Republican candidates are bailing out of the September 17th CNN/YouTube debate. They have come up with several reasons.

What presidential candidate would turn down a nationally televised debate in order to make a couple of bucks? Attending fundraisers is a ridiculous justification to pass on a major chance to differentiate themselves from the other candidates. These excuses are obviously a load of bullshit, as are the many other reasons Republicans are attempting to create. There is also the "snowman" excuse.

And the "CNN is liberal" excuse.

More excuses will surely follow, but the real reason leading Republicans will not take part in the debate is that they are scared. Little girl scared. The leading GOP candidates have baggage and they aren't used to direct questions. The mainstream media, like CNN, would never allow their anchors to ask harsh questions, but this format has given the network the ability to be very direct. Our current crop of news reporters shy away from asking tough questions because they are so frightened of being labeled “liberal” by the right. Some random guy in Utah isn’t. That is what frightens the Giuliani’s of the world.

What kind of questions are the candidates afraid of? How about these: Mitt Romney, why did you change your stance on so many subjects, like abortion, right before you ran for president? Rudy Giuliani, you didn’t buy new radios for the NYFD for ten years, even though a report on the 1993 WTC attacks said it was the first thing that should be done. It led to the death of over 300 firefighters. Why didn’t you buy the radios? (Imagine that one from a firefighter) Ron Paul, why did you allow a racist newsletter to be published in your name for ten years? John McCain, why were you not sure that condoms helped to prevent AIDS when question about it just three months ago?

These are just simple questions off the top of my head; imagine what could be done with a little research? The Republicans candidates are carrying a shitload of baggage and the common man is jumping at the chance to expose it. Here are some of the questions to date.













If you watch the questions people have posted on YouTube, you will become sad because of the high percentage of idiots. They are sometimes scary, sometimes ridiculous, but most often just pathetic. It is the few who present a well-crafted, thoughtful and direct question that scare the shit out of the GOP.

CNN is now attempting to reschedule the debate to work around the Giuliani and Romney fundraising conflicts and Republican bloggers are trying to pressure the two camps to attend. But the new Bush Republican Party is based on denial, suppression of evidence and bullying the media, which means that unpredictable questions could cause a lot of damage. Add to that the fact that the Republican right wing is far scarier than the Democratic left wing due to religious fundamentalism and I wouldn’t expect any of the leading candidates to show up for the YouTube debate. Did I mention that they are chickenshits?