5 GOP candidates commit to Baltimore debate (No Fred, Rudy McRomney, but there are Hunter and Paul)

Baltimore Sun ^ | 09/22/2007 | David Nitkin

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Just five Republican candidates - half the invited field - will take part in Thursday's presidential debate in Baltimore, event organizers said yesterday.

The four leading contenders, Rudolph W. Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, have each said they will not participate in the forum focusing on issues facing minority voters. Their absence has drawn the ire of Tavis Smiley, the talk-show host who is moderating and organizing the debate at Morgan State University; he said the candidates are making a mistake in not reaching out to black voters.

A list of confirmed participants released yesterday also omits Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a staunch opponent of current immigration policy. Confirmed are Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Alan L. Keyes of Maryland, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, organizers said.

Also yesterday, former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, the chairman of GOPAC, a Republican political action committee, said in a statement that he was "hopeful" each missing candidate would "adjust his schedule" to participate.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Gee, Rudy and Mitt are now copying Fred by staying away from the beauty pageant debates.

“But Fred avoided NH, he’s avoiding the issues, wah!”
Blah, blah, blah, ect., barf.

[NascentDocent]

Nice libelous slander. If you box as well as you reason, I’d love to step into the ring.

[Pistolshot]

Duncan needs to stand out at this forum or pack it in. He's had a number of chances to rise above the crowd and performed dismally.

Where is that fervor from the GOE2 event? He had a great chance at the VV debate and missed it. These small participation events without the top tier to overshadow the lower tiers are the perfect place to get the message out.

Problem is with Keyes involved, no one will get a word in edgewise.

[RasterMaster]

Paul panders to the moonbat anti-war DUmocrats who are his base....the MoveOn, Code-Pinko, anti-American type of DUmocrat kooks.

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/09/13/audio-why-ron-paul-is-a-crank-episode-314/

He should join up with the DUmocrats since he’s adopted their talking points.

[George W. Bush]

counterpunch, #5: Good for the 1st and 2nd tier candidates to not participate in these special interest group pander fests.

Apparently, you're talking about black people and minorities in general?

counterpunch, #8: You think any of Paul’s supporters will even watch this debate, considering that it turns out most of them are neo-nazis?

Funny, you're the one obsessing over minorities while hurling charges of racism against Ron Paul supporters who are extremely inclusive and are (hopefully you won't be too offended) a multiracial group (blacks, Asians, Hispanics, etc.).

It turns out that minorities respond to Ron Paul's message of liberty and small-government. Too bad the frontrunners are all advocates of big-government and an endless War On Terror and, no doubt, more of the highly successful War On Drugs.

It's little wonder we've lost most of the minority Republicans who once posted here at FR.

[pissant]

Yes, but he panders to them no matter what the audience. I’m sure he’ll give the black folks at this debate his standard Code Pink foreign policy as well.

[org.whodat]

Spend your evening with “Travis Smiley”. Not going to happen!

[counterpunch]

It’s been discovered that most of the Paul Qaeda internet spamming is being conducted from stormfrom.org, a neo-nazi site.

[counterpunch]

Sorry, that should read “stormfront.org”

[George W. Bush]

Tell that to Duncan Hunter, who if you recall got applause from NALEO...

Exactly. And Tom Tancredo who alone went to the NAACP event when invited. And got a standing ovation just for showing up.

No wonder the Dims have such an easy time snaring minority voters from us. We do have a better message but we have to show up and ask for their votes.

If you won't even be seen with them, you may as well forget their votes. That's no different than any other voting bloc.

[counterpunch]

Anything that is narrowly focused on something like “minority concerns” or “values voters” is a special interest pander fest. The Democrats do it, and now the Republicans are doing it too.

[Calpernia]

Don’t you mean stormfront.org?

[Calpernia]

Yes you did. Sorry, posted before I read down.

[counterpunch]

It would be nice if this forum got dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century with an “edit post” button.

[George W. Bush]

It’s been discovered that most of the Paul Qaeda internet spamming is being conducted from stormfrom.org, a neo-nazi site.

Oh? A website no one ever heard of before claims that of 400 page views of a stupid online poll that had like 11 people vote in it, that the majority of those page views originated by people clicking at st*rmfr*nt.com or from FreeRepublic.com.

They're a racist site. In national media (Bill O'Reilly), we've been called a "hate site".

I do know that Ron Paul supporters aren't the ones posting links to repulsive racist sites here at FR.

[Calpernia]

I’ve wished for edit many times too.

[Kimberly GG]

Have any of the no shows given an explanation as to why they will not be attending...some of them AGAIN, some of them NOT AT ALL?

[traviskicks]

LOL, most of us are neo-nazis? Whodathunkit? :)

[logician2u]

A Bozo filter would come in handy at times, too.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

"Anything that is narrowly focused on something like “minority concerns” or “values voters” is a special interest pander fest. The Democrats do it, and now the Republicans are doing it too." Does that include the NRA?