Posted on 02/19/2012 10:27:13 AM PST by parksstp
Earlier this week, news erupted about how Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul had decided to ditch the last regularly scheduled debate prior to Super Tuesday on March 1st, which was to take place in Georgia. Never mind the fact that over 20 debates have taken place, not including one that will still take place with all four candidates in Arizona this Wednesday.
Many supporters of Gingrich were quick to jump out with the claim that Rick Santorum was “chicken” for skipping the last debate. We had references to “Brave Sir Rick (MPatHG) and accusations that if Rick is scared to debate Newt, he must be really scared to debate Obama (or in cahoots with Romney to dodge them).
Well, as I pointed out in those threads, some people like to pretend that the game of politics isn’t going on. In the last month, Santorum has gone from double digit deficits to double digit leads. He is now clearly the leading Anti-Romney candidate standing. With such a large lead over Gingrich, the idea of conducting many more debates does not meet the risk-reward test in that Santorum would have very little to gain while risking much. As I said before, “NO candidate in their right mind would put themselves in a situation like that where there isn’t much to gain, but enormous potential for losses”. It’s just common sense. Like previous politicians before him, Santorum is following a shrewd political calculation. If Newt Gingrich had finished the job in one of the two FL debates and remained comfortably ahead, debate season would have been effectively over, with Gingrich transitioning into preparations for the General Election. In Other Words, had he been ahead, he would have pulled out of the March 1st debate as well.
Some of the Gingrich people didn’t want to hear of this. They scoffed that someone should be willing to debate whenever and wherever they’ve agreed to, otherwise it makes them look weak. They stressed that Newt would NEVER not show up for a debate or pull out of one. And then they went on to insult Santorum as a chicken, and Santorum supporters as ignorant.
However, thank goodness for the internet and news stories.
Let’s go back shall we to 1994, the year of the Republican Revolution. That was the year Gingrich led, managed, and campaigned for the Congressmen that would sweep into the House during the Midterms in the first Republican takeover in 40 years. It was ALSO the first election that Gingrich would not face stiff competition thanks to the redistricting of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, which gave him an overwhelming edge.
His 1994 Democratic Challenger was former Congressman Ben L Jones, better known as “Cooter” from the Dukes of Hazzard. Cooter’s district had been merged into other CD’s four years prior. Although he knew he had no chance in he!! of winning the 6th, he decided to challenge Gingrich in the General Election.
Now since 1978, Gingrich had pretty much taken part in at least one debate during the Election season. However, against Cooter, despite a willingness from Cooter to debate, Gingrich dodged him. In fact, Cooter “stalked” Newt in Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Alabama trying to track him down to have a one on one debate. A sponsored debate that was supposed to place in late October had Newt as a no show and Cooter debating against an empty podium. (Did Cooter give Newt this idea that Newt has stated he would follow Obama around until Obama agreed to a L-D style debate?) Well, when Newt was on the receiving end of that, he sure didn’t like it as the links will show.
Now stories say that Gingrich didn’t debate Cooter because “he ran an offensively-toned campaign” or something along that lines from an incident where Gingrich called Cooter “scurrilous” to which Cooter replied in a way that confirmed the definition of that word, supposedly jokingly. In any case, Gingrich refused to debate Cooter, and for that, Cooter called Newt a “Wuss”.
Now, in retrospect, Gingrich was never seriously in danger of losing his seat for the first time in many years. He simply ignored his ankle-biting opponent and went on to conduct business setting the House in order for the Republican takeover. Newt ended up winning his seat by a whopping 28% points.
As you can see, like Santorum this week, in 1994, Gingrich knew that the risks far exceeded the rewards in debating Cooter. As leader of the Republican Revolution, a misstep from Gingrich might have set the plans for the Republican takeover in jeopardy. And with an already sizeable lead in his district, there was nothing more Gingrich was going to gain from one debate with Cooter. It was a politically shrewd decision, one which I definitely agree with and can understand.
So those of you referring to Santorum as “chicken”, if that’s the case, then what is Newt’s excuse for dodging his scheduled debate from 1994?
Here’s some excerpts on the subject from Google News sources:
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA) - October 4, 1994 - B8 LOCAL JONES TRIES TO CORNER GINGRICH IN WISCONSIN `If the Gingrich won't come to the Cooter, the Cooter will go to the Gingrich.'' Ben Jones contends that his opponent in the 6th District race, House Whip Newt Gingrich, is dodging him. So he flew to Wisconsin to try to corner the Republican at a campaign event Monday. ``I want him to know I was here and he can't escape this campaign,'' said Jones, a former two-term congressman who earlier gained fame as...
EYE OF NEWT; The GOP Whip Has Seen the Future of the House. And It Is He. After close calls in 1990, when he barely squeaked by in the general election, and 1992, when he nearly lost the GOP primary, [Newt Gingrich] this time is poised for an easy victory in Georgia's heavily Republican 6th Congressional District, and has spent much of his reelection campaign raising money for House candidates out of state. Not that Gingrich's Democratic opponent, former representative Ben Jones, best known as "Cooter" in TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard," is playing dead. Indeed, he's been using his formidable skills as a communicator to offer one of the harshest extant assessments of Gingrich.
Jones is eating pork chops for breakfast at the Southern Skillet in Roswell, Ga., the morning after Gingrich's trip to Tennessee. He has been striving all fall to get Gingrich to debate, even chased him to Alabama with a pair of hound dogs, but the incumbent's strategy has been to ignore him - never mind that Jones has attracted a good bit of media attention as well as the endorsement of the Atlanta Constitution. The few polls that have been conducted suggest Jones is running far behind. Now, between bites, he is trying out some attack lines.
NYT Piece stating Gingrich felt comfortably ahead and saw no need to debate. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/07/us/1994-campaign-georgia-republican-leader-practices-nonchalance-tough-campaign.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm
Mr. Jones has tried to make issues out of Mr. Gingrich's confrontational personal style, his concentration on races outside Georgia, his refusal to debate and his political action committee, Gopac, which is under fire for not disclosing names of donors.
Tactics in Mr. Jones's dogged campaign have ranged from searching for Mr. Gingrich with bloodhounds to a hip-hop commercial on the theme "Newt. Not."
Date: October 22, 1994 Publication: The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution Page Number: B/1 Word Count: 712
While Ben Jones, a former two-term congressman, was shaking hands within the 6th District this week, his most recent exploits in the race against House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich have taken him across the country. First there was an effort to meet Gingrich at a Wisconsin Republican fund-raiser and a second try in Connecticut. Jones brought two beagles to an Alabama park hunting Gingrich. Two fund-raisers in New York this week put about $10,000 into Jones' coffers as East Coast
“ENRAGED THAT CHALLENGER BEN JONES FOLLOWED HIM TO WISCONSIN EARLIER THIS WEEK, HOUSE MINORITY WHIP NEWT GINGRICH CANCELED A WEEKEND DEBATE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST IN THE 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT RACE. THE 30-MINUTE DEBATE, SPONSORED BY THE ATLANTA PRESS CLUB, WAS TO BE BROADCAST LIVE ON GEORGIA PUBLIC TELEVISION. IT HAD BEEN RESCHEDULED TO ACCOMMODATE GINGRICH’S CONGRESSIONAL CALENDAR. JONES CALLED GINGRICH “A WUSS” OVER THE INCIDENT.”
Gingrich “Stalked” by his Democratic Challenger http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9npEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FLUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1211,3625721&dq=gingrich+ben-jones+debate&hl=en
“When Cooter took on Newt” - Salon.com http://www.salon.com/2011/12/12/when_cooter_took_on_newt/
Otherwise, continuing to label Santorum a “chicken” would be hyprocrisy. If this Mar 1 debate is something that if Newt wants to brings up in Wednesday’s debate, I hope Santorum calls him on it.
Santorum isn’t a chicken, he’s a weasel. A true Eddie Haskell weasel.
For those of us who are familiar with Newt as well as with the southern highland dialect and slang, that is an unintentionally hilarious headline.
Nicknaming someone “Cooter” carries a connotation of being something of a rounder, if you need assistance in understanding what I’m saying.
I guess you could feel insulted that they thought other freepers would fall for it, but that's what most of the debates here are about -- making up charges and looking for stupid things to "smack down" candidates with.
Of course Gingrich wouldn't debate someone if it wasn't politically advantageous to do so. And of course Romney and Santorum and Paul are skipping ONE debate in Georgia because it is politically better for them to be in states where they can win. That's why nobody is having a debate in Mass., or Pennsylvania. At least, those states didn't even bother to pretend they were putting on a debate so they could get candidates to turn them down, but they could have.
But do you seriously think ANYBODY at Free Republic would actually BELIEVE a stupid assertion that Santorum would skip a debate with Barack Obama? There's no way any candidate would pass up debates with the sitting President.
In fact, the only candidate who has said they wouldn't debate Barack Obama is Newt Gingrich.
Newt's promise: No reporters as moderators:
"As your nominee, I will not accept debates in the fall in which the reporters are the moderators," he said, "because you don't need to have a second Obama person in the debate."
Given that the debates WILL have reporters as moderators, and Gingrich has PROMISED to not debate Obama under the known conditions for debates, I'm surprised ANY Newt supporter would bring up "people who won't debate Obama".
According to your own article the debate wasn’t cancelled until AFTER Jones followed Newt to Wisconsin.
So which is it?
JB
...liberals hate winners.
Newt was afraid to get too close to a cooter.
Heh-heh.
This is a ginned-up story by Newt because he’s desperate. He sold himself to Calista as the future President and sold himself to many Conservatives as the irresistible force to move Romney’s mountain of money. Nobody’s buying that right now.
Newt may come back, but why should Santorum give him another opportunity to berate a reporter on TV to bump his fundraising?
Newt done had ‘nuff a dem.
Wasn’t Cooter the one who brought all the ethics charges against Newt..that he eventually was exonerated from?
I am more conservative than you and I have more wisdom than you. I am probably twice your age and I know an Eddie Haskell when I see and hear one. I am not fooled by Santorum.
Good analogy. Santorum does remind me of Eddie Haskell.
I have always been troubled by people who toot their own horn about how upright and righteous they are. In one of his speeches, Santorum slammed all Protestantism and blamed Protestants for the moral decay of Society.
His Number #1 Issue on his website is “War on Pornography”.
I don’t believe he has the leadership skills to facilitate the reforms we need and I don’t think his (look at me) preaching is particularly inspiring either.
Wish I could come to Nashville to hear Newt.
How so ?
Oh, and if you are twice my age that would make you 116—in which case,congratulations;)
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