The Washington Post has an article on their front page today regarding Republicans who have turned down the debate being held at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Rather than analyzing the situation logically and deducing the real reason for Republicans to snub this debate, they have instead chosen to make the issue about race because Morgan State University is a predominantly black school.

Here is the truth, although I doubt any major media outlet, save Fox News will ever mention it. This debate is for the Republican Primary, i.e. to decide who will win the Republican nomination. Of Baltimore’s 331,987 registered voters more than 263,000 are registered Democrats and only 32,000 are registered Republicans. This means less than 10% of Baltimore’s registered voters are eligible to vote in the Republican primary.

Because this is a debate about “black issues” (whatever that means), it would most certainly be dominated by questions on affirmative action, and this years Supreme Court ruling regarding race based admissions in Seattle. This is a no win situation for Republicans who feel affirmative action goes against the American principle of all men being created equal. They would either be booed off of the stage for proclaiming to a black audience that they should not recieve special treatment, or they risk losing their conservative base if they attempted to pander to the audience.

That being said, I do not agree with the decision to avoid this debate. Although it would certainly not be a freindly venue, it is a mistake to avoid it. The debate will be aired on PBS which most homes in America have access to, and will give the Republican candidates access to millions of Americans.

Thinking back to when the Democrats opted out of a debate on Fox News, I recall many conservatives, myself included, ridiculing them. The Mantra at the time appeared to be “How can they stand up to terrorists if they cant stand up to Fox News”. That was true then, and is true today. If a politician is unwilling to stand before a potentially hostile crowd and answer tough questions, they are in the wrong line of work. Americans expect their leaders to be be tough, and capable of standing up to criticisms.

I hope the top tier candidates, specifically Fred Thompson who has yet to attend a debate will reconsider their decision on this one.

P.S. Am I the only one who sees the double standard with regards to the Democratic Fox News debate? That debate was sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, however no racial implications were ever brought up.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Election 2008, Politics, Racism