Romney Ducking Sunday Morning Interview Shows?
by JOE GANDELMAN
October 30, 2011
Is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ducking the Sunday morning interview shows — shows where candidates could find themselves on the hot seat, having to answer some unwanted questions from reporters? Fox News’ Chris Wallace has called Romney on it and Wallace does seem to have the facts on his side:
Four GOP hopefuls hit the Sunday talk shows this week, a roster that did not include ostensible front-runner Mitt Romney.
The absence was pointedly noted by “Fox News Sunday’s” Chris Wallace, who concluded his one-on-one interview with Texas Gov. Rick Perry with a not particularly subtle shot at the former Massachusetts governor.
“With Gov. Perry’s appearance, we have now interviewed all the major Republican candidates in our 2012 one-on-one series except Mitt Romney. He has not appeared on any Sunday talk show since March of 2010,” Wallace said.
“We invited Gov. Romney, but his campaign says he’s still not ready to sit down for an interview,” he added.
&guy Moe Lane of the conservative site RedState said Wallce’s dig should be taken seriously by the Romney camp, lest he appear as lacking the confidence to submit to an in-depth interview.
And it will become a bigger problem. Romney — like the person who could re-surge and emerge as the main anti-Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry — are failing to close the sale. That’s one reason why former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain is moving up in the polls. Cain — his views aside — comes across as authentic and willing to engage all and sundry who want to interview him or ask him to debate. Perry caused a major stir this week when he suggested that he might skip future debates (he backtracked on that assertion). And Romney is increasingly under fire for flip flops — past positions that most assuredly would emerge if he appears on a Sunday show.
There should be another issue here: voters show be skeptical of candidates who refuse to appear on ABC, CBS, NBC, [or]CNN or Fox because of ideological reasons. If they are serious candidates then they should have the guts and ability to sit down with pesky reporters, whether they like the report or the news organization or not.
