An email from Brett O’Donnell has confirmed the cancellation of the debate October 16. He has conferred with Dr. Falwell and has written,

“Given that the two sides cannot agree on the terms of the debate in a spirit of compromise he [Dr. Falwell] concurs that the debate should not occur and therefore there will not be a debate on October 16 agreeing with the decision that was announced on Friday by Dr. White.”

Of course, that is not the reason that this debate will not happen. The two sides had an agreement that had been worked out in the spirit of compromise. We have written documentation of that fact. Until last Wednesday, each side was preparing for the debate based on the negotiated terms of that agreement. The reason this debate is not happening is because one side was unwilling to have the negotiated, agreed-upon terms arbitrarily set aside at the last minute. Those are the facts. I find them very sad, but they are undeniably true.

I will try to fill in some of the details on all of this in the days ahead.