Nervous Nellie Cotton cowers behind a 102-year-old

Purported tough guy military man Tom Cotton is too chickenshit to show up for a debate with his challengers, and Arkansas voters should know it.

Cotton was literally less than half an hour away last week when Democrat Hallie Shoffner and Libertarian Jeff Wadlin took the Arkansas TV stage in Conway to air their views and differences in the race for U.S. Senate. The two-term incumbent famous for rarely deigning to visit the constituents for whom he allegedly works didn’t bother to show.

Instead, Cotton used a 102-year-old man as a human shield, claiming that being at the World War II veteran’s birthday party that day was far more important than participating in a debate both of his opponents made time for.

“Anytime we get a chance to celebrate a World War II veteran, we should,” Cotton told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The birthday party in question was in North Little Rock, though? Literally a 25-minute straight shot down Interstate 40! Pretty sure Cotton could have figured out the logistics; I guarantee Wadlin and Shoffner would have even tweaked their own schedules to accommodate. This was a flimsy and embarrassing excuse from a flim-flam candidate who knows that the more of himself he shows to Arkansas voters, the less they’ll like him.

The one debate Cotton had agreed to, with the Christian conservative Texas-based Salem Media Group, was suddenly and mysteriously canceled earlier this week. Salem has given no reason for the change of plans.

Cotton’s campaign says they sure disappointed about it, because Shoffner should have to answer for her stances on immigration and human rights. The obvious question here is, if Cotton’s campaign really wanted to ask Shoffner about her positions, why didn’t they just make the 25-minute drive to Conway last week and knock it out? Of course, Cotton didn’t want answers; he wanted excuses.

But we have some good news for Cotton and Co.! His challengers will reconvene for another debate round Oct. 22 in Jonesboro. Cotton has already declined the invitation, but I’d bet money there’s still time for him to change his RSVP.