Sen. Raphael Warnock is putting on the pressure as his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker, lays the groundwork to dodge any debates at all in their hotly contested Georgia Senate race.
Walker skipped debates in his Republican primary, but said he would debate Warnock before the general election. He wouldn’t just debate, in fact. He said he’d do it “any day of the week.” He said, “Name the place and the time, and we can get it on.” Now that Warnock has accepted invitations to three debates in three different cities, it’s a different story.
RELATED STORY: Herschel Walker is not an ethical person and he shouldn’t be running for Senate
In a single day of campaigning, Walker said, “If we negotiate and we got everything right, we’ll be debating on Oct. 16 and I’ll be ready to go” at a debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club, then a spokesperson started making noises about the campaign requiring a “fair and equitable format and unbiased moderator,” and then Walker wondered aloud who made Warnock “the ruler of just giving dates.” Even though all Warnock did was accept invitations from media organizations.
In translation: Walker’s campaign is planning to dodge this debate unless he gets a set of outrageously unbalanced rules and a moderator committed to giving him a tongue bath. And even then he’d probably find an excuse not to attend.
Walker further set the stage on Tuesday with tweets suggesting that unless a moderator asked Warnock questions drawn directly from Walker’s campaign talking points (sample: “Why do you believe our law enforcement officers are thugs?”), it would be evidence that the moderator was “shielding” Warnock from voters. Big talk from a guy who could very fairly be asked questions like “When did you stop beating your wife?” and “Do you have any more secret children, or just the three we’ve found out about during the campaign?”
But everyone knows Walker wants to avoid debating, and everyone knows why. This is a guy who has trouble talking without lying in big, easy-to-fact-check ways. Lies like claiming he’s “worked in law enforcement” when he had not. Or claiming that he graduated from the University of Georgia (even claiming he was in the top 1% of his class), although in reality, he didn't graduate at all. Then claiming that he never told that lie, even though he said it publicly multiple times and it was on his campaign website. He’s also famously incoherent, coming out with statements so muddled it can be hard to even figure out what right-wing talking point he’s attempting to recycle.
Some top Republicans outside of Georgia think Walker would be right to dodge debates. Sen. Kevin Cramer told Politico that Warnock is pushing for a debate because “they feel like that’s an advantage for their side. And I don’t think Herschel Walker should do anything that gives his opponent an advantage.” Where the thing he’d be doing to give his opponent an advantage would literally be to answer questions in public in the same way candidates in races across the country will be doing, and have done for decades.
Warnock is out with a TV ad pressuring Walker to debate:
RELATED STORIES:
Herschel Walker has such a hard time telling the truth he’s even lying to his own campaign staff
Another Herschel Walker lie uncovered: He claimed he 'worked in law enforcement'
Walker skipped debates in his Republican primary, but said he would debate Warnock before the general election. He wouldn’t just debate, in fact. He said he’d do it “any day of the week.” He said, “Name the place and the time, and we can get it on.” Now that Warnock has accepted invitations to three debates in three different cities, it’s a different story.
RELATED STORY: Herschel Walker is not an ethical person and he shouldn’t be running for Senate
In a single day of campaigning, Walker said, “If we negotiate and we got everything right, we’ll be debating on Oct. 16 and I’ll be ready to go” at a debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club, then a spokesperson started making noises about the campaign requiring a “fair and equitable format and unbiased moderator,” and then Walker wondered aloud who made Warnock “the ruler of just giving dates.” Even though all Warnock did was accept invitations from media organizations.
In translation: Walker’s campaign is planning to dodge this debate unless he gets a set of outrageously unbalanced rules and a moderator committed to giving him a tongue bath. And even then he’d probably find an excuse not to attend.
Walker further set the stage on Tuesday with tweets suggesting that unless a moderator asked Warnock questions drawn directly from Walker’s campaign talking points (sample: “Why do you believe our law enforcement officers are thugs?”), it would be evidence that the moderator was “shielding” Warnock from voters. Big talk from a guy who could very fairly be asked questions like “When did you stop beating your wife?” and “Do you have any more secret children, or just the three we’ve found out about during the campaign?”
But everyone knows Walker wants to avoid debating, and everyone knows why. This is a guy who has trouble talking without lying in big, easy-to-fact-check ways. Lies like claiming he’s “worked in law enforcement” when he had not. Or claiming that he graduated from the University of Georgia (even claiming he was in the top 1% of his class), although in reality, he didn't graduate at all. Then claiming that he never told that lie, even though he said it publicly multiple times and it was on his campaign website. He’s also famously incoherent, coming out with statements so muddled it can be hard to even figure out what right-wing talking point he’s attempting to recycle.
Some top Republicans outside of Georgia think Walker would be right to dodge debates. Sen. Kevin Cramer told Politico that Warnock is pushing for a debate because “they feel like that’s an advantage for their side. And I don’t think Herschel Walker should do anything that gives his opponent an advantage.” Where the thing he’d be doing to give his opponent an advantage would literally be to answer questions in public in the same way candidates in races across the country will be doing, and have done for decades.
Warnock is out with a TV ad pressuring Walker to debate:
RELATED STORIES:
Herschel Walker has such a hard time telling the truth he’s even lying to his own campaign staff
Another Herschel Walker lie uncovered: He claimed he 'worked in law enforcement'