Inky gets credit for smoking out Cherelle

I have to give credit to Philadelphia’s favorite only broadsheet, the Philadelphia Inquirer, for calling in a Tuesday editorial for Democratic mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker to debate Republican David Oh.

David Oh will get to debate Cherelle Parker. (Photo: Billy Penn)

Within hours, Parker, who had been dodging demands requests for debates, agreed to one hosted by KYW NewsRadio at 8 a.m. on Thursday Oct. 26. 

8 a.m. is an unusual time for a debate, but morning drive does have the most ears listening to radio.

I suspect Parker would not have agreed to the debate without the shove from the Inquirer’s editorial board.

Four years ago, shiftless and cowardly incumbent Jim Kenney refused to debate Republican Billy Ciancaglini on some trumped-up story that he was associated with the Proud Boys. His “proof”? Someone had a photograph of a street demonstration with Ciancaglini and a couple of the white supremacist morons in the same frame.

That’s proof of shared beliefs? I have pictures of me and that Woke knucklehead Kenney together. 

In case you missed it, we are not together. I have been his only most consistent press critic for more than a decade.

He became the first and only mayoral candidate in memory to refuse to debate his opponent in a general election.

Other incumbent mayors — and other politicians — have declined to debate in primary elections.

Joe Biden won’t debate whatever dregs are challenging him in the primary, and Donald J. Trump won’t appear on the same stage as the collection of dwarfs running against him.

In the last mayoral cycle, Kenney’s smear was deliberate, and it was BS. The Democrat-complacent Philadelphia media let him skate, rather than campaigning to shame him into a debate. The vaunted Inquirer did print an op-ed (from a conservative journalist ) criticizing Kenney, but took no editorial position that I could find.

This time it found its voice, saying, “Before casting their ballots in November, Philadelphians deserve to hear from the woman who will likely run City Hall for the next four years. To see her ideas tested and challenged, and to hear how she plans to move a deeply challenged city forward.”

Absolutely correct.

Now, in terms of realpolitik, candidates with a big lead usually don’t want to debate, figuring they can win without debating and something bad might happen during the debate.

That is exactly Trump’s thinking, as was Kenney’s.

But just think of how gutless Kenney, with a 7-1 registration edge, was to not face Ciancaglini. Kenney could have taken the opportunity to verbally thrash the alleged Proud Boy wannabe.

Chicken Cherelle wanted to use the same recipe, but the Inquirer forced her hand.

Before leaving this subject, the Inquirer graciously offered its services as host, saying each candidate could “choose a moderator of their choice from among our diverse team of columnists, editors, and editorial writers?” Diverse team? 😃

Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.

I still give Inky credit for getting the ball rolling

Now they ought to push for two more debates.