Kerry should hold third debate whether w* shows up or not.

[spanone]

He can use it to illustrate that bush* is once again awol. He can also use it as a news conference and just to outright embarrass the king boy. God forbid that shrub talk before an audience that hasn't been sanitized.

[michigandem2]

1. it would be a 90 minute Kerry-thon

I think he shoudl show up..he shows up and talks to ANYONE...bipartisan or NOT! bottom line--i think the whole line that the administration is not certain is a "non partisan" group..is bullshit...he is the "president" of ALL people..not just republicans...RIGHT? if he feels so confident in his decisions would that even matter? if he made no mistakes, why would it matter who was there to ask some questions??? RE-GODDAMN-DICULOUS

[cthrumatrix]

13. would a "dummy" be smarter than the coward actually showing...hmmmm

[mark11727]

22. Replacing * with a cardboard cutout....? Sounds great!

Great dialog:

"Thank you for your insightful answer, Senator.
Now, Mr. President, would you care to rebut....? Hello...?"

[Myrina]

25. Feingold did that in WI in his first campaign ads

It was a hoot !

[JohnnyCougar]

26. Man, do I love Feingold

Only senator to vote against the Patriot Act....I'm gonna love voting for him this fall.

[forgethell]

16. Is any network going to cover

Kerry debating with himself?

[michigandem2]

18. not debating..just answering questions from the "town hall meeting"

of couse he won't debate..but he will answer questions about his plans, policies and whatever else they want to know...

[forgethell]

23. Is any network going

to cover that? My bet is it would be a ratings loser. Also, that it might violate one or the other of the increasingly complex and ineffective election campaign laws. Would they have to offer equal time to *?

[Jack_Dawson]

2. Bush is only doing TWO debates?

What a P*%*$(!!!

[rocktivity]

3. It's the second debate, actually

Which is supposed to be held in "town hall" format with undecided voters submitting the quesitons. Kerry's done plenty of those before, and if there are any hostile undercover Bush supporters, think of how much fun it will be watching them get taken down!

:headbang:
rocknation

[seabeyond]

4. told husband last nite bush running from this debate. his surprise

thought that meant bush was doing only one. remember he was trying to get out of az. they havent said he is doing it. and now talking about not doing wisc.?. that leaves one debate. do we know he is doing az

husband confused

[TheFarseer]

5. He should debate Will Farrell

doing a W impression. It would be hillarious

[Myrina]

24. Brilliant idea !!!

:yourock:

[StClone]

6. That would be one of the Great Political moves of all time!

How do we get the Kerry camp to under take this Political Soliloquy?

[grannylib]

7. Wonder if Chimpy will try to make everyone sign a loyalty oath to him

before the 'debates.'
He's gotta be desperate to try to protect himself from tough questions and having to give real answers.
Bet they're drilling him now:
"Mr. Bush, how would you respond to charges that you did not fulfill your commitment to the TANG?"
"Honorable discharge, did my time, 9/11 changed everything."
"Mr. Bush, under your watch there has been a net loss of over a million jobs. How do you respond to that?"
"We've turned the corner; America and the world are safer; 9/11 changed everything."

It's useless trying to get anything real out of him. He's a puppet; he's a media creation; he's a photo-opportunist; he's got nothin'.

[proud patriot]

8. I agree 100%

it is not up to bush to decide how many debates occur .
It's up to Americans to decide and they decided on 3 .
If bush is absent from this event it was only compound
his lifelong habit of not Showing up for DUTY .

Bush is no Emperor or dictator , that is simply
a dillusion of his own mind . It is his JOB to
show up . If he doesn't want to do his job , then
fire him America .

Send him back to his home wherever that is .

[Voltaire]

9. He should not only do the debate without Bush

But he should let ALL undecided voters know that Bush is NOT interested in hearing from them in ANY format that he cannot control. I think we really need to get the Kerry people's attention on this thing and hammer Bush with that.

[onehandle]

10. Exactly.

Kerry: "I'll be there to talk, with or without the President."

That would be sweet!

[Brotherjohn]

11. I agree. The article I read yesterday said the University was going ahead

... with plans. They're screening undecided voters to ask questions.

Kerry should tell them now, go ahead, and I'll be there either way. If Bush doesn't agree to the debate, I'll come anyway and take questions from all comers.

[Bad Thoughts]

12. Not so fast

An empty podium is a more formidable opponent than *.

[tridim]

14. And he should come prepared with lots of...

"Had my opponent bothered to show up to take questions from average citizens like yourself, he would have responded...xxxx... I, on the other hand believe...xxxx..."

Kerry can play both sides.

[Walt Starr]

15. Yet another example of Shrubbo's FAILURE TO PERFORM!

Those three words need to be used loudly and often!

[PsN2Wind]

17. Kerry could debate

a Cheney look-a-like with a ventriloquist dummy of Dubya.

[Clinton Crusader]

19. he would be debating an empty chair if * is there or not

He should go and absolutely use it as free air time.
:kick:

[napi21]

20. Since 1976 there were only 2 debates in 4 of them & 3 in 3 of them.

This argument seems to happen in every Presidential election season.

Although I love the mental picture of Kerry on stage with an empty podium on the other side, politicaly, it may be a mute point.

[zbdent]

21. Kerry should hold the third debate and say

"George Bush signed a statement saying he wouldn't go to a debate, and claims he would."

Or:

"George Bush could not be located in the last x weeks to fulfill his debate duty . . ."

[Silverhair]

27. Not a good idea.

As I understand it, the Bush camp has agreed, in principle, to two debates, plus one for the VP candidates. That has pretty much become the standard for the debates. If W agrees to, and shows up for two debates, then an empty chair third debate would likely be viewed as a silly stunt on the part of the Kerry camp. Such a stunt would likely cost him votes.

Bush could easily counter such a piece of theater by pointing out that he agreed to two debates, and showed up for them.

Kerry has made enough campaign errors already, without adding to them.

NOTE: To say that Kerry has made campaign errors does NOT mean that I prefer Bush. It simply means that I recognize that our guy has made some mistakes and they have hurt him.