Giuliani and Romney say "no thanks" to online video Q & A
Allies Urge Republicans to Join YouTube Debate
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, New York Times
When the two leading Republican presidential candidates started to squirm last week about attending a Sept. 17 YouTube debate, in which the public would ask them questions via video, they faced a surprising backlash from their ideological allies in the blogosphere.
The candidates’ failure to embrace the new format, which the Democrats participated in last week, has prompted a public soul-searching by some of the party’s most loyal supporters.
The candidates, they say, reinforced a notion already bedeviling their side: that Republicans don’t “get” the Web. While the Republicans have mastered talk radio, the Democrats have led in using the Web for fund-raising, organizing and energizing the grass roots.
“The YouTube debate snub is the symptom, not the disease,” said Patrick Ruffini, a prominent Republican blogger and the e-campaign director for the Republican National Committee from 2005 until earlier this year.
The “disease,” Mr. Ruffini said in an interview, is the Republicans’ failure to convey that “the online community matters to them,” even if they have active Web sites and are using them to raise money. He has helped start an online petition to urge the candidates to participate in the YouTube debate.
(More here.)
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, New York Times
When the two leading Republican presidential candidates started to squirm last week about attending a Sept. 17 YouTube debate, in which the public would ask them questions via video, they faced a surprising backlash from their ideological allies in the blogosphere.
The candidates’ failure to embrace the new format, which the Democrats participated in last week, has prompted a public soul-searching by some of the party’s most loyal supporters.
The candidates, they say, reinforced a notion already bedeviling their side: that Republicans don’t “get” the Web. While the Republicans have mastered talk radio, the Democrats have led in using the Web for fund-raising, organizing and energizing the grass roots.
“The YouTube debate snub is the symptom, not the disease,” said Patrick Ruffini, a prominent Republican blogger and the e-campaign director for the Republican National Committee from 2005 until earlier this year.
The “disease,” Mr. Ruffini said in an interview, is the Republicans’ failure to convey that “the online community matters to them,” even if they have active Web sites and are using them to raise money. He has helped start an online petition to urge the candidates to participate in the YouTube debate.
(More here.)
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