This Gator is supporting Herschel Walker, Dawgs be damned! These are desperate times!
Any other Gators on board?
Any other Gators on board?
Voting or Donating for Herschel?
- Thread starter bollesboy
- Start date
Florida resident, I'm rooting big time for him. But I don't give an political contributions, not even Trump. If you are a Georgian, you got a rat SOS. I get you went to Bolles, but they recruit out of state too.
Good one, but we only recruit out of state swimmers, golfers and tennis players.Florida resident, I'm rooting big time for him. But I don't give an political contributions, not even Trump. If you are a Georgian, you got a rat SOS. I get you went to Bolles, but they recruit out of state too.
His opponent is a real winner:
Having said that, Big Mama has the best cheating system the dems have in the country in Georgia, so I doubt Herschel can win.
And since we listened to @grandhavendiddy and @goldmom and 'just moved on', instead of ensuring election integrity in the state, well another winner will likely be cheated out of victory.
Report: Warnock Caught Using Campaign Funds to Fight Personal Lawsuit
Raphael Warnock used his campaign cash to fund his legal expenses for a lawsuit relating to his time as a church minister, Politico revealed.
www.breitbart.com
Watchdog Calls for Investigation into Warnock Soliciting Campaign Cash
FACT sent a letter to the Select Committee on Ethics calling for an investigation into Raphael Warnock for allegedly violating ethics rules.
www.breitbart.com
Cheat Sheet: Nine Things to Know About Raphael Warnock
Read nine of the most talked about issues surrounding Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock's Senate candidacy.
www.breitbart.com
Having said that, Big Mama has the best cheating system the dems have in the country in Georgia, so I doubt Herschel can win.
And since we listened to @grandhavendiddy and @goldmom and 'just moved on', instead of ensuring election integrity in the state, well another winner will likely be cheated out of victory.
Warnoch is a professed militant commie, so Lil Dickey at least has that going on for him.His opponent is a real winner:
Report: Warnock Caught Using Campaign Funds to Fight Personal Lawsuit
Raphael Warnock used his campaign cash to fund his legal expenses for a lawsuit relating to his time as a church minister, Politico revealed.www.breitbart.com
Watchdog Calls for Investigation into Warnock Soliciting Campaign Cash
FACT sent a letter to the Select Committee on Ethics calling for an investigation into Raphael Warnock for allegedly violating ethics rules.www.breitbart.com
Cheat Sheet: Nine Things to Know About Raphael Warnock
Read nine of the most talked about issues surrounding Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock's Senate candidacy.www.breitbart.com
Having said that, Big Mama has the best cheating system the dems have in the country in Georgia, so I doubt Herschel can win.
And since we listened to @grandhavendiddy and @goldmom and 'just moved on', instead of ensuring election integrity in the state, well another winner will likely be cheated out of victory.
Yes his commie leanings is why the sheep here think he's oh so dreamy!!!!
https://www.ajc.com/politics/ajc-po...eorgias-top-races/JDJ5PK2PYVFSHNOMNUFGGYUGYI/
AJC poll: Kemp, Warnock slightly ahead in Georgia’s top races
AJC poll: Kemp, Warnock slightly ahead in Georgia’s top races
I wonder how much money "The Reverend" has fleeced from his sheep Ray Ray? Should we pass a collection plate for him? 😂
The trumpanzees are now supporting a guy who has multiple personality disorder and beats his wife
Sounds about right for them
Sounds about right for them
Herschel has been the pastor at the church of Lyingtology for years 🤣
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...herschel-walker-fbi-false-claim-b2126581.html
Herschel Walker claims to be former FBI agent and recalls almost killing someone in resurfaced clip
GOP Senate nominee said he heard ‘voices’ and asked God for help to avoid doing something ‘stupid’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...herschel-walker-fbi-false-claim-b2126581.html
Herschel Walker claims to be former FBI agent and recalls almost killing someone in resurfaced clip
GOP Senate nominee said he heard ‘voices’ and asked God for help to avoid doing something ‘stupid’
I gave 2 checks to Hershel.
On my 60 question M test I answered these questions and directive correctly:
1. Are there any among us who has a fear of heights?
2. Name the formula that defines the speed from the light from my flashlight while I travel at 100 km/h on AMTRACK.
3. Does time slow for me when I travel at 100 km/h on AMTRACK?
Each of us provide a gold mine of info with every post we author. The "ignore" feature is a no, no for me.
I recommend American Marxism by Mark Levin.
While Hershel may not be the strongest candidate on paper I have ever seen...he is 10 MILLION times better than the communist that won last time. Warnock reminds me of Andrew Gillum, as to how radical his thinking is
Can we bring up Hunter and the "big guy"?
Please tell us the radical thinking Warnock shares with Gillum...
And if you're rally against "radical" thinking...
Eliminate the DOJ....Defund the FBI...Fire thousands of govt employees...Ignore subpoenas
So you are supporting Warnock. Please make your case as to why?
I agree with this for all that Herschel lacks in academic prowess he is much more honest than the scum he is running against. If pig face is elected Governor then GA will be the worst state in the South by far before she's through pushing her liberal agenda.
American Rescue Act
Infrastructure
Gun Control
Chips Act
PACT Act
Inflation Reduction
Fighting Voter Supression
Bipartisan work that actually accomplishes something for the people of Georgia and the country
https://www.politico.com/news/magaz...-warnock-georgia-senate-2022-profile-00049352
‘There’s Never Been Anybody Like Him in the United States Senate’
Raphael Warnock won his seat running as an activist preacher. To keep it he’ll have to persuade voters he’s the rare senator who actually gets stuff done.
DALTON, Ga. — In the middle of a community center gym in the northwest corner of this state that is the epicenter of American politics stood the Reverend Senator Raphael Warnock. Flanked by red, white and blue balloons, the Democrat campaigning here in staunchly Republican terrain looked out at a small but supportive crowd of Black and white faces. Wearing wire-rim glasses and a trim navy suit, his bald head not quite as shiny as his gleaming brown shoes, the preacher politician made his case for re-election with a sermon on the transcendent power of pavement.
“Infrastructure is spiritual,” he said.
“I believe in this so much that something really unusual happened … something that I didn’t see coming,” he said. “The Warnock-Cruz amendment.”
The people in the bleachers seemed confused. But he had their attention.
“Talkin’ about — yeah — Ted Cruz.”
Now they groaned.
“I will confess,” he continued, “most days I’m sitting there, and he’s talking about what he does, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Now, I know why I get up in the morning …’”
Now they laughed.
“But,” said Warnock, getting to the moral of this message slipped into a stump speech, “we were passing the infrastructure bill” — the $1.2-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill — “and it turns out there was something he wanted to do, and I also wanted to do …”
Now audible was a murmur of recognition. “Senator Cruz stood up to make his argument about why he thought we should do this, and then came my turn,” Warnock said, “and then I heard myself say words that I did not imagine hearing myself ever say. I said, ‘I would like to associate myself with the remarks of the senator from Texas, Ted Cruz.’ They couldn’t believe it — I think 30 or 40 of my colleagues probably didn’t know what was in the amendment, but they said, ‘If he’s for it, and he’s for it, we better pass this thing.’ It passed unanimously.” And to this the still rapt crowd responded with raucous applause.
“My folks were asking, ‘Why would you work with him?’ Very simple. Senator Cruz wanted to build out this road in Texas — called I-14. Guess what? The same road that runs through Texas” — he paused a beat before the reveal — “runs through Georgia. Connects some of our military installations, and critical parts of this state that could use the development,” Warnock said. “It goes through communities that are largely red and communities that are blue. It goes past,” he crescendoed, “people who worship at churches, and temples and mosques — all have to get on the same road! Folks who are going to work, and the folks those folks work for — all have to get on the same road! In other words, if we build out the road, everybody can get to where they need to go! There is a road that runs through our humanity …”
And now the people in the bleachers were congregants as much as constituents, saying yessir, saying mm-hmm, talking back to Warnock the way a Black Baptist pastor wants, giving him the political equivalents of amens and uh-huhs. I’ve watched over the years countless candidates’ set-piece speeches — never, though, one that deliberately elevated a pedestrian piece of potential political pork into a nearly holy totem of American democracy. In a recent week of campaign events, official events and church events, it wasn’t the only time I saw him do this, and it always conjured something Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told me earlier this summer when he called to talk about Warnock: “There’s never been anybody like him in the United States Senate.”
Herschel is running against Sen Warnock not Stacey Abrams...
Some more about Herschel's "honesty"...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/fact-check-walker-university-of-georgia-graduated/index.html
Fact check: Herschel Walker falsely claims he never falsely claimed he graduated from University of Georgia
By Daniel Dale and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN
Updated 7:08 AM ET, Wed May 25, 2022
Facts First: Walker's claim that he "never" and "not one time" said he graduated from the University of Georgia is flat out false. Walker said on camera at least twice that he graduated from the school. Walker's promotional materials have also featured the false claim that he graduated.
LOVE to educate the slow! You are SO welcome!!
How Radical Is Raphael Warnock? You Decide
Warnock is the most radical candidate for U.S. Senate we have ever seen.
www.newsweek.com
"No matter what the mainstream liberal media tries to tell Americans on behalf of the Warnock campaign and national Democrats, there is nothing moderate or typical about this particular candidate."
This is F'ing NEWSWEEK, son!!! Lib RAG!! Do better
This is F'ing NEWSWEEK, son!!! Lib RAG!! Do better
Even so, Warnock objects to cash bail, because he says thousands of imprisoned Georgians can’t afford it. That would mean releasing accused criminals after they are charged, public safety be damned. Warnock also wants to empty the jails, because in his own words, this country “criminalizes poverty.”
This is how EVERY lib believes. They LOVE criminals...hate the victims. Maybe the victims have "white privilege"??
This is how EVERY lib believes. They LOVE criminals...hate the victims. Maybe the victims have "white privilege"??
But you love radicals ron....
Eradicate the "Administrative State"
Eliminate the "Deep State"
Schedule F
End the DOJ
Defund the FBI
End the IRS
Ignore Subpoenas
End NATO
End Social Security
Fight Against Healthcare
Ban Abortion
trumpanzees are the dumbest electorate in the history of this country
Eradicate the "Administrative State"
Eliminate the "Deep State"
Schedule F
End the DOJ
Defund the FBI
End the IRS
Ignore Subpoenas
End NATO
End Social Security
Fight Against Healthcare
Ban Abortion
trumpanzees are the dumbest electorate in the history of this country
I would appreciate a "THANK YOU" from you. I just taught you something you obviously had ZERO clue about...so NOW you can somewhat talk about something you know a LITTLE about...unlike everything else you try to talk about, son!
Answer the question ronnie...you agree with a "Lib RAG" or are you yelling at yourself?
They have medication for you if its the latter 🤣
LIBERAL diversion attempt in progress. This is a thing EVERY lib does when FACTS are brought in to a discussion. Libs HATE FACTS. I would consider your education complete...AFTER you THANK me for heling you not be so dumb!
Does Herschel abuse children? If so, I cannot support him.
Otherwise I'd be no better than @RayGravesGhost and @BSC911.
Herschel only wants to debate if its a take home test... 🤣
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hersc...hael-warnock-if-he-gets-the-topics-in-advance
Herschel Walker Will Debate—if He Gets the Topics in Advance
Herschel Walker has been bragging about his willingness to debate Raphael Warnock. The truth is far less gratifying for Walker.
Roger Sollenberger
Updated Aug. 10, 2022 10:33AM ET / Published Aug. 10, 2022 4:42AM ET
Professional athlete turned Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker has accepted one invitation to debate Democratic opponent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA)—and it just so happens to be the one debate that provides the topics in advance.
That’s the single appreciable difference between four proposed debates, a subject that, according to the campaigns and event organizers, remains unresolved and confusing, despite the candidates jawing at each other for weeks.
Walker’s campaign has said they chose the forum—hosted by national news conglomerate Nexstar and its Savannah based NBC affiliate, WSAV—because it would have a live audience and the “format and the moderators are fair and would allow each candidate equal opportunity to share their message.”
But it’s apparently rare for debates in Georgia to provide the topics ahead of time. None of the three debates Warnock has previously agreed to are offering the heads-up, according to the organizers’ conversations with The Daily Beast.
Larry Silbermann, general manager of WTOC Savannah, which has already struck an agreement with the Warnock campaign for a debate in mid-October, told The Daily Beast that he’d never fielded such a request.
“In my 30-plus years of doing this, we’ve never given out the topics or have a candidate request it,” Silbermann said.
Representatives from the other two hosts—the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism and the Atlanta Press Club—also characterized the stipulation as unusual, with debate organizer Lauri Strauss saying it was her organization’s “longstanding policy” to afford full independence to its journalist questioners, and not to reveal topics ahead of time.
Nexstar spokesperson Gary Weitman declined to hear The Daily Beast’s questions. He provided a statement acknowledging that Nexstar had pitched both candidates, but “did not publicize any details about this event, as both candidates had not yet agreed to participate.
“One candidate unilaterally decided to publicly announce that he would participate,” the statement said, adding that Nexstar, the largest local media company in the country, “will make every effort to reach agreement with both candidates regarding their participation.”
While Nexstar may not have released any details, Georgia Public Broadcasting published the terms last week.
“Topics will be provided to the campaigns prior to the broadcast, but specific questions will not,” the term sheet says.
The terms also note that “candidates should expect some of the questions to be visually supported by graphics on the screen,” which “will help the candidate and the voter better understand the question.”
Those would seem appealing features to a campaign dogged by controversy and lies, whose staff has tried for months to manage a severely gaffe-prone candidate with “no grasp of public policy” or “knowledge of issues that matter to the people of Georgia,” as the Valdosta Daily Times put it. As The Daily Beast reported last month, Walker’s own campaign staff have shielded his troubles from Republican Party higher-ups, while mocking his intelligence behind his back.
“He screws up on Fox News where people agree with him, so the idea of him taking an adverse interview or interacting with people who don’t agree with him is a non-starter,” a Walker adviser told The Daily Beast at the time, likening a tough interview to sending Walker “into the lion’s den.”
The campaign brought on renowned debate coach, Brett O’Donnell, who has counseled gaffe-prone conservative forebears like former President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But The Daily Beast has learned that O’Donnell abruptly stopped fielding questions from Georgia debate officials last week, and redirected inquiries to the campaign.
Walker, who ducked debates with Republicans ahead of the May primary, is swaggering around the state, calling Warnock “totally scared” to debate him as recently as Monday. Walker is also fond of pointing out that the Nexstar debate will be in Savannah, Warnock’s “back yard”—but that’s also where Walker staged a home base for his largest company, and where one of his sisters lives.
However, Walker just accepted the Nexstar offer last week—and only after steady barbs from Warnock, who agreed to three other debates weeks ago. Last month, the first-term Democrat released a campaign ad accusing his tough-talking opponent of “dodging” him, citing months of Walker’s boasts that he was ready to square off against the incumbent at any time.
“I told him to name the place and the time, and we can get it on,” Walker told WSB radio in June.
Warnock has since named three places and times for debates that Walker has not accepted.
Walker’s confusing statements have turned the debate disagreement into a long, twisting saga—both for the public, Georgia voters, and the campaigns and organizers. The Walker campaign attacked one of those organizers directly this week.
Warnock campaign manager Quentin Fulks told The Daily Beast in a statement said that “nothing has changed” for Warnock, who remains locked in to the three debates he agreed to in June.
“Two months ago, Reverend Warnock accepted invitations to three well-established Georgia debates in Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon to be broadcast statewide, after Herschel Walker said he would debate Reverend Warnock anywhere, anytime,” the statement said. “Nothing has changed. Reverend Warnock remains committed to debating Herschel Walker and giving Georgians three opportunities to see the clear choice about who is ready to represent Georgia.”
Despite several attempts to contact the Walker team, Debbie Blankenship, head of the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism, said she has never heard from them.
“We sent emails June 13, June 23, July 7, July 14, and July 28, but haven’t had a reply,” Blankenship told the Daily Beast. She said the Warnock campaign had officially accepted the invitation on June 23 for the town hall-style debate, which would feature questions from the community, moderated by local journalists.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hersc...hael-warnock-if-he-gets-the-topics-in-advance
Herschel Walker Will Debate—if He Gets the Topics in Advance
Herschel Walker has been bragging about his willingness to debate Raphael Warnock. The truth is far less gratifying for Walker.
Roger Sollenberger
Updated Aug. 10, 2022 10:33AM ET / Published Aug. 10, 2022 4:42AM ET
Professional athlete turned Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker has accepted one invitation to debate Democratic opponent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA)—and it just so happens to be the one debate that provides the topics in advance.
That’s the single appreciable difference between four proposed debates, a subject that, according to the campaigns and event organizers, remains unresolved and confusing, despite the candidates jawing at each other for weeks.
Walker’s campaign has said they chose the forum—hosted by national news conglomerate Nexstar and its Savannah based NBC affiliate, WSAV—because it would have a live audience and the “format and the moderators are fair and would allow each candidate equal opportunity to share their message.”
But it’s apparently rare for debates in Georgia to provide the topics ahead of time. None of the three debates Warnock has previously agreed to are offering the heads-up, according to the organizers’ conversations with The Daily Beast.
Larry Silbermann, general manager of WTOC Savannah, which has already struck an agreement with the Warnock campaign for a debate in mid-October, told The Daily Beast that he’d never fielded such a request.
“In my 30-plus years of doing this, we’ve never given out the topics or have a candidate request it,” Silbermann said.
Representatives from the other two hosts—the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism and the Atlanta Press Club—also characterized the stipulation as unusual, with debate organizer Lauri Strauss saying it was her organization’s “longstanding policy” to afford full independence to its journalist questioners, and not to reveal topics ahead of time.
Nexstar spokesperson Gary Weitman declined to hear The Daily Beast’s questions. He provided a statement acknowledging that Nexstar had pitched both candidates, but “did not publicize any details about this event, as both candidates had not yet agreed to participate.
“One candidate unilaterally decided to publicly announce that he would participate,” the statement said, adding that Nexstar, the largest local media company in the country, “will make every effort to reach agreement with both candidates regarding their participation.”
While Nexstar may not have released any details, Georgia Public Broadcasting published the terms last week.
“Topics will be provided to the campaigns prior to the broadcast, but specific questions will not,” the term sheet says.
The terms also note that “candidates should expect some of the questions to be visually supported by graphics on the screen,” which “will help the candidate and the voter better understand the question.”
Those would seem appealing features to a campaign dogged by controversy and lies, whose staff has tried for months to manage a severely gaffe-prone candidate with “no grasp of public policy” or “knowledge of issues that matter to the people of Georgia,” as the Valdosta Daily Times put it. As The Daily Beast reported last month, Walker’s own campaign staff have shielded his troubles from Republican Party higher-ups, while mocking his intelligence behind his back.
“He screws up on Fox News where people agree with him, so the idea of him taking an adverse interview or interacting with people who don’t agree with him is a non-starter,” a Walker adviser told The Daily Beast at the time, likening a tough interview to sending Walker “into the lion’s den.”
The campaign brought on renowned debate coach, Brett O’Donnell, who has counseled gaffe-prone conservative forebears like former President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But The Daily Beast has learned that O’Donnell abruptly stopped fielding questions from Georgia debate officials last week, and redirected inquiries to the campaign.
Walker, who ducked debates with Republicans ahead of the May primary, is swaggering around the state, calling Warnock “totally scared” to debate him as recently as Monday. Walker is also fond of pointing out that the Nexstar debate will be in Savannah, Warnock’s “back yard”—but that’s also where Walker staged a home base for his largest company, and where one of his sisters lives.
However, Walker just accepted the Nexstar offer last week—and only after steady barbs from Warnock, who agreed to three other debates weeks ago. Last month, the first-term Democrat released a campaign ad accusing his tough-talking opponent of “dodging” him, citing months of Walker’s boasts that he was ready to square off against the incumbent at any time.
“I told him to name the place and the time, and we can get it on,” Walker told WSB radio in June.
Warnock has since named three places and times for debates that Walker has not accepted.
Walker’s confusing statements have turned the debate disagreement into a long, twisting saga—both for the public, Georgia voters, and the campaigns and organizers. The Walker campaign attacked one of those organizers directly this week.
Warnock campaign manager Quentin Fulks told The Daily Beast in a statement said that “nothing has changed” for Warnock, who remains locked in to the three debates he agreed to in June.
“Two months ago, Reverend Warnock accepted invitations to three well-established Georgia debates in Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon to be broadcast statewide, after Herschel Walker said he would debate Reverend Warnock anywhere, anytime,” the statement said. “Nothing has changed. Reverend Warnock remains committed to debating Herschel Walker and giving Georgians three opportunities to see the clear choice about who is ready to represent Georgia.”
Despite several attempts to contact the Walker team, Debbie Blankenship, head of the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism, said she has never heard from them.
“We sent emails June 13, June 23, July 7, July 14, and July 28, but haven’t had a reply,” Blankenship told the Daily Beast. She said the Warnock campaign had officially accepted the invitation on June 23 for the town hall-style debate, which would feature questions from the community, moderated by local journalists.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...alker-confirms-revelation-of-second-secret-son/
Herschel Walker confirms revelation of third son and adult daughter
BY CAROLINE VAKIL - 06/16/22 11:20 AM ET
Does being a deadbeat dad qualify as "child abuse" in your opinion?
Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker (R) has confirmed that he has a third son and an adult daughter, a revelation that comes just a day after his campaign acknowledged he had a second son previously unknown to the public.
In a statement from his campaign to The Hill, Walker acknowledged he had four children total: one son with his first wife, Cindy Deangelis Grossman, and three other children reportedly with other women, according to the Daily Beast.
They’re not ‘undisclosed’ — they’re my kids. I support them all and love them all,” he said.
The Daily Beast was first to report on the candidate’s daughter and third son, age 13, the latter of which was with a woman who resides in Texas. Walker has been a frequent critic of absentee fathers.
Walker disclosed the ages and names of the four children in a 2018 form he completed to be appointed for the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition under then-President Trump. That form was provided by the campaign to the Daily Beast in addition to his statement.
“I’ve never denied my children, I confirmed this when I was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports Fitness and Nutrition, I just chose not to use them as props to win a political campaign. What parent would want their child involved in garbage, gutter politics like this?” Walker said.
According to social media posts viewed by the Daily Beast, Walker in at least two instances appeared to have been present in the 13-year-old’s life. However, the Daily Beast reported that Walker appears to have an estranged relationship with his 10-year-old son with another woman.
“Saying I hide my children because I don’t discuss them with reporters to win a campaign? That’s outrageous. I can take the heat, that’s politics — but leave my kids alone,” he added.
Walker, who has also been accused of domestic abuse, has previously spoken about the importance of remaining part of a child’s life, even if the relationship between parents ends.
“If you have a child with a woman, even if you have to leave that woman, even if you have to leave that woman, you don’t leave the child,” Walker said in a 2021 interview with social media personalities Diamond and Silk. “You let that child know you trying to work it out. You’re going to be respectful to her.”
It will be similar to the Pence/Kamala debate, a mismatch for certain. But, Warnoch is a wifebeater and drug addict, all Herschel has to do is say: "are you still beating your wife" at every breath? Carter used the Chappaquiddick case to defeat Ted Kennedy in 1976.Herschel only wants to debate if its a take home test... 🤣
https://www.thedailybeast.com/hersc...hael-warnock-if-he-gets-the-topics-in-advance
Herschel Walker Will Debate—if He Gets the Topics in Advance
Herschel Walker has been bragging about his willingness to debate Raphael Warnock. The truth is far less gratifying for Walker.
Roger Sollenberger
Updated Aug. 10, 2022 10:33AM ET / Published Aug. 10, 2022 4:42AM ET
Professional athlete turned Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker has accepted one invitation to debate Democratic opponent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA)—and it just so happens to be the one debate that provides the topics in advance.
That’s the single appreciable difference between four proposed debates, a subject that, according to the campaigns and event organizers, remains unresolved and confusing, despite the candidates jawing at each other for weeks.
Walker’s campaign has said they chose the forum—hosted by national news conglomerate Nexstar and its Savannah based NBC affiliate, WSAV—because it would have a live audience and the “format and the moderators are fair and would allow each candidate equal opportunity to share their message.”
But it’s apparently rare for debates in Georgia to provide the topics ahead of time. None of the three debates Warnock has previously agreed to are offering the heads-up, according to the organizers’ conversations with The Daily Beast.
Larry Silbermann, general manager of WTOC Savannah, which has already struck an agreement with the Warnock campaign for a debate in mid-October, told The Daily Beast that he’d never fielded such a request.
“In my 30-plus years of doing this, we’ve never given out the topics or have a candidate request it,” Silbermann said.
Representatives from the other two hosts—the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism and the Atlanta Press Club—also characterized the stipulation as unusual, with debate organizer Lauri Strauss saying it was her organization’s “longstanding policy” to afford full independence to its journalist questioners, and not to reveal topics ahead of time.
Nexstar spokesperson Gary Weitman declined to hear The Daily Beast’s questions. He provided a statement acknowledging that Nexstar had pitched both candidates, but “did not publicize any details about this event, as both candidates had not yet agreed to participate.
“One candidate unilaterally decided to publicly announce that he would participate,” the statement said, adding that Nexstar, the largest local media company in the country, “will make every effort to reach agreement with both candidates regarding their participation.”
While Nexstar may not have released any details, Georgia Public Broadcasting published the terms last week.
“Topics will be provided to the campaigns prior to the broadcast, but specific questions will not,” the term sheet says.
The terms also note that “candidates should expect some of the questions to be visually supported by graphics on the screen,” which “will help the candidate and the voter better understand the question.”
Those would seem appealing features to a campaign dogged by controversy and lies, whose staff has tried for months to manage a severely gaffe-prone candidate with “no grasp of public policy” or “knowledge of issues that matter to the people of Georgia,” as the Valdosta Daily Times put it. As The Daily Beast reported last month, Walker’s own campaign staff have shielded his troubles from Republican Party higher-ups, while mocking his intelligence behind his back.
“He screws up on Fox News where people agree with him, so the idea of him taking an adverse interview or interacting with people who don’t agree with him is a non-starter,” a Walker adviser told The Daily Beast at the time, likening a tough interview to sending Walker “into the lion’s den.”
The campaign brought on renowned debate coach, Brett O’Donnell, who has counseled gaffe-prone conservative forebears like former President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But The Daily Beast has learned that O’Donnell abruptly stopped fielding questions from Georgia debate officials last week, and redirected inquiries to the campaign.
Walker, who ducked debates with Republicans ahead of the May primary, is swaggering around the state, calling Warnock “totally scared” to debate him as recently as Monday. Walker is also fond of pointing out that the Nexstar debate will be in Savannah, Warnock’s “back yard”—but that’s also where Walker staged a home base for his largest company, and where one of his sisters lives.
However, Walker just accepted the Nexstar offer last week—and only after steady barbs from Warnock, who agreed to three other debates weeks ago. Last month, the first-term Democrat released a campaign ad accusing his tough-talking opponent of “dodging” him, citing months of Walker’s boasts that he was ready to square off against the incumbent at any time.
“I told him to name the place and the time, and we can get it on,” Walker told WSB radio in June.
Warnock has since named three places and times for debates that Walker has not accepted.
Walker’s confusing statements have turned the debate disagreement into a long, twisting saga—both for the public, Georgia voters, and the campaigns and organizers. The Walker campaign attacked one of those organizers directly this week.
Warnock campaign manager Quentin Fulks told The Daily Beast in a statement said that “nothing has changed” for Warnock, who remains locked in to the three debates he agreed to in June.
“Two months ago, Reverend Warnock accepted invitations to three well-established Georgia debates in Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon to be broadcast statewide, after Herschel Walker said he would debate Reverend Warnock anywhere, anytime,” the statement said. “Nothing has changed. Reverend Warnock remains committed to debating Herschel Walker and giving Georgians three opportunities to see the clear choice about who is ready to represent Georgia.”
Despite several attempts to contact the Walker team, Debbie Blankenship, head of the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism, said she has never heard from them.
“We sent emails June 13, June 23, July 7, July 14, and July 28, but haven’t had a reply,” Blankenship told the Daily Beast. She said the Warnock campaign had officially accepted the invitation on June 23 for the town hall-style debate, which would feature questions from the community, moderated by local journalists.
