Last Monday all eight Democratic candidates for President participated in the inaugural Youtube/CNN debate, where ordinary citizens were able to submit their questions to the potential nominees in the form of 30 second video clips. The Democrats fielded tough questions regarding health care, gay marriage, the War in Iraq, and the environment, which seemed, at least to me, to elicit more revealing answers than the normal media elite-driven debates.

Earlier this week, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, among others, cited “scheduling conflicts” and announced they would not be participating in the corresponding Republican Youtube debate. The only candidates of the ten that confirmed their attendance were Ron Paul, McCain, and Tommy Thompson, probably the three Republicans that are willing to speak bluntly on issues, and three who have the least to lose. It’s a spineless excuse and shows exactly how far out of touch the party is with the general population, but if I was Romney or Guiliani’s campaign manager, I would never let them do a YouTube debate under any circumstances. These days, being a Republican and being asked questions by people who are not your supporters is a dangerous task and has the potential to ruin a campaign.

Can you imagine the horror these campaigns are probably fearing could come from these 30 second clips from ordinary Americans?? They got a taste of it from the Democratic debate and they know the questions will be quite similar. It is one thing for Giuliani and Romney to sit and listen to abstract questions from Wolf Blitzer about whether or not we need to stay the course in Iraq. They can babble senselessly about “listening to Gen. Patraeas,” “setting no timetables,” and “fighting on the offensive” for hours. Those meaningless talking points can be spouted out ad nauseum. It is quite another task entirely for them to watch a widowed wife or a grief stricken father sit there and describe their son or husband’s death while asking why we are still fighting people who just want us out of their own country.

Or what about when, just as in the Democratic debate, you have people with Alzheimer’s, diabetes, or cancer explaining how they cannot afford health insurance or are going bankrupt because of incomplete or no coverage. They will ask why we are the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t treat basic medical care as a right, and why their lives have to be ruined just because they got sick. The candidates will have to watch these videos and then say into the camera they don’t support universal health care because it might drive down the profits of insurance companies.

Or what about when an illegal immigrant comes on the screen with his three little kids, ages 9, 7, and 3? He explains how he is a single parent and works 60 hours a week in a job that no one else will do just to feed his family. And then he asks, if he is willing to pay a fine, why can’t he stay in this country? Each candidate is going to have to get up there and say since he crossed an imaginary line “illegally,” the man is a criminal and subject to deportation. His kids can stay, though, because they were born in the US. Unfortunately for them they will probably have to be separated and given to foster parents.

The party that peaches “family values” is not really going to want to respond to such a video. They’re not going to want to explain why 47 million people cannot have health insurance. And they certainly don’t want to explain why Americans have to continue to die in Iraq just to mediate a civil war. Of course, there are major “scheduling conflicts.” CNN has decided to move the debate to accommodate Giuliani and Romney. But as long as the candidates are forced to respond to questions from actual Americans facing the consequences of their party’s actions, something tells me their schedules will be perpetually full until the election.

Trevor Timm is a Blast Magazine staff writer