Liberal Boulder County Resident Mark Udall, while running from his record, also fears (gasp!) conservative bloggers. Ben DeGrow over at Schaffer vs. Udall relays the timeline of Mark Udall’s nervousness and eventual refusal to participate an online debate with Bob Schaffer to be moderated by Ben DeGrow and liberal blogger David Thielen.
Two weeks after Bob Schaffer's
acceptance - on April Fool's Day, in fact - David informed me of the Mark Udall
team's official response. Out of deference to David's wishes, I didn't mention
the email or divulge its contents publicly - that is, until this weekend when
David gave me the green light to explain why Udall refused to join the debate
those many weeks ago: The Boulder Democrat didn't want yours truly as the
moderator. The alleged reason? The use of the tag "Udall as a Liar"
on this blog.
I was quite flattered by the
singular reputation I seemed to have acquired from the Mark Udall campaign, but
deferentially refused to make public hay out of the matter. Behind-the-scenes
negotiations were still under way. The Mark Udall team refused to back down.
David mentioned the possibility of a certain anonymous conservative blogger
stepping up to fill my place, but that wasn't acceptable. Both sides held firm,
and the online debate never materialized.
The Mark Udall camp apparently remains alone in its opinion. As David wrote to me in an email: "I do think you are a reasonable choice and I don't think you are any more partisan than I am - that's why I asked you to do this." I likewise respect David as someone with whom I frequently disagree, but someone who is essentially fair and honest. Unlike Mark Udall surrogates who repeat lies online that this blog is anything but the independent and amateur (though admittedly biased) venture that it is.
It is interesting how Bob Schaffer accepted the debate without preconditions, yet Mark Udall (or his staff) fears debating in an open forum. It is an obvious stratagem to keep Udall from having to speak at public events and defend his anti-Colorado, pro-high energy cost voting record.
In any event, with Mark Udall running from his Boulder liberal mantra, running from leftist bloggers, and running from center-right bloggers, he needs to send Airbrushing Lynn Bartels some flowers. If Udall loses the support of the dominant liberal mass media as well, his popular support will suddenly shrink to a Boulder County-sized postage stamp.
by Civil Sense
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