Last week, Larry Reinsch, star performer of RocktheDebates.org, managed to engage Rudy Giuliani on whether Giuliani would be willing to participate in inclusive general election debates. Reinsch, who lives in Iowa, has been attempting to ask all the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates this question. RocktheDebates criteria is that anyone running for president in the general election who is on the ballot in states containing a majority of the electoral college, should be included in general election debates, or at least one of them.
Reinsch asked the question. Giuliani responded, “It’s not for me to fix that. I mean the reality is that if I get nominated as the candidate of the Republican Party, I’ll participate in debates. I’ll participate in debates with the Democratic candidate, and the reality is, I have to focus on that. Once I become the candidate of the party.”
Reinsch attempted to bring the focus back on the question. Giuliani broke in, “I don’t know…I don’t know which parties would be legitimate, which parties wouldn’t be, who has some support, who doesn’t, what the rules of the debate are…It’s all in the negotiations prior to the debates…I never make a commitment I can’t keep…”
Reinsch: “But you could try! The Republican and Democratic Party are the two halves of the negotiation, and typically it’s the candidate on either side that sets 50% of the rules…so if you were to try, it would go a long ways to rectify this violation of our Democracy.”
Giuliani: Well, I’ll make an effort to make sure I debate. I enjoy debating. I debated this morning on one hour sleep. So, if somebody makes the effort to come here and debate on one hour sleep…I’m willing to debate most anytime anyplace…but as far as the rules are concerned, I can’t in advance tell you what they should be, until I see who the candidate is, what the Democratic candidate is going to do…there are a lot of rules that must be worked out. As I said, I never make promises that I can’t keep, so I can’t give you that information right now.”
In other words, his answer is “no”
That’s called the Big Apple Tango, isn’t it? Or is it the Big Apple Two-Step?
Talk about Evading a Question like a true Politician!
This is a total cop out, Eric. If somebody like Michael Badnarik or Steve Kubby is such a “loser” then why would somebody like Giuliani fear debating them? If Giuliani is REALLY confident in his ideas and if his ideas are correct, then he should be able to defeat anyone in a debate, therefore he should be willing to debate anyone? The fact that Giuliani is not willing to debate anyone speaks volumes about Giuliani, and what it says is that he is an intellectual coward.
“Does someone like that deserve to be on the same stage as a United States Senator and a former Mayor of America’s largest city?”
If he or she is on enough state ballots to have a chance of winning the Electoral College, yes. There will probably be only six candidates who meet that criteria next year: Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, Constitution, and Unity08.
Considering how badly the two major parties are running this country, it’s about damn time that they face someone else in the debates. I’m sick and tired of the Democrats and Republicans getting to decide who may be allowed to compete with them. GM does’t get to decide who may or may not compete with them for profits. The Catholic Church doesn’t get to decide who may or may not compete with them for members.
The same slimy song and dance being performed by other candidates of the duopoly. It’s really time we wrest the debates from the greasy palms of the two parties and get back to the League of Women Voters or any other League willing to host!
“Does someone like that deserve to be on the same stage as a United States Senator and a former Mayor of America’s largest city?â€
Look who we have for president right now! Good heavens, if the Greens or the Libertarians nominated a gifted 10th grader they would have greater communication skills and credibility than the current leader of the free world!
Dondero claims to be a libertarian. The problem is he hates LP candidates and backs neocons like Giuliani.