Were Huckabee and Paul in the Debate?
by Big Dog on Jan 31, 2008 at 07:54 Political
This is from the CNN website:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, winner of the Iowa caucuses, hoped to position himself well among evangelicals and other conservatives to turn around several consecutive losses since Iowa. Long-shot candidate Ron Paul, a representative from Texas, also participated in the debate. CNN
Is it fair to say that Ron Paul, of Mike Huckabee for that matter, actually participated in the debate? Almost all of the questions were directed to Romney and McCain while Huckabee and Paul sat on the sidelines waiting to be asked a question or invited to respond to a McCain or Romney answer.
It was obvious to me from the start that CNN was determined to form the debate around Romney and McCain and provide America with who they believe to be the top choices rather than allowing the viewers to see all the candidates to take a decision. At one point Huckabee informed the moderators that he was part of the process as well and the barrage of questions they promised turned out to be one. Ron Paul stated he wanted to elaborate on something he was not permitted to discuss earlier and Anderson Cooper cut him off and promised him that in a few minutes he [Paul] would get a chance. More than five minutes passed as Romney and McCain were asked question after question while Paul was ignored.
It is also fair to say that Huckabee and Paul (even more so Paul) were kept on short leashes and not given anywhere near the time the other two received to address issues and attack each other. When Huckabee answered he was more thoughtful and expressed cogent thoughts without attacking anyone and Paul actually seemed like the adult on the stage. At one point McCain and Romney spent nearly ten minutes arguing about who said what regarding timetables. When Paul finally got to speak he said that they should be addressing the issues rather than arguing about petty stuff like who said what and when:
I don’t even think they should have gone [to Iraq], so keeping them for 100 years, where’s the money going to come from? (APPLAUSE)
You know, the country is in bankruptcy. And when I listen to this argument, I mean, I find it rather silly, because they’re arguing technicalities of a policy they both agree with.
They agreed with going in; they agreed for staying, agreed for staying how many years? And these are technicalities. We should be debating foreign policy, whether we should have interventionism or non-interventionism, whether we should be defending this country or whether we should be the policemen of the world, whether we should be running our empire or not, and how are going to have guns and butter?
You know, the ’70s were horrible because we paid for the guns and butters of the ’60s. Now we’re doing the same thing. And nobody even seems to care. The dollar is crashing, and you’re talking about these technicalities about who said what when?
I mean, in 1952, we Republicans were elected to stop the war in Korea. In 1968, we were elected to stop the war in Vietnam. And, tragically, we didn’t stop it very fast: 30,000 more men died.
So when I talk about these long-term stays, I think, “How many men are you willing to let die for this, for something that has nothing to do with our national security?”
There were no Al Qaida there. It had nothing do with 9/11. And there was no threat to our national security. They never committed aggression. It’s unconstitutional. It’s an undeclared war.
And we have these silly arguments going on about who said what when. I think it’s time to debate foreign policy and why we don’t follow the Constitution and only go to war with a declaration of war. CNN
I have to agree with Paul on this one (with regard to the debate). These guys spent a lot of time arguing about who said what on an issue they both agree with. No matter what one says about Paul, he makes sense on some of the issues and he is right that the issues matter more than who said what and when especially when they both agree with the policy.
Huckabee and Paul were ignored through a large portion of this debate. It almost seems that they received as much attention on stage as they would have if they had been in the audience. Governor Schwarzenegger got more face time than they did and he was sitting in the crowd.
Tags: cnn debate, mike huckabee, reagan library, ron paul
I was disappointed in the way that both Huckabee and Paul were treated in the debate overall; particularly with the blunt dismissal of Paul. If they are going to invite him they should give him a fair opportunity to speak. Huckabee summed it up well when he bristled at the fact that he and Paul were being ignored and that there were “Conservatives at the other end of the stage as well.” Too bad for us, the voters, that Cooper, or CNN, didn’t really care.
CNN’s bias was quite obvious the way they favored McCain and Romney with so much time. Huckabee got maybe a third the face time that McCain and Romney got, Paul probably a tenth or less. I’m furious. And here’s what I’m going to do. I’m calling my cable company and I’m going to have CNN removed from my cable lineup, so I don’t have to ever look at Anderson Cooper’s face again. CNN, you’re fired!
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 02/01/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
I was sad to see how Ron Paul and Huckabee were left completely out. Its an outrage, we need to stand up to our government and say we want fair elections!
Everyone should post on Anderson Coopers blog and tell him how disgusted they are http://www.cnn.com/360
Ron Paul makes sense on every issue. He is a very intelligent and wise man. He will not claim something to be true unless he has done the research and knows it to be so.
He is the only true conservative running for president. He is the only alternative to anything different than what we have had these last 20 years.
He wants to limit government, give more power to the individual and the states, he wants to be humble in his foriegn policy and not piss everyone off and, most importantly, he wants to turn the economy around through resposible fiscal policy.
Yeah he’s real crazy alright. The only thing he’s crazy about is to think that Americans won’t let the media dictate who they vote for. For anyone who is free-thinking and really breaks down the issues, he is the only choice.
All I have to say about this debate is, afterwards, Joseph Goebbels sat up in his grave and smiled.
Well…there you have it, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee don’t exist. Nice job, CNN, you now are on a par with Fox News.
If you want ot hear what RON PAUL has to say
GOOGLE RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT 2008…the networks ahven’t censored his websites yet.
Since when does the media decide who is, or is not, a worthy presidential candidate? Who is pulling these Media strings? Why is it that all media outlets think and act like it is not blatantly obvious the way this whole election has been unfairly covered? Not just CNN, but ALL channels of information distribution in this state of idiocracy! It’s a disgrace to this country.. Ron Paul gets 3% of media coverage in Florida which results in 3% of the vote. Ron Paul is the only candidate speaking with any intelligence on the Republican platform and when Huckabee drops out it will be down to 3. Are you, the media, going to continue to leave Ron Paul out? This isn’t American Idol, this is for the President of the United States! Everyone wants to relate themselves with Ronald Reagan, and Ron Paul is the only candidate that was ever endorsed and campaign for by President Reagan himself! Ron Paul was on Reagan’s campaign.. but no.. that’s not a speaking point worthy of coverage, but Guiliani dropping out and McCain and Romney arguing about nothing is! WTF!!! I’m going to throw up now and pack my bags to leave this, what was once a free and fair country! FU mass media! FU CFR! and especially FU NEO-CON liberty smashing Illuminati!
I am a mother with an 18 year old (first time voter this year) and a 15 year old. We all sat down together to watch this debate. My 15 year old son asked me soon into the debate why they were only talking to 2 of the people and not even giving the others a chance? This was the most ridiculous thing I have seen on TV regarding the election. It was such disregard on CNN’s part and we aren’t stupid and we all know it was designed this way. CNN’s goal was to create more NEWS, which was the sparring of McCain and Romney. That’s all that has been on the news today anyway… not the real issues…not what all the candidates said (or should’ve been able to say)… but the stupid sparring of these 2 guys. It was a waste of my time to watch this debate on CNN. However it is obvious to me that this news station is NOT objective. They are NOT impartial. They have their own agenda. How sad it is what the media has become. Robbing Americans of the information we desire in order to create a little frenzy so it can be headlines tomorrow.
CNN writes an article proclaiming “GOP hopefuls used their last debate opportunity before the crucial set of primaries next Tuesday to showcase their conservative credentials amid a winnowed field.” Far from the truth of balanced reporting. In reality, only two candidates were allowed to monopolize 90% of the time allocated for the debate. CNN and its moderator, Anderson Cooper, did a disservice to the American voter by not giving equal time to ALL candidates or even pose the same question to each candidate…
Let the voter determine what is important to them… their job is to moderate and provide a balanced forum and to ask questions which are meaningful to the voting public. If last night’s Republican debate is any indication of what will happen in tonight’s Democratic debate, I hope they let the viewers know at the beginning of the debate which of the two candidates will be given 90% of the time… Clinton or Obama. My guess is that it will be Clinton via the Clinton News Network. For me, I’ll be outside watching my grass grow as based on the majority of questions posed last night, they had little to nothing to do with what’s important to us…the voters.
Big Dog;
Thanks for the article. Well written, but probable discarded by most americans. By the way, nobody so far has questioned the use of the word “Debate”, which this wasn’t. It was more of a journalistic docudrama.
Thanks Again!!
Russ,
I asked the same thing after the 1/24 MsNbC “debate”, I was hope’n CNN would be a bit more diverse… /facepalm.
I wish Paul and Huckibee had listened to and adhered to the “rules” stated at the beginning of the commercial for McCain/Romney. “…the only rules are there are no rules…” They should have cut in and walked all over those moderators when they wanted to speak. They should have cut in on RomCain banters of nothingness.
O well hindsight is 20/20.
Anderson Cooper should be ashamed and I hope enough viewers speak out so this issue is addressed!I hope every individual watching this debate notices as we do, the terrible injustice done to these two men, probably most worthy of the office for which they run. Justice would truly be served if enough people saw through the media fog and elected Ron Paul the republican nominee!!!
we have to do something about this. this is really becoming a threat to our country. we have to reallly do something and fast. its “we the people” not “we the media”
Barak Obama is about change. HillaryClinton is about solution. Tell her to give a solution for the democratic votes and caucuses in Florida and Michigan. Anyway, if the phone rings, she has to get up and get dressed or do she sleep in her clothes? Now that’s ready made!
Everyone is talking about obama middle name, but no one talks of Hillarys middle name. Rodman is her maiden name not her middle name. What is it nyway?
Her middle name is Diane.