The impending debate blackout problem

[walt]

We need two highly visible debates in November and December. If we don't get these debates, we need to shine a bright light on the cowardly hiding of those with no substance.



source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_presidential_debates,_2008#November_6.2 C_2007_-_Cedar_Falls.2C_Iowa
November 6, 2007 - Cedar Falls, Iowa
The Republican Presidential Candidates Debate scheduled for Nov. 6 at the University of Northern Iowa has been postponed due to candidate scheduling conflicts. Information regarding the rescheduling of this debate will be released as soon as it's available. Tickets that have already been distributed will be honored if the debate is rescheduled.

MSNBC was originally to have hosted the debate at Iowa State University.[60] Candidate John H. Cox will attend, says his Web site.[5]

The November 6th debate has now been postponed according to the Debate website.


[edit] November 28, 2007 - St. Petersburg, Florida
CNN plans this debate with a simulcast on CNN en Español (in the Spanish language). Internet services YouTube and Google also plan to participate, allowing them to stream the event live and have clips for future use. Video questions must be submitted by November 25 to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/republicandebate.

Several candidates cited scheduling conflicts with the original date, September 17, 2007, so it was re-scheduled. The invited candidates are Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson.[61] John McCain, Ron Paul, and Mike Huckabee have accepted,[62][63] but the others, including Mitt Romney, who has spoken against the format, have not yet agreed to participate.[64]


[edit] January 3, 2008 - Johnston, Iowa
The Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television were supposed to host a Republican debate in Johnston, Iowa on January 5, 2008.[15] However, because of the constantly-changing primary schedule, and attempts by other states to hold earlier primaries, the Iowa Republican Party has since moved their primary date to January 3rd, two days before the planned debate. This increases the likelihood that the debate will be held on an earlier date, or cancelled.


[edit] January 10, 2008 - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Fox News will host a debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.


[edit] January 30, 2008 - Los Angeles, California
The Los Angeles Times and CNN will host a Republican debate in California.[15]

[ronpaulyourmom]

About two days ago Mitt Romney signed on for the Youtube debate, I believe that one has every major candidate on board now. Hopefully we can get ourselves one more debate before Iowa rolls around.

[Primbs]

Maybe they think Ron Paul is doing too well in debates. Especially the debate winner polls.

[walt]

Yes, we need to shine a bright light on these issues of the hiding.

[someguy200]

I think the CNN debate should be a really good opportunity for Dr. Paul and we need to make the most of it. One thing that is really to our benefit is that the questions come from youtube videos, and we have by far the strongest web presence. We should be working on coming up with good questions for videos, both for Ron Paul and the other candidates. The rules for the videos are on the CNN website and say they can either be for a specific candidate or all the candidates, so theres different approaches we can take. We should have both a high percentage of questions specifically for Dr. Paul so that he has a better chance of getting equal time, and also a good amount of hard questions that could be for the group, but that would show that RP is the only one that can answer it well. Some questions could be about monetary policy/falling dollar, cause and effect of our foreign policy, explanation of the federal governments income if only 40% is from the IRS, how corporate subsidies are wasting billions of $ while claiming to help employment, basically any questions RP could use to look smarter than the other candidates.

Also, the debate is moderated by Anderson Cooper, who I think is a pretty decent guy and will treat RP more fairly than some of the other people have. (correct me if I'm wrong about Anderson Cooper). I'm not sure how much say he has, but we could try to email him and CNN to give Ron Paul equal time compared to their "top tier" candidates. If anybody has seen the recent clips (Tucker, etc) that were about Ron Paul most of the commentators acknowledged the fact that RP has an army of people that emailed them whenever they misrepresented him, and they're correcting themselves now. This means we definitely have some influence on the media, at least with the people that are more indifferent and lazy instead of actively opposed to him (faux news, etc). We need to start unleashing the wrath of the Ron Paul army on any commentators that speak unfairly of him, and especially any that say untruthful things about him (isolationist, total ban on abortion, complete drug legalization, etc) but we must be polite and respectful and present evidence of how they were inaccurate. Keep messages short and to the point and NOT conspiracy themed. One of the biggest misconceptions is that he wants to get rid of most of the government, when he really just wants to shift most stuff to a more local level; we need to start getting that point across better.

*Has anybody else noticed how in the debates the people that were dumb enough to argue with RP were all people that probably didn't know him very well (Ghouliani, Romney, Huckabee) but the people that had probably met him before in DC never tried to challenge any of his points (McCain, Thompson, etc). Just found it amusing, and possibly useful.

[walt]

any update?

[ronpaulyourmom]

Yes, there is an update. A Fox News Debate is now scheduled for December, in addition to the CNN/Youtube Debate on November 28th. This means that we'll have at least two nationally televised debates prior to the Iowa Caucus. Unfortunately, it seems they'll both be on cable news, not network. These debates are also only one week apart.

November 28, 2007 - St. Petersburg, Florida
CNN plans this debate with a simulcast on CNN en Español (in the Spanish language). Internet services YouTube and Google also plan to participate, allowing them to stream the event live and have clips for future use. Video questions must be submitted by November 25 to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/republicandebate.
confirmed all major candidates are on board

December 4, 2007 - Iowa City, Iowa
The Fox News Channel and The Republican Party of Iowa will be sponsoring a Republican Debate hosted by the University of Iowa on December 4, 2007. All major candidates have been invited. It is unknown at this time who will be attending. The debate will be nationally televised live on The Fox News Channel.
I do not see this confirmed on the RPI website though, so donno if we can trust it.

[chinaCat]

I think an organized effort for a flood of tough, but reasonable question(s) should be created for the other candidates. I think Ron Paul supporters have the presence on youtube to first create a good question and then have a large amount of youtubers submit the question(s), or a variation of. This would have the effect of more or less watering down the pool of questions to choose from with a large mix of tough, fair, and all around good questions. Good questions do not make ad hominem attacks though, nor do they have someone stroking a gun and calling it their baby. Good questions can, however, establish a persons ethos, pathos, and logos and make the question seem meritable and important.

[BarryDonegan]

lots of questions about inflation, buying power are good. asking questions about social security are good because it pins them to the wall against seniors. north american union questions are good because its become accepted as reality in the conservative talk show sphere.

[werdd]

we really need to pitch RP some slowballs, and allow him to elaborate on his strong points for everyone, and foul ball rudymcrompson in the face.

with questions like

Mitt, are you just running for president so you can be a god in the next life?

that would really hit him where it counts.

[MikeStanart]

we really need to pitch RP some slowballs, and allow him to elaborate on his strong points for everyone, and foul ball rudymcrompson in the face.

with questions like

Mitt, are you just running for president so you can be a god in the next life?

that would really hit him where it counts.

Attacking someone's religion isn't the way to go. In the end, it only makes you look defensive.

[freelance]

It might be fun to hit up Rudy on why he thinks we should all be optimistic about the economy. You could include statistics, and when you mention the CPI, be sure to mention that food and energy are excluded. Be sure to also mention that in "real" dollars, the DOW is not at an all-time high.

[greves]

How about asking Rudy why he doesn't appear in drag more often these days? Seems like he used to be quite a fan of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrE6FMpai8

[Bradley in DC]

Walt, before the last debate there was at least one similar thread about the "blackout" they expected and how Dr. Paul would get no time. Lots of people got their panties all bunched up, and in the end Dr. Paul got nearly exactly the average amount of time compared with the other candidates (yes, some more, some less).

Making enemies of the media is the surest way to lose. ;)

[JMO]

Here is my Youtube question.

My question is addressed to Rudy Giuliani. in the last debate you made the statment that "America cannot afford Hillary Clinton." The question is; can America afford Rudy Giuliani? will you go on record and say that you will decrease the National debt? or will you continue the current administrations policy of a increased national debt? what is Rudy Giuliani plan for a presidency that America can afford?

[nbhadja]

Coming fresh off of November 5th will increase RP's name greatly.

[walt]

Walt, before the last debate there was at least one similar thread about the "blackout" they expected and how Dr. Paul would get no time. Lots of people got their panties all bunched up, and in the end Dr. Paul got nearly exactly the average amount of time compared with the other candidates (yes, some more, some less).

Making enemies of the media is the surest way to lose. ;)

you are a fool. we did not get to that point without making noise! :eek: