Op-Ed: Republican YouTube Debate Delayed?

The YouTube/CNN Republican debate site is still claiming the debate is set for September 17th in Florida, but rumors are circulating that the debate could be delayed as late as December.

The Washington Post reported that Governor Romney is against doing the debate in September for two reasons. First, he has a scheduling conflict since he’ll be in New York raising money. Second, he objects to the format used for some of the questions. He found it demeaning to the race that the Democrats had to answer a question about global warming from a snowman. The Governor is in talks with CNN about doing the debate at a later time. Congressman Ron Paul, who does plan to attend the debate in September, wrote on his blog that the candidates have already received word that the debate is postponed. This indicates to me that the Governor's scheduling conflict is his real objection and that his snowman objection is merely secondary. Former Mayor Guiliani is also talking about skipping the debate. The GOP was founded in the 1850s, and it looks like at least some of the Republican candidates want to go back to those good ‘ole days when they didn’t have to answer questions from the unwashed masses. Lincoln didn’t even attend the convention which nominated him for the Presidency, so maybe the candidates can have scheduling conflicts for that date as well. I don’t think it will work as well for them as it did for Lincoln though. Especially given the recent record of the leader of the party, Republicans need to be more willing to engage the public in a dialog, not less.