Topic: Trump speculates on Obama BC...

[charlesoakwood]

No.

Is he going to be in the May 5, debate?  If these strong free thinkers are not allowed in the debates it's toast. The Rovians are having sleepless nights trying to make sure that stage is full of truce making get-a-longs. Trump and West at least should be up there.

[Pandora]

No.

Is he going to be in the May 5, debate?  If these strong free thinkers are not allowed in the debates it's toast. The Rovians are having sleepless nights trying to make sure that stage is full of truce making get-a-longs. Trump and West at least should be up there.

May 5th debate on what?

[charlesoakwood]

The first Presidential debate and it will be aired on Fox.

The contest is on and it's time to get all our guys up on that stage.

[Pandora]

The first Presidential debate and it will be aired on Fox.

The contest is on and it's time to get all our guys up on that stage.

Just so.  I want to see them all.

None of this "you're not party affiliated" or "party condoned" BS.

[Glock32]

I want Trump and as many other "outspoken" candidates as we can get. As mentioned by others, these candidates can do a lot of good by - if nothing else - injecting issues into the debate without the "serious" candidates having to take that risk themselves.

I don't know how exactly, but we're going to have to step on the Rovians early and hard. More of their same old, same old is just a recipe for disaster. The 2012 GOP primary needs to be treated with at least as much energy as the 2010 midterms. Any candidate the media pronounces "unelectable" or is the recipient of sniping from useless anonymous bastards like these "House congressional aides" is doing something right. Flak is heaviest over the target!

[charlesoakwood]

Getting all our guys up on that stage will step on Rovian toes.
As you said, first off they will bring up topics that the more timid would otherwise not broach.

Also, their responses to those topics will be revealing. 
Personally I don't think the RINOs are up to the task and they will show themselves weak.  They should consider it an opportunity to show their breadth and depth; however, having none they will fight to keep TeaParty candidates off the stage.

[Libertas]

Crush the Rovian's!

Grind them into dust!

The time is now!

[IronDioPriest]

...Trump and West at least should be up there.

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think West has any intention of running for President now.

We'll at least have Bachmann, Cain, likely Trump, likely Palin, maybe Bolton... that's a good crop of conservatives to at the very least drive the conservative message into the debates. Pawlenty will be conservative in debate too, because he is conservative - he's just not the unapologetic warrior we're looking for.

Trump scares the hell out of me. I think he's an egomaniac, and we already have one of those. Like Pan, I want to know first and foremost that whomever we nominate is a constitutionalist. But he's at least gotten me to stand up and pay attention over the last week, and he's hitting all the right notes.

[charlesoakwood]

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think West has any intention of running for President now.

We'll at least have Bachmann, Cain, likely Trump, likely Palin, maybe Bolton... that's a good crop of conservatives to at the very least drive the conservative message into the debates.

Big ruh ro here, I meant Cain, my fingers took control of my mind.

I love Bachmann but she has a more important job and she hasn't announced.
Palin, she hasn't announced either. I don't think they will have unannounced and last moment candidates up there.

I get the sweats thinking about a stage full of wonk worms.

[IronDioPriest]

...I get the sweats thinking about a stage full of wonk worms.

No doubt. Clash of the GOP Titans: Romney, Pawlenty, Barbour, Santorum, Huntsman, Daniels, Gingrich, Huckabee.

My God.

[Alphabet Soup]

...I get the sweats thinking about a stage full of wonk worms.

No doubt. Clash of the GOP Titans: Romney, Pawlenty, Barbour, Santorum, Huntsman, Daniels, Gingrich, Huckabee.

My God.

You just spoiled my whole weekend. (Don't worry - I'm used to it ;-)

[charlesoakwood]

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/03/31/fox-exclusive-rnc-considers-greater-role-crafting-presidential-debate-schedule
...
"With some debates already scheduled less than five weeks from now, we know it is important to move quickly to determine what role, if any, the potential candidates would like the RNC to play in the debate structure, format and timing," RNC Chief of Staff Jeff Larson wrote
...
The process of deciding whether to officially sanction debates is part of the committee's active effort under the leadership of Chairman Reince Priebus to assert its influence and increase organization
../
On May 5, Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party are set to kick off the 2012 primary season with the first major debate of the election cycle, although Larson indicated in the memo that "the Committee has determined the best start date might be later than May."
...
Already on Wednesday, The Reagan Foundation, along with partners NBC News and Politico, announced they are rescheduling the May debate to September. "Although there will be a long and impressive list of Republican candidates who eventually take the field, too few have made the commitment thus far for a debate to be worthwhile in early May," said John Heubusch, the Reagan Foundation's executive director in a statement.

WTF? This reads as if the debate has been canceled? 
The GOP is going to help?

HELP!    Please tell me I'm reading this wrong.

[cont]
"The recommendation we'd offer from the Committee is for there to be no more than two debates per month. It takes at least three days for a campaign to get to an event, prepare for the debate and then participate in the debate. If the debate schedule continues to escalate moving forward there could be 50-70 debates for the candidates."

The Committee on Presidential Debates is headed by Indiana committeeman Jim Bopp of Indiana, who has a background in campaign finance and election law. Priebus chose Bopp, Larson, and Wisconsin's Steve King to set up separate conference calls with the inner circles of potential candidates to "continue the discussion about the RNC's role in debates," in particular whether "we can reach some consensus on is when the debates might start and the frequency of debates."

Committee members include: Linda Ackerman (California), Congressman Dick Armey (Texas), Al Cardenas (Florida), Maria Cino (Virginia), Jo Ann Davidson (Ohio), Mike Duncan (Kentucky), Mike Grebe (Wisconsin), Debbie Joslin (Alaska), Tom Minnery (Colorado), and Solomon Yue (Oregon).

[IronDioPriest]

Idunno... Where the RNC seeks to insert itself, it's always good to be skeptical...

On the other hand, if the first debate is really scheduled for May 5th, and there are NO declared candidates as of April 1st, with many of the hopefuls saying they do not intend to officially announce until summer, it could just be a case of the debate planners jumping the gun, expecting the field to have been more established by now, and reacting to the fact that they have debates planned with no candidates to attend them.

I agree with the candidates choosing to wait, BTW. Why start hammering on each other now, while the Dems are continuing to self-destruct?

[charlesoakwood]

Re: early debates

Some TV sage opined that early debates benefitted the unknowns and hurt extablished candidates.  It allows unknowns to become known and raise nasty issues about the Ruling Class.

The GOP inserting itself to "help", affirms the opinionator's premise.


ETA: as you said, if we don't have candidates how can we have debates?

[Miltrainer]

May is far too early. We first need to have some people throw their hats into the ring and let them make the circuit tour. From there there needs to be a field narrowing. I would hate to see a debate with 25 potential candidates. That would take away form the the true contenders. Any more than 10 in a debate is worthless. No one gets to give a complete answer and its on to the next question or they will need a debate that lasts 4 hours.  (YAWN). The earliest the debate should be is in August. Heck, even then, some might not have thrown their hat into the ring.