellect and sense of purpose that I am confident will be evident in the questions asked by the men and women who serve our country.

I am hopeful that this format will provide for a much greater opportunity for myself and my fellow Republicans to articulate their vision for the country, and also to answer hard questions about the serious issues facing this country, unfiltered and unbiased. I am also excited at the opportunity to speak directly to the people of Florida, and to hear directly from the men and women of our military what is on their minds.

Thank you.

I, honestly, have no idea how much such an event would cost a campaign; but, I am relatively confident that such a cost would be made back by donations of a Republican base excited that one of these candidates would up the ante in that way.

But this solves Hugh's issue with the event: there will still be an event, it will still feature "ordinary people" [plus our best and brightest and bravest], but it removes the "silly" factor.

In fact, I'll bet more than one campaign would beg for a chance to pay in to this event--it would look bad not to.

The point is, this would both be a bold move that engages the public, and it directly challenges the media's bias throughout the early stages of the campaign.

Win-Win.
Posted by: Michael / 7/29/2007 01:32:00 AM

Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?