Ron Paul: Of Course I'm Not Going To Show Up To Trump's Debate. Newt Gingrich: I'm There!

Advantage: Um, yeah, ah....Ron Paul.

I had this in the last thread but it's probably worth discussing a bit more.

Here's Paul's statement.

“The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the office of the Presidency and flies in the face of that office’s history and dignity. Mr. Trump’s participation as moderator will distract from questions and answers concerning important issues such as the national economy, crushing federal government debt, the role of the federal government, foreign policy, and the like. To be sure, Mr. Trump’s participation will contribute to an unwanted circus-like atmosphere.

“Mr. Trump’s selection is also wildly inappropriate because of his record of toying with the serious decision of whether to compete for our nation’s highest office, a decision he appeared to make frivolously. The short-lived elevation of Mr. Trump’s stature as a candidate put him on the radar of many organizations and we recall that last spring he was invited to keynote the Republican Party of Iowa’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, yet at the last minute he left RPI holding the bag by canceling. In turn, RPI canceled its biggest fundraising gala of the year and suffered embarrassment and in addition RPI was required to engage in refunding measures. Our candidate will not even consider participating in the late-December debate until Mr. Trump publicly apologizes to Iowa party leaders and rectifies in full the situation.

“Therefore our candidate Ron Paul, the champion of the Constitution, has advised he will not attend.”

Team Newt says,

Newt has accepted the invitation from Newsmax for a December 27 debate in Iowa.

As I wrote in the last post I think anyone who shows up to the Trump Show should be disqualified from serious contention. So that's....awkward.

I guess it makes sense since Newt is running as "I'll debate anyone, anywhere" guy but I think considering he's doing at least two 1 on 1 debates (Cain and Huntsman) and Mitt has chickened out on facing Gingrich, Newt might have gotten a pass on this one.

It'll be interesting to see who else accepts this. What if Newt is still the front runner, none of the other regulars accept (Huntsman already said no) and he's on stage with Trump and....Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer? That's going to be...pathetic.

With Newt it's always a matter of taking the good with the bad and more often than you'd like, the downright awful.

Added: Newt confirms.

Newt on Trump debate: "How could you turn down the Donald? ... I would want to go just for the entertainment value."

Well, as long as he's entertained!

posted by DrewM. at 02:18 PM

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