What’s the Republican Party afraid of? Could it possibly be the truth?

The Republican Party in West Virginia – and those who are supporting it – apparently have developed a statewide strategy for grabbing and keeping power during this mid-term election cycle built around three simple words: “I support Trump.”

While their Democratic opponents are actively campaigning out in the open where everyone can see and hear them, the Republicans for Congressional office have so far been willing to stay in Trump's shadow while their political action committees and out-of-state backers run hours of negative advertising on their behalf.

It reminds me of another set of three words made famous in an old Three Stooges skit. Those three words are “duck,” “dodge” and “hide.”

Consider this:

* Election Day is less than two weeks away and all three Republicans running for the House of Representatives have refused to debate their Democratic opponents, and no debates are scheduled. Their excuses for refusing to debate would almost be humorous if they weren’t so pathetic.

“Honestly, when you look at every issue between her and I, she kinda takes the liberal Democrat position and I'm a conservative Republican,” said incumbent Alex Mooney about his 2nd District challenger, Talley Sergent. “It's like Hillary Clinton's views versus Donald Trump's. I think that voters are pretty clear on the differences between us.”

For her part, Sergent thinks Mooney “needs to man up and talk to the people of West Virginia instead of continuing to phone it in.... You have politicians that are so entrenched in the partisan divide that they refuse to hold open conversations.”

In the 1st District, Democrat Kendra Fershee says she wants to debate her opponent, incumbent Rep. David McKinley, but the seated Republican has also refused. He claimed that “no credible third party had offered to host a debate,” even though MetroNews offered to do just that.

“It's truly a shame we've come to a time in West Virginia that our elected officials hide from their constituents and expect to just waltz into a seat as if they own it,” Fershee said. “I suspect the voters will have something to say about his total lack of regard for them on Election Day.”

Maybe yes, Kendra, and sadly, maybe no.

* On the Senate side, a debate between incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin and his Republican challenger, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, was canceled when Morrisey refused to confirm his participation. The debate sponsored by several media outlets was supposed to take place on October 14 in Wheeling, and sponsors sent an invitation to the Morrisey campaign on August 16 – nearly two months in advance of the debate – but he never said he would attend.

“Obviously we’re disappointed that Patrick Morrisey didn’t accept the request to meet with the top journalists in West Virginia to debate issues…of importance to West Virginians,” Andy Kniceley, publisher of NCWV Media, said at the time.

*     *     *

In the same vein and closer to home, a story appeared in today’s local newspaper concerning an ordinance passed by Fairmont City Council last year establishing a Human Rights Commission for the city. After passage of the ordinance, an out-of-town organization that opposes equal rights for gay and transgender individuals petitioned to have the issue placed on the November election ballot.

Not coincidentally, this organization known as “Keep Fairmont Safe” also supports and endorses Republican and conservative candidates and causes.  

So when the newspaper attempted to present an objective story about the upcoming vote, Keep Fairmont Safe declined to provide a spokesperson to represent its views, even after an advocate in favor of the ordinance had provided the newspaper with contact information for members of the opposition group. Instead, the organization supplied the reporter with dubious internet memes and statements of propaganda from its Facebook page, which, by the way, blocks comments from anyone who disagrees with its position.

So to recap, while the Republicans and their minions play “duck and cover,” Democratic candidates and pro-human rights advocates continue to open their campaigns for media interviews, platform statements, social media commentary and position papers which are frequently twisted into false or misleading negative advertising by the very opponents who refuse to debate them face-to-face.

When the good guys go high, you might say, the bad guys go lower and lower…and then they duck, dodge and hide.

It makes me wonder what secrets they’re concealing and why they’re afraid to come out from behind their rocks. Could it be they’re afraid of the truth? Or do they just believe that “I support Trump” is enough to get them elected and nothing else is required?

I’d like to believe that the refusal by Republicans to stand on a debate stage and tell us who they are, what they want and what they believe would make a difference to the voters in West Virginia, but unfortunately, it probably won’t. Not in a country where the president of the United States refuses to be interviewed by a special counsel investigating his alleged crimes because his lawyers know he can’t tell the truth.

That same president – afraid of losing control of Congress – is spending the month of October flying from one campaign rally to the next and telling some of the most outrageous lies that ever fell out of a sitting president’s mouth. When this is the tone set by the leader of the party, why should we expect anything better from the underlings who kneel and kiss his ring?