Still NO word about the military takeover of Texas…….(Waiting)……….(moving on)……..last night was the very first in the list of GOP debates……finally we can have some closure over the cock up on who would qualify to be on stage……
Next the newest cock up for the GOP….Planned Parenthood……the timing was perfect……it came before the debates and gave the idiots to fixate on….that is other than real issues……the backbone of GOP politics…….imaginary crises……….
Okay on to the debate tonight!
The truth is I was not going to watch any of the candidates debates because they are going to be silly……like the news……..this country infrastructure is going to Hell and the best politicians can do is grab their crotch and bitch about Planned Parenthood…….this is a diversion…..emotional religious bullshit to keep from discussing real problems…….
I decide to watch the first one to see just how humorous and uninformative it could be…….The candidates on stage Thursday night whose poll numbers have been around the low- to mid-single digits include New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
But first there was the “Kiddie Table” debate of those candidates that could not muster enough interest to make it to the “Big Dance”……..
Their better-polling rivals get to debate in prime time, but seven Republicans tried to make the most of it in the first Fox News debate today. Based on the early reviews, it seems that one clearly did: Carly Fiorina. She “nailed it,” observes the Washington Post. The former Hewlett-Packard exec didn’t get flustered, answered questions clearly, and won rave reviews on Twitter. “They should invite carly fiorina back for the 9 oclock debate,” wrote Newt Gingrich. Some highlights from the forum with her, Rick Perry, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, and George Pataki:
- The presence of Donald Trump came up early. Fiorina quipped that she didn’t get a phone call from Bill Clinton before deciding to run. “Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn’t. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t given money to the foundation, or donated to his wife’s Senate campaign.” But she also acknowledged that Trump has tapped into something real, notes the New York Times.
- Perry “appeared to pick up steam as the debate wore on, and he likely exceeded the low expectations that were set after his 2011 debate debacle,” writes Colleen McCain Nelson at the Wall Street Journal. Asked to use two words to describe Hillary Clinton, Perry opted for three: “Good at email.”
- Graham also went after Clinton: “To all the Americans who want a better life, don’t vote for Hillary Clinton,” he said in answering a question about the economy. “She represents the third term of a failed presidency.”
- Santorum hasn’t been happy with his second-tier status, but in his first debate answer tonight, he “cleverly notes he was even further back four years ago before winning a string of states,” tweeted Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal.
- Jindal, asked about Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s decision to accept an ObamaCare Medicaid expansion, said, “I don’t think anyone should expand Medicaid,” but held back on going after his fellow candidate. In the view of Politico, Jindal “didn’t deviate much from talking points or otherwise do much to stand out, but was articulate in his delivery.”
- Pataki said he undid many of Mario Cuomo’s executive orders when he became governor of New York. “I would do this to Barack Obama’s executive orders.”
- Gilmore called President Obama’s executive orders on immigration illegal and said they show “contempt for the rule of law.”
- Attendance in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena was relatively sparse, reports AP.
- The Washington Post provides a full transcript of the debate here.
Best in show: Fiorina
Should of stayed home” Jindal
And now the main event………
The first GOP debate was nothing but a new Reality Show, all that was missing was a couple of big breasted blondes crying, yelling and throwing things.
The GOP debate on Fox News tonight proved to be Trump-centric as he and his nine rivals—Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich—tried to emerge from the pack. (As Carly Fiorina did in the early debate.) In fact, Trump fielded the very first question, and it was a doozy. When all the candidates were asked if anyone was unwilling to pledge support to the eventual nominee and to rule out a run as an independent, only Trump raised his hand. “I will not make the pledge at this time,” he said. Other highlights, via CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post:
- Christie vs Paul: After Paul said, “I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. … I’m proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to,” Christie responded, “That’s a completely ridiculous answer. … How are you supposed to know? … When you’re sitting in a subcommittee blowing hot air, then you can say things like that.”
- Bush on political dynasties: “I’m going to have to earn this.” And on the Iraq war: “Knowing what we know now with faulty intelligence … it was a mistake. I wouldn’t have gone in.” CNN’s David Chalian: “Nothing about tonight’s debate indicated that Jeb Bush is in the driver’s seat of this campaign. He seemed much more like a passenger—and at times a nervous and unsure one at that.”
- Paul vs Trump: “He buys and sells politicians of all stripes. He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons,” said Paul. Trump responded that he’s given money to Paul, too.
- Kasich: “Donald Trump’s hitting a nerve in this country, he really is. … For people to want to just tune him out, they’re making a mistake.” He also gave an impassioned answer about his support of gay marriage, here. Writes Nicholas Confessore at the New York Times: “I think Kasich has been extremely effective up there. Lots of confidence, talks like a real person, and so far has successfully defended his biggest vulnerability–the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.”
- Rubio: “How is Hillary going to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck.” Rubio generally won praise tonight for his answers.
- Trump on political correctness: “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I’ve been challenged by so many people and I don’t, frankly, have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time, either.”
- Carson: He said Hillary Clinton “counts on the fact that people are uninformed.” At another point, he thanked the moderator for a question and added, “I wasn’t sure I was going to get to talk again.”
- Cruz: “It’s not a question of stupidity. It’s that they don’t want to enforce the immigration laws,” he said of unnamed GOP colleagues. Mostly though, Cruz had a surprisingly quiet night.
- Walker: “Every section of the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than it was.” He also said Iran and ISIS were “tied together.”
- Huckabee: “The military is not a social experiment,” he said in discussing gender diversity and LGBT benefits. “The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things.”
- Christie on New Jersey’s financial trouble: “If you think it’s bad now, you should’ve seen it when I got there.
Summary?
Best In Show: Kasich
2nd Fiddle: Rubio
Tried Too Hard: Paul
Should Of Stayed Home: Huckabee
Not Ready For Prime Time: Carson
All in all I was unimpressed…..but debates seldom impress me for they are mostly talking points…..little to do with real problems…….
Yawn! Time for bed…….
