Legacy Media Finally Notices Congressman Shuler's Refusal To Have An Honest Debate

MURPHY – Congressman Heath Shuler and Republican challenger Carl Mumpower will appear together at a political forum Oct. 2 in Murphy.

But the candidates are debating whether to call it a debate.

Shuler campaign manager Andrew Whalen characterized the event as a debate. Mumpower was adamant that it is not.

“It’s real clear from the letter (to the candidates) that it’s not a debate,” Mumpower said. “It’s not a real debate. I wish Shuler’s office would quit playing games with the debate issue.”

Shuler, D-Waynesville, and Mumpower, an Asheville city councilman who has chided Shuler for not agreeing to a debate up to this point, will appear at 7 p.m. at the Cherokee County Courthouse at the forum, which is sponsored by the Cherokee Scout newspaper.

A letter from the Scout describing the event states, “This is not a debate, but an informative political forum that aims to be fair and treat each candidate equally.”

Shuler and Mumpower will answer questions for 70 minutes and can respond to one another, but “candidates will not be given rebuttal time.”

They “can use time in a following question or during their closing statement to respond to any previous answers by their opponent(s),” according to the forum rules.

Whalen said Mumpower is splitting hairs by not calling the event a debate.

“It’s a joke,” Whalen said of Mumpower’s stance. “Two candidates for political office answering questions from a moderator in front of an audience sure seems like a debate to me.”

Scout Publisher David Brown, who will moderate the forum, said “technically” the event is not a debate.

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times

Emphasis added.

Commentary

I know this event is not a debate because Congressman Heath Shuler has been avoiding even being questioned about having a debate with Carl Mumpower or Keith Smith at least three times to my personal knowledge...and has been captured on video twice fleeing the very question of a debate.

Here are the two videos showing the Congressman flee:

He ran from me in Cullowhee


And he ran from Richard Bernier in Woodfin and click on the image below for a longer version.




And here is a video from two years ago...where he wanted to debate the then incumbent Congressman Charles Taylor. Two years have made a very significant change in (or corrupted (v) corrupted, spoiled (altered from the original)) Heath Shuler's outlook, don't you think?

And here is the first time he ran from me (literally ran across a busy road to get away!

And here is a post where I embedded a video of a speech the Congressman made a Western Carolina University the day after Labor Day. This is the event where he laughed about debating Mumpower and fled. I wonder how he would have handled it if a student had asked him if he was planning on debating Mumpower or Smith?

Previously:

Mumpower Calls Shuler Out on Debates

The Running Game of Congressman Shuler

Will Congressman Shuler Debate Carl Mumpower?

Carl Mumpower Calls Out Heath Shuler: Shuler Flees Interview