Corker the Coward
Well, its official folks, Bob Corker is a coward. Ed Bryant proposed to both Van Hilleary and Bob Corker that they participate in what Bryant is calling "Truth Forums." These forums will really function as debates, of course, which means that the candidates will have to lay out their positions on the topic at hand and be forced to answer questions about their record.Whatever my opinion of Van Hilleary as a candidate in the Primary, he has shown us that he is a real man-he accepted Ed Bryant's invitation to be part of the debate series.
So that means Bob Corker will also be joining in on these important discussions with his intra-party rivals about issues and record that he might defend himself since he is the target of so much bile, right?
Corker's campaign says no way. Yesterday Corker refused to participate with the other Republican candidates.
"We're not going to be a part of what Ed Bryant has laid out and instead are going to continue to participate in serious media-sponsored events."
Apparently, Bob Coward doesn't think a town hall-style forum moderated by a promenent Nashville talk show host qualifies as a "serious media-sponsored event." Does that mean Bob doesn't think that if all three GOP Primary candidates are there, a moderator is there, and a crowd is there that television cameras and radio microphones won't also be there?
Oh, I forgot, the cameras and microphones will be there-so will the people. Corker will be forced to answer for himself, and we will all hear him answer for his record because Hilleary, Bryant, and the crowd will all want to know. "Hey Bob" would become the mantra of these events.
Corker's refusal to be a man comes on the heels of a new Survey USA poll that gives Corker a double-digit lead. Normally, I would find this troubling, but not this time. Why? Because Survey USA did a poll on May 17th that didn't even consider Bob Corker worth a mention, now Corker is in the lead?
For those who don't know, Survey USA is the service WBIR uses and it is an automated polling service that calls numbers at random. Unlike Gallup or Zogby, that have people call your home, Survey USA is totally automated. This new poll comes out a week after every polling service showed Hilleary in the lead by double digits, and two weeks after two polling services showed Ed Bryant in the lead, and Corker losing badly in a distant third.
This poll comes out at just the right time, don't you think, on the very day Corker refuses to participate in public forums with the other candidates-how convenient.
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 7:25 AM
6 Comments:
Dave,
The new polls (the ones showing Corker with 2 digit lead) probably reflect the effect of his commercials: name recognition, his sweet mom, a one sided account of his achivements, and so on. He'd an idiot to risk that in a debate. Only the 2nd placers want to debate - to explain why they're better. And if your explaining your loosing. Mr. Bryant should seize the inititive this refusal of Corker's is giving him and hit the radio (cheaper) with seversal different spots: Intro ("Hello I'm ... ), declarative (I"m a true ...), and two soft attack ("Why won't ... and "Did you know ...) and so on. Four different ones (2,3,1,1 ratio) and run them on country/sport/local talk radio.
Mr. Bryant should focus on Corker and politely ignore (as much as possible) Van Hillary. Just put and leave Van Hillary in the "me too" spot.
SteveMule
Steve;
What you are saying (per the radio ads) is sound political advice and myself and others have warned people who we know are connected with the Bryant campaign directly that this needs to be done. I have no way to know when Bryant will get that through his head.
Debate: Yes, I know that Corker has the upper hand, and we know that he believes it to be sound politics not to debate and it is certainly slick-but it wreaks of cowardice. If conservative activists are wrong about Corker and he has "changed," I would think he could show us that in a format like this-we'd be able to get gung ho for the General Election. No, Corker doesn't want a debate because the truth about him will come from his own lips and his poll numbers will go through the floor.
If Corker is as real as he says he is, he'll be man enough to meet up with the other two.
Dave,
Yes, I agree about why Corker isn't debating, he's afraid. Which is why he'll never do it unless he gets behind in the polls, Which is also why I don't like him - too slick, too polished, too ... manufactured. My objection to Ed Bryant is strickly ideologically driven - he's conservative and I'm not.
Mr. Bryant doesn't have the money to challenge Corker head on, as I'm sure he knows, so he's probably trying to husband his resources and play it smart, for now. I would disagree, this is the time to create buzz using a couple of cheap radio, local paper ads (local as in Halls Shopper, the South Knox/Seymour paper (have you ever looked at those? I'm sure you have but anyway ... they're frankly crying for content - fill it!). Also, he sould set up a coordinated base response corps: supporter/volunteers that will write LTTE's, OP/EDs and do call-ins to local talk radio. He should also consider local community TV. Have himself or you or ... on the Steve Hall show for example. Create buzz at the ground level so that when Corker buzzes in with another slick TV ad people will already have the inside track on him.
Finally, I don't want you to take offense if I go into a little too much detail and/or explanation, I'm like that anyway and I'm conscinous that you and I aren't the only ones reading this.
In addition, I'm also spelling challenged at times; as you might have noticed. :-)
SteveMule
As far as I know, Bryant has yet to be on the Voice yet, but Corker has and Hilleary will be on tomorrow, as far as I know.
Any of us here who support him would be glad to sit for Ed Bryant on the Voice or on Steve Hall's show. No one asked me, and aside from election night (when I saw other Bryant supporters all over the hotel), I have seen utterly zero Bryant presence in East Tennessee-except in the blogosphere, where Bryant would handily win if we were the only ones who voted.
I think Bryant can still pull it off-but his campaign people need, frankly, to get with the program. The town hall series is a great idea! That should have happened a whole lot sooner.
david, what polls released two weeks ago showed Ed Bryant leading? I missed those.
Survey USA had Bryant with a five point lead over Hilleary with "Other" in third shortly before the May Primary.
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