ABC cuts 3 from presidential debates (Ron Paul in; Duncan Hunter out)

San Jose Mercury News ^ | 4 January 2008 | David Bauder

[CounterCounterCulture]

ABC cuts 3 from presidential debates

NEW YORK—ABC News is eliminating Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from its prime-time presidential debates Saturday night because they did not meet benchmarks for their support.

The Republican debate three days before the New Hampshire primary will include Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. It starts at 7 p.m. EDT.

[King of Florida]

Hell, if you look at the UNH poll that just came out, Hunter comes in throughout the poll with mainly asterisks instead of percentage points. Asterisks.

Who cares if he is the best person possible for the job, he sucks as a candidate. His campaign had all the get up and go of gum on the sidewalk.

[CourtneyLeigh]

Ah! If only the American People had the same power that the corporately influenced "large" Government does. What a shame, we don't have a President who listens to the voice of his VOTERS and FEDERAL TAXED TAXPAYERS!

If Only WE had a REAL REPUBLICAN President, that would step in and suggest that it is up to the American Citizens as to when and where the debates will be. Or as to when and who has the majority influence, but *sigh* we just keep letting the "parties" speak for us!

What a shame! What a shame!

[Defiant]

I am not surprised that Hunter is excluded, but I am offended that the GOP is letting ABC host debates and make such decisions. They don’t call it the Stupid Party for nothing.

[scan59]

Or maybe they are including Paul because he got almost as many votes as McCain and Thompson in Iowa and nearly three times as many votes as Guilliani.

If I believed in the honesty of the liberal media, I'd agree with you. Since I don't, I think otherwise. Ron Paul is certainly outspoken and not afraid to go against the status quo. And I agree with many of his beliefs about following the Consitution. However, I think ABC is doing it simply for ratings. (His remarks do tend to stir things up.)

[TKDietz]

“Having Paul on the stage is being done to embarrass Republicans and to give them less credibility.”

If they were to cut Paul, they’d have to cut Giuliani. Paul got nearly three times as many votes in Iowa as Giuliani. Duncan Hunter didn’t even get half of one percent of the vote. He’s not even close to being a serious contender for the nomination. Paul really isn’t a serious contender either I don’t think, but they couldn’t have cut him without cutting Giuliani. Giuliani didn’t even make top five in the list though and he got creamed by Ron Paul so if there aren’t drastic changes for Giuliani it won’t be long before he’ll stop being included in debates.

[Publius Valerius]

If I believed in the honesty of the liberal media, I'd agree with you.

The rules for inclusion were announced well ahead of time. Do you think that ABC manipulated the results of the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire polling data, simply to exclude Duncan Hunter and to give Ron Paul a seat at the table?

[steve-b]

Hunter didn’t really bother with Iowa.

Neither did Giuliani, but he got more votes. If Hunter had gotten more votes than Giuliani, he'd be in for the same reason as Paul (the media isn't going to leave Giuliani out because he's too well established as a significant candidate; therefore, they can't exclude anybody who got more votes than him in Iowa without looking ridiculous).

[CourtneyLeigh]

Bttttttttttttttt!

[captain anode]

Paul doesn’t belong in the Republican Debate anyway since he is more Libertarian than Republican. ??????

A twenty year Republican Senator does not belong in the debate? Or don’t you want Paul out of the debate because you simply favor someone else.

Romney, Rudy, McCain, and Huck are by far more liberal than Paul and they have MSM ties.

I think better questions at the debate is a good idea. Specifically what is your policy to; shrink government, avoid or win wars, pay off the debt, stop indoctrination of our children, etc.

[rob777]

"Since when did we give multi-national media corporations the authority to PICK CANDIDATES for the PRESIDENCY?"


Whether we like it or not, they have the right to choose which candidates participate in debate that they sponsor. More conservative groups should band together and sponsor our own debates,

[rob777]

"Since when did we give multi-national media corporations the authority to PICK CANDIDATES for the PRESIDENCY?"


Whether we like it or not, they have the right to choose which candidates participate in debate that they sponsor. More conservative groups should band together and sponsor our own debates,

[kevkrom]

A twenty year Republican Senator

Ron Paul is not, and has never been, a Senator.

[rob777]

"Maybe they could give Duncan Hunter a full hour to analyze the debate like FoxNews did with Fred Thompson when Fred was still ducking the debates..."


Thompson was a commentator at the time, Hunter isn't.

[SoCalPol]

Hunter with the best qualifacations for President and the MSM has marginalized him from day one.

Hunter who is a war vet and his son three tours in the current war and MSM includes the anti war neoNazi L Ron Paul in the debate.

If the other Repo candidates had any conscious they would say if you include a NeoNazi like Paul and leave out Hunter, no one is showing up.

[rintense]

I don’t care how low any of these guys placed, there is no way the MSM should be deciding who gets to debate and who doesn’t. Its a form of political speech censorship, in my opinion, and should be investigated at once.

[captain anode]

Right congressman, thanks.

[hiredhand]

ABC can pound sand. I haven’t read, seen, nor listened to anything they’ve said in years and I don’t intend on doing so now.

[Badeye]

The only surprise is they kept Ron Paul in the debate.

[captain anode]

anti war neoNazi

Attaching these labels does not increase your credibility, anyway aren’t those terms conflicting in some way?

[captain anode]

The only surprise is they kept Ron Paul in the debate.

Do you wonder if they had this in mind all along but just used this to distract the RP campaign from productive activity?