I want to beat David to the first comment!

I believe Sestak kicks his a$$ in the debates.

It would appear to be a wise idea for Sen. Spector to accept and win these debates. Holding one in each media market is a fair idea. This is an opportunity to turn conventional debate wisdom on its head and possibly silence many of the Senator’s critics. #digital #media #strategy

Representative Sestak is an unprincipled megalomaniac whose sole aim is to amass as much power as possible. He is an incredibly venal (and perhaps mentally unbalanced) politician with little, if any, regard for the common man.

Representative Sestak belongs in a house of bedlam, not the U.S. Senate.

What a hypocrite! Sestak only wants to debate when he is a challenger. As an incumbent, he only agreed to one debate and he made the ground rules; take-it or leave-it. This transparent attempt at openness is a joke. He must think everybody forgets 2008.

Specter will work Sestak over pretty good…. 6 times

Ah, karma! Seems Sestak only like to debate once too! If he goes by his past track record, he debate should be held six days before the eelection! This will make it hard for Sestak to hold Specter’s feet to the fire on more than one debate!

The Delaware County Daily Times (delcotimes.com)

Sestak’s debate stance is far from high-minded
Monday, October 27, 2008

By Jim Knapp, Campaign Manager, Craig Williams for Congress Upper Darby

To the Times:

It seems the Democrats doth defend too much. In two letters in the span of four days, Democratic party insiders have put their names to letters to the editor praising U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7 of Edgmont, for agreeing to a single congressional debate, just six days before the election.

I am assuming by pre-emptive defenses of Sestak’s close-minded approach to debates that the Democrats must think he is vulnerable on this issue – as well he should be. The content of the letters are all the more interesting when you consider that one was authored by a Democratic committeeman and the other by a former Democrat candidate for Congress.

To be clear, I am the campaign manager for Craig Williams, the Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District, and won’t try to mask my affiliation with the campaign. Here are the facts:

The Williams campaign made several attempts to contact the Sestak campaign beginning in June of this year. We offered multiple town hall meetings and three formal debates.

After dodging our debate challenge for the entire summer, we were finally able to schedule a meeting with a representative from the Sestak campaign in September, but only after the Daily Times reporter Alex Rose called to ask why we had not set any debates.

The Sestak campaign came to our debate meetings with one, and only one, offer for the debate we now have set for Oct. 29 — thanks in great part to the League of Women Voters.

Any suggestion that Sestak or his campaign staff were accommodating or interested in an open dialogue on the issues is flatly absurd. But don’t take my word for it, ask Fox 29 News, NBC 10 Live at Issue, the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Neumann College, Delaware County Community College, the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology or any of the other organizations that requested to host debates or candidate forums that were ignored or rejected by the Sestak Campaign.

Voters should ask themselves why Joe Sestak is so intent on hiding from his record.

Let’s also remember that Sestak was granted not one, but two debates in the last election, and he made quite the stink about that. I guess he changed his mind about the need for public discourse on the issues in the face of actually having to stand for something and defend his liberal voting record.

See if you think Joe Sestak’s dictated terms for a single, two-hour debate are the magnanimous gesture his supporters make it out to be: One debate, six days before the election at Swarthmore College from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on a Wednesday morning when the vast majority of local residents are working or caring for their families. It’s a far cry from an open and ongoing dialogue on the issues that the voters deserve.

First to comment-
Kudos to you!

However, the @ss kicking will be in the other direction. Take a look at the Sestak Toomey debate in Allentown (warning: it’s painful to watch)

HateSestak-
Hey! Quit stealing my thunder, just because I was late getting here to post.

Thomas J-
Exactly. Even when Sestak debated Weldon, the format was very stilted. No interaction or questions between the candidates. They were spaced apart on the podium so they didn’t even fit in the same shot. No photography was allowed by the audience. It was also held in the afternoon, when a lot of people couldn’t attend.
Admittedly, it was a “victory” to even get a debate with Weldon. But the event was completely lame.

Karma-
The way that Sestak handle the debate negotiation is no surprise. I disagree with Jim Knapp that Sestak was trying to “hide his record”. Sestak’s just a piss-poor debater and didn’t want to give Craig Williams any publicity or chance to “zing” him.

Sestak now has a total of three political debates under his belt: Weldon (tie), Williams (irrelevant) and Toomey (sestak got crushed).

Specter is not only going to crush Sestak, but after one debate Joe will glad that there isn’t a second.

Perhaps Sestak can tout his many accomplishments during the debate. Of course, he has accomplished little, if anything, during his tenure, so this is an impossibility.

HateSestak-
Joe just wants a forum to tell everyone he was in the Navy for 31 years and was a 3-star Admiral for a short time.

Seems to be that Sestak doesn’t even need one whole debate to do that, just the standard 2-minute opening remarks.

For an actual debate, Joe’s probably better off with the camera showing a still-photo of him in his uniform and no sound as the answer to each question.

I wholeheartedly concur, Mr. Diano. In actuality, no one (aside, perhaps, from corrupt lawbreaking labor union bosses) is truly enthusiastic about Sestak’s ill-considered campaign. The public adamantly refuses to inflate his ego any further.

Overheard at Sestak headquarters:

“Elizabeth – !! Margaret – !! How could you let this happen – ?! What am I supposed to do now?! @#!”

Hater-
A little more context please?

Sestak could be complaining about his last bagel getting burnt in the toaster.