The Debate that Wasn't...

Or, Is that Blood in the Water?




Developing... (Insert Drudge Style Siren Here)

Early this morning, I checked my yahoo account, and found a newsletter from the Heath Shuler Campaign.

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Friends, we have just received word that Charles Taylor will be attending tonight’s debate in Rutherford County .
The debate will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Cool Springs Administrative offices for the Rutherford County Schools, 382 West Main Street in Forest City .
Heath had committed to attending the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce weeks ago, but Taylor had been non-committal up to this morning. This would be the first debate Charles Taylor has attended in over 12 years.
They will be accepting questions from them audience so a strong show of support for Heath is extremely important.
Please feel free to contact our office with any questions.

Heath

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Click here to see a photo of the newsletter, since I don't have any fancy screen-capture equipment.

Here is how the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce described the event:

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Oct. 16 to Oct. 23 - Meet the Candidates

Come out each night at 7:00 p.m. and "Meet the Candidates" The forums will be held in the Auditorium at the Cool Springs Administrative Office, Rutherford County Schools.
Monday, October 16 - Congressional 10 & 11 Districts
Tuesday, October 17 - State Senate and House
Wednesday, October 18 - Sheriff, District Attorney, District Court Judge and 29A Judicial District
Thursday, October 19 - County Commissioners Districts 1 and 4
Monday, October 23 - County School Board

Contact: Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce
828-287-3090
info@rutherfordcoc.com

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Nothing about a debate there.
I have also photographed that page as well, incase it "changes".

I have been in touch with both camps, and here is response from the Shuler camp:

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From: "Hayden Rogers" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
To: "'Robert Coggins'"
Subject: RE: Debate with Taylor in Rutherford County
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:43:36 -0400
There was a tremendous crowd last night and Heath was great. The press was there, the people were there, Heath was there…but Mr. Taylor’s seat was empty.



-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Coggins [mailto:robertcogginsjr@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 5:36 AM
To: info@heathshuler.com
Subject: Debate with Taylor in Rutherford County



I heard Taylor was supposed to show up at the candidate forum in Rutherford County last night.

Any chance of you guys putting out some information on how it went?



No one else has.



Thank You,



Bobby Coggins, aka Thunder Pig



I never understood the importance of adding tags, titles, and descriptions

to my digital photos until I had 7,000 on my Hard Drive.

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At 12.55 pm, I received a call from Sean Dalton (I believe he is Taylor's Chief of Staff), after having left a message earlier in the morning.
His version of the story is that Congressman Taylor had a townhall meeting last night via telephone, and could not attend.

I also spoke with Keith Price, the chair of the Rutherford County Democratic Party, and he described the event as a forum. He also said that Congressman McHenry did not show up. Only the Democratic candidates did. He said they had a good time, and a lot of people were in attendance.

I spoke with the McHenry people, and they said there was a previous engagement that prevented the 10th District Congressman from appearing.

I could not find a telephone number for the 10th District Challenger, a Richard Carsner. According to the FEC Data, he might not be able to afford one.

What am I to think?

#1 According to the Shuler people, Taylor hasn't shown up at a number of the other events, then, at the last minute, he (Taylor) decided to attend. This is from Heath's own newsletters.

#2 I heard on Z1350 this morning that the host of the program had spoken with Deborah Potter about getting the two candidates together across a table to discuss the issues and take calls from the listeners. Nothing was said about a debate, or a forum appearance at the time in Rutherford County.

#3 I've heard Shuler speak with a prepared statement. I don't think the boy can think as fast on his feet speaking as he did in the NFL with a football in his hands. (The file is 3.2 MB)

#4 According to Price, WLOS had a crew there, and there was no story shown about it on TV... I'll have to take his word for it, I don't watch WLOS. If they didn't think there was a story there, I'm willing to accept that at face value. Perhaps if a puppy had been abused, they would have covered that with the forum as a backdrop.

Conclusion
I think the Shuler Campaign is grasping at straws at this point to try and shift the momentum back toward them, after giving it back to Taylor by refusing the debate format to be televised by WLOS. The only other time I remember Taylor debating an opponent, was Maggie Lauterer in the '94 race (I think), and Taylor sLauterered (sic) her.
I do not believe the claim of the Shuler Camp, using Occam's Razor and going with the simplest solution. If Shuler will not debate Taylor on District-wide WLOS, why would he want to debate him in a forum that was outside the district, and where no one would see it until after it was over with?
To steal a line from Matt Mittan, "That blows my mind, why would he pass up such an opportunity?" Click here to listen to the podcast.

Bottom Line Statement:
This is the first lie I have caught the Shuler Campaign in, and lying is not a Mountain Value.

Update: For Counter Point, visit the syntax version of events over at Scrutiny Hooligans.