Even understanding that SOLON and unions have no love for the Republican party and fear the nomination of Gov. Mitt Romney, their sophomoric attempt to paint Romney as a troglodyte (look it up) that fears YouTube and “that the candidate is no longer scared of snowmen” is intentionally deceptive and is demonstrably preposterous. Romney has been in the forefront of using YouTube and has answered many random questions from the YouTube public, and has done so even on old-fashioned television for everyone to see.

What he objected to was holding a serious conversation with a cartoon. To state that a presidential candidate is somehow a coward just because he does not want to hold a serious discussion (global warming) with someone who hides behind a mask (presumably to make clear the snowman’s position) is, like the snowman, laughable. Assuming that voters over 30 even know about YouTube, it seems like the under 30s are taking a very arrogant position of their importance to the election considering their actual voting record. SOLON built a strawman of Romney’s position, and like Mr. Snowman himself, is a figment of a fertile imagination.

Whoever said the Republicans thought anyone but big corporations or Christian taliban types were their constituencies? The Dems need to cut themselves off from the aforementioned as well.

Can you imagine some bottle blonde chubby soccermom from Peoria asking the Rep Candidates what he proposes to do about protecting her virgin children from terrorism, homosexuality and Satan?

Is never speak a single word you haven't already backed up and doublechecked, triplechecked, because to them the slightest inconsistency invalidates everything else.

The Republican candidates are just following their leader, Bush. Never take questions from anyone you cannot control. I personally find them to be either chicken or just plain scared. I wonder how many lame excuses they can come up with to not debate.

Nice to see the republican party doesn't believe in "special labels" for people. Aren't they the ones always complaining about groups who want special names for themselves, you know, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, that sort of thing? (I would have included gays, but they DO have a special name for them, Ann Coulter uses it to describe John Edwards)

I have heard three theories as to why the republicans turned it down in the first place:

1) Fox News asked them to as payback for the dems snubbing them.

2) They didn't want to have to face questions about their blind support for Iraq from non-republicans.

3) They were afraid the kinds of questions their supporters would ask would be so crazy, that it would turn off regular voters from the republican party. Perhaps for good. (This one's my favorite!)