Fiorina should be in the debate on Saturday
Of course she should. I don’t even think those who don’t like her think there’s any real reason to exclude her if Kasich, Bush, and Christie are there.
Take a look at the Iowa results. At this point, as the only actual voting that’s occurred, these figures should matter far more than any poll.
It would be different if there were still an undercard debate, and she could appear there. But right now Fiorina is the only candidate excluded from the big stage, and there will be no undercard debate. Either have another undercard debate (personally, I’d like to see the number of main debate participants be limited to three at this point) or include everyone in the main debate, unless one person is so obviously way way way below all the others that it’s clear he or she doesn’t belong (for example, Gilmore, who is also excluded, and whose exclusion no one seems to be protesting because even he knows he’s not a serious candidate). That’s not true of Fiorina, so her exclusion is both absurd and an unconscionable interference with the public’s right to see the candidates spar with each other.
Legal Insurrection’s Kemberlee Kaye suggests that the other candidates should escort Carly onto the stage on Saturday. Not a bad idea, although I doubt they’ll do it. But such disparate people as Romney, Gingrich, and Ben Carson have tweeted their support for her appearance.
The RNC shames itself in this behavior, contemptible behavior, inexcusable behavior. ABC is of course as bad, and yet has not the interest in an evenhanded integrity which must necessarily attach to the party apparatus regarding its own candidates. Such a lack of fidelity to simple justice will shame the party entire, should this travesty proceed as currently proposed. And furthermore exposes to shame any and all of those candidates who do not recognize the injustice thus revealed. Who would want such persons in roles of the highest trust? Not I, not at all.
I suggest that one of the leading candidates (Cruz? Trump?) announce that he is relinquishing his place to allow Fiorina to participate.
Although I like Kaye’s idea, and the undertone of group unanimity, the logistics of getting ALL the others to agree to escort her on stage may be difficult. A single recusal, especially by one of the leading candidates, would IMO draw substantial favorable attention to both that candidate and Fiorina. If she performed well, as she usually does, it might help to establish her as a strong candidate for VP.
Leaving the last remaining candidate off the stage looks bad. Either let her in or cut anyone polling less that 8%.
Trump would sue if he was in the same position. Seriously. A plaintiff in over 100 cases.
Viewers need to let ABC know they will switch channels if Fiorina is not on the stage.
Shunning Carly is unseemly. If the people setting up the debate don’t want to accommodate everyone at the big table they should invite Cruz, Rubio, and Trump to the big debate and have a second debate for the rest of the candidates.
Agree.
This is a much more important, than may be immediately apparent.
It’s a given that ABC has no honor. As for the other Republican candidates, they reveal their own lack of character by going along with the offense. They are giving ABC the power to decide who is and who is not, a candidate.
Character is doing the right thing, when you KNOW it will cost you to do so. The higher the cost to do the right thing, the greater the character.
Every Republican candidate, that does and says nothing, will have revealed themselves to be unfit for the office they seek and, if he too is silent, that will include Cruz.
Especially now, it’s not enough to support the Constitution or to be right on the issues. Anyone so lacking in character, as to ignore what is clearly the right thing to do, will ultimately prove to be inadequate to the position.
That today, this is not a commonly held POV reveals just how absent is America’s moral compass. When reduced to its most basic element, this is why Americans have, in the aggregate, elected this government.
Geoffrey Britain:
So far:
neo,
Thanks, I missed that, it’s reassuring.
Brett Baier give her a pretty long segment in an interview he taped for this evening’s Special Report. As always, she did a good job and made the most of the opportunity. I guess the Media (writ large) decided at some point that there is room for only one female candidate this election; too bad. She is the closest thing to Lady Thatcher that we’ve ever had. She’s a natural born leader and would make a historic (an historic?) president. I hope she at least gets offered (and accepts) a powerful cabinet post or agency leadership position.
I’m torn. On the one hand, Carly deserves to be there. OTOH, the field must be winnowed and I don’t think she stands a chance of winning.
Having her on stage would just be prolonging the pain.
OTOOH, she probably doesn’t have the money to continue much past NH, so what harm could it do?
Flip a coin (heh).
If Donald Trump had any political sense, he would demand that Carly be on that stage. He could state that he gained great respect for her the way she stood up to him, face-to-face. And could point out that on the Democrat side, nobody, not even Sanders, dares stand up to Hillary.
I think Trump would gain tremendously from that kind of move.
I’d love to see Carly battling it out on stage with the rest of the first tier candidates again. She’s been my number one pick all along and I’m very sorry to see how little support she’s gotten.
Inexcusable. Wrong for all the reasons stated by y’all, but also, she would no doubt do very well; she always has. Could easily propel her to 4th in NH.
ABC doesn’t want any articulate republican nominee to remain in the race.
I suspect Fiorina’s exclusion from the debate stage will make NH voters more rather than less likely to vote for her.
This was on Carly’s twitter page: https://vimeo.com/154417824
Clever. Cute. Correct.
The reason she’s being excluded is that she keeps refocusing the ‘debate’ towards Hillary and the Obama administration.
ABC — the MSM — wants Hillary to win.
Which is why they keep pushing Trump, a sure fire loser in November.