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.

[Iwo Jima]

You’re a liar.

[RasterMaster]

Q: You voted to support that 700-mile fence along the border with Mexico. Is there a need for a similar fence along the border with Canada?

PAUL: No. The fence was my weakest reason for voting for that, but enforcing the law was important, and border security is important. And we’ve talked about amnesty, which I’m positively opposed to. If you subsidize something, you get more of it. We subsidize illegal immigration, we reward it by easy citizenship, either birthright or amnesty.

Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College Jun 3, 2007

[George W. Bush]

Actually - I lost a great deal of respect for FT when he skipped the Value Voters Debate. But after hearing the questions - I understood why FT and Rudy McRomney stayed away - they are totally scared of the truth on REAL issues.

Trying to get the frontrunners to answer straightforward questions isn't easy. They spend more time avoiding questions or swirling around them nervously than they do answering them.

Fred may do a little better than the others but maybe he'll start to stand out more when he does find a debate he's willing to attend.

And they had only a little to gain, and a WHOLE LOT to lose. Sure wish they had been there.

They believe (probably correctly) that they don't have to attend and that they will defeat all who did attend in the primaries, leaving the Values Voters to decide to vote for the GOP nominee or the CP. And 95% will pick any GOP candidate.

Anyway, that has to be what their campaign managers are telling them.

[Calpernia]

RasterMaster's links post is here to if you need a reference URL.

[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." Does that include the NRA?

Did you see Giuliani at the NRA?
What do you think? Do you really need to ask that question?
 

[George W. Bush]

Let's hope and pray that Ron Paul loses his quest for American suicide, then in November 08' Ron Paul loses his congressional seat.

So you actually want a Democrat elected in Ron Paul's district?

Strange, I didn't think FR was the place to cheer for the election of Democrats.

[mimaw]

Total waste of time for any GOP candidate.

[Iwo Jima]

Thank you for posting that evidence that Ron Paul is for border security including a fence along the Mexican border and is totally opposed to amnesty and birthright citizenship.

[counterpunch]

Calm down there.
I’m not saying you are a member of a neo-nazi site, I’m just saying its been discovered that most of the Paul Qaedas who spam internet polls blogs, and YouTube comments to make it look like he has massive support are. Unless of course you’re telling us you’re the one who’s really been doing all that spamming and therefore know something the rest of us don’t.

[b9]

Too bad the frontrunners are all advocates of big-government

Not Fred.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Thanks for your response. i was unaware of that statement from Paul.

i requested to have my post #69 pulled.

My apologies.

[RasterMaster]

I wouldn’t call a finger-in-the-wind approach as “strong” on border security. According to his statement, he’s not really for the fence and wouldn’t support it other than for items he agreed with in the bill, which is now law. There are other times when he’s stated that a fence “isn’t the right thing to do”.

He did vote against putting troops on the border....5 times. That’s a weakness on his part as he doesn’t know how to defend the border from the Mexican Army who were taking pop-shots at our border agents.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

I am assuming that Smiley intends to treat the candidates as equals, instead of the princess treatment the MSM-annointed guys are used to.

Then they would be seen as just equal contenders, instead of THE princesses.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

He did vote against putting troops on the border....5 times. That’s a weakness on his part as he doesn’t know how to defend the border from the Mexican Army who were taking pop-shots at our border agents.

Simple answer: Shoot back. THAT is a Libertarian response, as well as a Republican one. When proof of Mexican army incursion on the southern border is proven (and it would be under those circumstances), "other" measures would happen...and the Mexican army wouldn't do it again...

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

“Ron Paul voted five times in Congress AGAINST sending US troops to the Mexican border.”

Thank you. I have some friends who will want to know that.

[WalterSkinner]

..Michael Steele is a good man--Tavis Smiley is not

The phrase "reaching out to black voters" is code for how much liberal pandering these candidates will be willing to do.

Alan Keyes, who shouldn't even be on the stage, can resurrect his "reparations" speech.

Huckabee can woo the crowd, shifting into a "call and response" African-American preacher speaking style.

But Duncan Hunter can really connect with his border security and immigration position--black Americans are not happy with open borders and illegal immigration IMO...

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

He did vote against putting troops on the border....5 times....

You may want to look at what else was in those bills.

If they were 'naked' bills (no amendments), then there's an issue. If not, Paul's NO vote probably had nothing to do with the main part of the bill.

If you look at the process that a bill goes through with amendments and attachments, it is truly frightening.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

Well, as much as I support the NRA and the second amendment, why is the NRA put into a different category than black or hispanic voters by Fred Thompson’s supporters?

Why do Fred Thompson’s supporters claim that the destruction of innocent human beings in the womb, which is a constitutional violation of their UNALIENABLE RIGHT TO LIFE is a federalist issue that needs to be sent back to the states, but the second amendment is a federal issue that is off limits to regulation by the states?

[RasterMaster]

Guess he’s not really paying attention....that’s the LIEberaltarian / RINO / DUmocrat approach. Let’s walk through life with blinders on:

Mexican incursions inflame border situation
House panel told of shootings by gunmen in Mexican military uniforms
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11226144/

Border incursions rattling Arizonans - Incident near Arivaca involved copter - Susan Carroll, Republic Tucson Bureau Feb. 3, 2006 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0203incursions0203.html

Mexican Army Invades U.S. - Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/3/7/134033.shtml

MINUTEMEN RELEASE VIDEO OF MEXICAN ARMY INCURSION OF U.S. BORDER (SCOTTSDALE, AZ) January 20, 2006
http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/article.php?sid=40

Chertoff downplays Mexican military incursions
Homeland Security chief insists reports of past 10 years ‘overblown’
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49817

Just google “mexican army incursion border” for more....