Posted on 03/16/2016 10:53:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
How often do I get to say I told you so? Let’s enjoy this moment together.
Monday’s GOP presidential debate scheduled here in Utah been canceled, FOX 13 News has confirmed.
The debate followed Donald Trump’s announcement on “FOX & Friends” that he would not be appearing at the Salt Lake City debate. Instead, he said he would be appearing at a pro-Israel group’s event on Monday night. Trump dropping out led John Kasich to indicate he would not be appearing at Monday’s debate.
“We had hoped to contrast Governor Kasich’s positive inclusive approach to problem solving with Trump’s campaign of division,” said Kasich chief strategist John Weaver in an emailed statement to FOX 13. “If he changes his mind, we will be there.”
I understand why Trump didn’t want to do it, especially after last night. His lead is now big enough that he can afford to play a prevent defense the rest of the way. Why let Ted Cruz back into the race by giving him two hours to run rings around him on a big stage? What I can’t understand for the life of me is why Kasich refused to show up unless Trump did. All things being equal, Kasich wouldn’t want to tangle with Cruz one on one either. But all things aren’t equal; Kasich needs any stage he can get if he wants Republican voters to start thinking about him as a compromise candidate at the convention. If that means going head to head with Cruz for a couple of hours, so be it. Frankly, given the high odds that Cruz would have pulled out rather than agree to elevate Kasich by debating him one on one, Kasich should have dared Cruz to debate him. “I’ll be there because I respect the voters. Will you, Ted?” Instead he let Cruz off the hook.
Which leaves us … where? Business as usual for the Fox News line-up on Monday night or will they schedule some other form of special programming to fill the hours? Cruz and Kasich could probably negotiate a pair of individual candidate forums, but I don’t know how much anyone would care at this point. If I were Cruz, I’d borrow Fox’s idea for a Trump/Sanders debate and challenge Bernie to a showdown on Monday night. It’d get him some buzz, and Sanders is now far enough behind Hillary that he might accept the offer just to goose his own fan base. It’d also give each of them a chance to seem more “presidential” by engaging in a facsimile of a general election debate. If that can’t be arranged, Cruz should dial up Rubio and see if he’d be willing to endorse Cruz on Monday night in some sort of joint sit-down interview on Fox. Maybe Rubio won’t do it; maybe defeat is still too raw right now. Maybe Cruz doesn’t want him to do it — yet. Remember, Arizona is one of the two states voting next Tuesday and Cruz linking himself up to a member of the Gang of Eight the night before the vote might not play well. It’d certainly get buzz, though. They could present it as a unifying gesture among anti-Trumpers for the primaries ahead: The race has now entered a new phase, we need to come together, and so on. Fox would probably jump at the chance of a newsworthy event like that now that they’ve got a hole in their schedule.
But all of this is gaming longshots. After last night, Trump seems all but certain to become the nominee. I was one of the righties celebrating Kasich’s win in Ohio earlier in the evening, thinking that it all but guaranteed a brokered convention, but it was a pyrrhic victory in hindsight. It would have ensured a floor fight if Cruz had performed well in Illinois and Missouri, but he got beat badly at the delegate level (thanks in part to a divided vote with Rubio and Kasich). Trump is still on pace to clinch — and thanks to that Ohio win we were cheering, the anti-Trump vote will go on being divided for weeks or months to come with Kasich remaining in the race. Whether Trump makes it to 1,237 delegates or not, it seems a cinch now that he’ll get close enough so that his delegates plus Kasich’s delegates will get him a majority, which is another way of saying that the only thing preventing a Trump nomination at this point is Kasich’s insistence that he won’t be Trump’s VP. The moment that changes, all hope is lost. So that’s the ticket you’re likely looking at this fall: Trump/Kasich. Hooray.
Update: I’m not the only righty who thinks Kasich’s decision to skip the debate is stone-cold nuts. Maybe the fix is already in and the Trump/Kasich ticket is congealing as we speak.
What if they gave a debate and nobody came?
There will be no excuse for drinking this Monday night, folks.
Not watching any of them. Full up to here.
good job fox news- You drove the candidates away with your constant badgering and lousy debate ‘moderations’ tactics- Something to really be proud of! Kudos to all the candidates for refusing to allow Fox to continue the nonsense-
It was so bad during one debate that the moderators were the ones debating the candidates, and NOT allowing the candidates to answer! The bias against certain candidates onstage was very evident for everyone to see- and fox moderators did their best to turn what should have been good clean informative debates into nothing but bar room brawls because they thought it would be ‘good for their ratings’- Absolutely disgraceful how fox handled the debates this year! (Yes, most networks do the same- howeve3r, Fox begin ‘conservative’ should have been working with hte republicans to defeat democrats this fall instead of trying to get hte candidates to devour each other onstage, and leaving hte impression that the GOP is so fractured it can’t even get along-
Fox I believe did tremendous damage (further damage I should say) to the image of the GOP at a time in history when they should have been doing everything i ntheir power to help a hurting republican party- but nope- ratings were too important for them to consider doing so!
Exactly as Trump wanted.
Trump owns the media; the Republican Party hates having to go along with it.
It was fun while it lasted.
Every time Kasich said “mailman”, or Christie said “Attorney General”, Trump said “great”, and similar things like that, I’d take a swig of beer.
Pretty easy to go through a six pack that way!
Why would Trump want to give cruz tv time? I’m tired of them anyway. They just make stupid political statements rather that ask good questions about policy. Example is MyGYN Kelly.
Good, really tired of these debates, its not like we would hear anything new, same ol stuff every time..move on to the general election that is when the real games begin
Kasich is playing a spoiler role. His mission is to knock out Trump or damage him enough to justify stealing the nomination from him at the convention. That way they can make sure their Queen, Hillary the Great, wins and war with Russia follows.
Good. It’s beyond pointless at this time.
Trump will STOMP Hillary, pissed off Bernie voters will spring for Trump!!! NOT ALOT of them because most are kids but enough to make the difference their side is as pissed off as our side is!!!!
I have feeling Kasich will change his tune about that VP slot.
He wasn’t humiliated by Trump so he can afford to play nice.
Not attending the debate was the first signal.
Both of the also-rans are trying to get the best deal with Trump while they’re still hot.
Kasich on the ticket is a very bad selection EXCEPT for the Ohio thing, but Trump proved yesterday that he’s more than competitive in Ohio. Had outsider Cruz’s vote been added to his, we get the real picture of the ‘angry’ vote in Ohio.
And strangely, Ohio voters in exit polls who supported Kasich were ‘dissatisfied with Washington DC.
Cruz will unite the party with Trump, and those 2 delegate totals represent just about the entire republican party.
If not Cruz, then who?
Does anyone think that the GOP would survive such nonsense?
We don't even want Ryan as Speaker!
Kasich is playing both sides of the fence. He has said no way to both a Unity Candidate (what a crock, “unity”), as well as no to accepting a VP position. He is the slimiest scum in the race at this time.
This debate only had a place marker in the GOP schedule. It
was there, no sponsor, etc and was to be available if needed.
March 21, 2016
Salt Lake City, Utah
Sponsors: TBD
https://www.gop.com/2016-gophq/event_schedule/?schedule_type=debate
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