Rand Paul Says He Won’t Participate In Undercard Debate

[jkob]

Not participating in the undercard debate is cutting your nose off to spite your face, the media will straight start ignoring him completely and not include him in polls if he does that. 100% he will be mocked for having a hissy fit too. How far is Rand going to take this campaign? We have to be realistic.

 

[adam220891]

I like this. Dat fire.

 

[hells_unicorn]

My one complaint about Rand's campaign thus far has been that he hasn't really given the media the middle finger yet (he came close when he shushed that mouthy, obnoxious twit several months back). Personally, I like this approach, it's guaranteed to get attention and it's also probably going to get a reaction from the other campaigns. Screw this under-card debate crap, nobody is watching and even in the main debates few people are saying anything. If the so-called polls are telling us anything, it's only that people are watching these debates just to watch Trump mouth off at people.

 

[hells_unicorn]

Not participating in the undercard debate is cutting your nose off to spite your face, the media will straight start ignoring him completely and not include him in polls if he does that. 100% he will be mocked for having a hissy fit too. How far is Rand going to take this campaign? We have to be realistic.

How about instead of being realistic we actually try winning this election? And just to be clear, licking the MSM's boot isn't going to accomplish that, otherwise Bush would be where Trump and Cruz are right now. Besides, the media has been mocking Rand since he declared, what are they going to do, ignore and belittle him harder?

 

[CPUd]

This is no different than what the Jeb, Cruz, Rubio campaigns would do if they were on the bubble and asked about it. I suspect they will ask Jeb the same thing in a couple weeks.

 

[Mr Stealth]

Good. Who else has called out the undercard debate for what it is? It's a steaming pile of bullshit. The time slot is chosen so that max viewership is reached with the main debate. Then, the media controls the post-debate narrative. Half the viewers (undercard) + controlled post debate narrative = political death for any not blessed by the media. Fuck them.

 

[cjm]

Good. Who else has called out the undercard debate for what it is? It's a steaming pile of bullshit.

Right. There is no undercard debate. There's the debate, and then there's the equal time provided to the other candidates. If you don't get invited to the "main" debate, you're not invited to the debate.

 

[Jan2017]

Rand was probably not going to be in the last undercard either.

 

[jkob]

How about instead of being realistic we actually try winning this election? And just to be clear, licking the MSM's boot isn't going to accomplish that, otherwise Bush would be where Trump and Cruz are right now. Besides, the media has been mocking Rand since he declared, what are they going to do, ignore and belittle him harder?

Yeah, they will. They'll put Rand in George Pataki/Jim Gilmore territory, the punchline is already why is Rand still running. 100% he be declared not a serious candidate, they already essentially do but just bailing all together on the debates(the only time these voters get to see you pretty much) is not a recipe for winning. It would be better to go into the debate and raise some hell then think taking our ball and going home matters one iota to the establishment. Out of sight, out of mind. Rand no longer exists to them once he's out of the debates.

 

[EBounding]

I don't have an opinion on this, but I think it's safe to say that the debates don't help Rand.

Rand needs to pull a stunning upset in Iowa and Nevada from actual voters.

 

[libertyplz]

Lashing out at the media seems to generally be a good way to get conservatives on your side. A ton of people were defending Rand earlier this year when Rand put some of the media talking heads in their place and the media tried to paint Rand as thin skinned and as someone who had an issue with women. When that happened people outside the liberty movement were defending Rand. Cruz got a lot of people cheering for him when he called out the media a few debates ago. I wonder if Rand is somewhat bluffing, but is really trying to create a narrative that the media is against him. Rand isn't really that far off from meeting the criteria, this could get him enough attention to draw some people over who would like to give the middle finger to the media. Idk, maybe that's reaching a bit.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Rand taking a stand at least shows hes a leader and a degree of principles and toughness.. maybe thatll make a good impact on the electorate.

 

[hells_unicorn]

Yeah, they will. They'll put Rand in George Pataki/Jim Gilmore territory, the punchline is already why is Rand still running. 100% he be declared not a serious candidate, they already essentially do but just bailing all together on the debates(the only time these voters get to see you pretty much) is not a recipe for winning. It would be better to go into the debate and raise some hell then think taking our ball and going home matters one iota to the establishment. Out of sight, out of mind. Rand no longer exists to them once he's out of the debates.

If the punchline is already "why is Rand still running", I fail to see how acting like a pansy who allows the media to control him would help matters. You've been on record so many times yammering about how cool you think Trump is, who has made threats about not participating in debates as well, and now that Rand is acting tough you seem to be changing your mind.

Maybe some day you'll be able to free your mind from the MSM narrative, it'll be a whole different world for you once that happens. Granted, I'm not sure that this will work either, but sitting around and playing nice has not served Rand well at all. He saw most of his support siphoned away by both Trump and Cruz well before the first debate started, so don't try this "he shouldn't have attacked Trump" rubbish, it's not reality.

 

[economics102]

Perhaps this will finally set the stage for a Bernie vs. Rand debate.

 

[PCKY]

I don't have an opinion on this, but I think it's safe to say that the debates don't help Rand.

Rand needs to pull a stunning upset in Iowa and Nevada from actual voters.

I agree. At this stage of the game, though his debate performances were outstanding, he really got no bump. So take a stand Rand and tell those bastards where can take their undercard debate.

 

[nikcers]

Most people will read this as he wont be in the under card debate. Rand Paul Troll the media once again. Everyone who watched previous debates also will assume he will be there/want him to be there. If you guys are going to discount Rand's support I'll at least say that as far as on the internet his supporters have gotten louder, and it's because Rand's message is getting louder. What Rand is saying is that his message is so loud they can't ignore him with the debates, they can't black him out.

 

[RandPaul4Prez]

Good on Rand

 

[TheNewYorker]

Is this based off an average of all polls? So if Rand got 90% in one poll he'd be in?

 

[PursuePeace]

It's a bold move.
Quite frankly, I like it.

 

[thatpeculiarcat]

This is no different than what the Jeb, Cruz, Rubio campaigns would do if they were on the bubble and asked about it. I suspect they will ask Jeb the same thing in a couple weeks.

I was against this move until I read this. Very good point, it's doubtful Jeb, Carly (again), or Kasich would participate in an undercard debate.