Decision ‘08

Romney Says No To YouTube

Frankly, it may be the smartest move he’s made yet:

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Friday that he will not participate in a debate on Sept. 17 co-sponsored by CNN and YouTube, saying the debate did not show the proper respect for the process of selecting a presidential nominee.

In an interview with Steve Scully on C-SPAN, Romney said he has informed CNN that he will be in New York that day and will not attend the debate. He told Scully that all of the candidates will be racing to the end of the third-quarter fundraising deadline at the end of that month.

“During September, we are all scrambling around to raise money we need to run our campaigns,” Romney said. “We will have had four debates by then.”

Asked about the format, which featured video questions submitted by the public, Romney said “There is a degree of respectfulness that ought to be associated with the process fo selecting a nominee. From what I’ve heard, that level of respectfulness was breached.”

Romney took special exception to a question about global warming, posed by a snowman in one of the video questions. “I don’t know that it makes sense to have people running for president answering questions posed from snowmen.”

So far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) are participating in the debate, which is scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg, Florida.

I’ve definitely adopted the old crank position on this one: I’m firmly in the camp that says, if this is the future of presidential debates, let’s just scrap ‘em. I hope that Giuliani and Thompson follow suit.

Why? What’s wrong with a more democratic debate? Well, for one thing, the questioners are not in the room, so there can be no give and take. Number two, the questioners skew to a certain demographic that is far more congenial to the 9/11 ‘Truth’ movement, say, than to reasoned debates about what a nuclear Iran means to the world. Number three, debates are ALREADY too full of pandering and laundry list promises that have no bearing on what a president can actually achieve, or for that matter, to the president’s actual duties in office. We need much less of this, not more.

Bah, humbug…call me Scrooge where this matter is concerned, that’s quite alright…

5 Responses to “Romney Says No To YouTube”

1 Jake Says:
July 29th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Aside from Mitt Romney’s opposition to attending a debate hosted by C.N.N. and YouTube in September of this year, Romney also opposes “The Fair Tax”. When Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate for president, was asked a question by a supporter of “The Fair Tax”,

Romney said “I want to look at the fair tax, but I will fight for the things I describe”.

I don’t know what he means by that, though it seems to me as though he is not in favor of the “Fair Tax” or else Romney probably would have answered the question. That’s just my opinion though.

Below is a link to all of the Major Republican candidates positions on this subject, as well as some of the second and third tier candidates.

www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_presScorecard
2 Fargus Says:
July 29th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Youtube = 9/11 Conspiracy Theories? Nice.
3 Mark Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I made no such equation…I merely commented on the relative demographics…if you doubt me, search 9/11 truth on YouTube, and look at the tens of thousands of hits you get back…That’s not to say everyone who uses YouTube is a paranoid idiot…that would be ridiculous…just speaking in generalities, as we all must do from time to time to make a point…it’s not the same as getting tens of thousands of hits back on Google, because Google is passive…but you have to make an effort to post a video on YouTube, so the relatively thick amount of ‘progressive’ B.S. does make a statement…
4 Ryan Bonneville Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:43 am
If Mitt Romney is the future of Republican presidential candidates, I say YouTube and 9/11 conspiracy theories are the least of our problems. It’s remarkable to me that you’ve taken the “crank” position on the best debate of the entire season, which YOU DIDN’T WATCH.
5 Mark Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Correction - which I didn’t watch LIVE…but yes, I freely admit I’ve adopted the crank position on this one…