Rathje’s refusal to debate is a huge blunder.
Nathan Greene
4 Comments
I thought I’d chime in a give my two cents on Steve Rathje skipping the Polk County Republican/IPTV debate this coming Friday night. Not that I was ever going to vote for this guy, but his decision to skip the debate is hands down the stupidest thing I have ever witnessed in Iowa Politics.
Let’s see none of the three candidates running for the GOP nomination have a dime to their names. Eichhorn and Reed didn’t file April fundraising reports because they didn’t meet the threshold, and Rathje had a mind boggling $7,732.12 cash on hand. To put that in perspective Bill Salier had over 60k cash on hand back in 2002.
So what does that have to do with the IPTV debate on Friday? Everything. How on earth can you turn down free air time if you are Steve Rathje or any of these candidates? Simply put, Steve Rathje doesn’t deserve your vote because of his stupidity.
Now I’m sure come Thursday night or sometime Friday the light bulb will go off and Rathje will realize that not only is he not taking free air time, but his decision to skip the debate actually gives his opponents more face time. If our good friends at the Polk County Republican Party are smart, and the folks at IPTV have a backbone they will tell Rathje to get lost if he makes such a last minute move.
Seriously, we have been laughing at this for a week now, but how can any one vote for a candidate this stupid? If you listened to his interview on Steve Deace you can probably figure out why he doesn’t want to debate. The guy can only give a speech, not answer questions.
On a related note, I’ve been wondering if one of these candidates has to break 35% to actually win the nomination. Who knows, it could go to convention!
Reader Comments (4)
This does not surprise me. I do not think that it is a situation in which he would excel. And I think that he knows that and this is why he is refusing to debate. I commend Eichhorn and Reed for their courage to participate in the debate.
I find this all very odd. There is no other reason that could possibly explain his refusing to debate other than he feels he has the primary bagged.
This was a terrible decision, especially based on the fact that he's been running for almost 3 years now.
I have the feeling if you take a key and put it in his back and wind him up, Rathje can give the same speech he has given over and over again, and that this is about all he CAN do.
By not engaging in the competition of debate, Rathje seems to be indicating he is entitled to the position he's seeking. It's unfortunate when politicians don't make themselves available to their constituents in every environment available, and certainly the environment of debate is a significant one.
In this case, it is an environment whereby Mr Rathje has the chance to prove exactly who he is: quite probably just another politician and not a very intelligent or successful one at that....
oops..perhaps it is easy to see why Mr. Rathje might be afraid to debate.
I have news for Mr. Rathje. The facts that he has been running for three years (all OVER the state, by the way) and raised and spent all kinds of money do not necessarily make him a shoe-in for the U.S. Senate.
Full disclosure: I am planning on voting for Christopher Reed, who isn't afraid to stick his neck out and who doesn't pretend to be OR WANT TO BE a politician. More power to him.
quite obviously Mr. Rathje is afraid to debate.
what I heard at the LDD is that he's upset that these two candidates announced so late and are "stealing" some of his endorsements.
:::sigh:::
apparently not working hard enough to keep them IMO.