GOP Debates - Basement Thread

I somehow doubt that Kaisich has any real shot at getting the nomination. Its going to be either Bush or Walker or maybe even Trump(god that would be a dream for dems, wouldn't it?).
 
Archbob said:
I somehow doubt that Kaisich has any real shot at getting the nomination. Its going to be either Bush or Walker or maybe even Trump(god that would be a dream for dems, wouldn't it?).
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I think the party's elite would bend or break every rule to prevent the #trumpeze from becoming a general election circus attraction.
 
Antilogic said:
I think the party's elite would bend or break every rule to prevent the #trumpeze from becoming a general election circus attraction.
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I suspect that that is why Trump fired the warning shot across their bow. Starting the debate with "raise your hand if you will not promise to support whoever wins the nomination" was a great stroke for riling up the crowd against him...but the threat to run as an independent did not go unnoticed in the halls of power in the GOP, guaranteed.
 
I need to watch the whole thing, but I didn't see anyone go after Trump for saying the Iraq War was a disaster and we never should have invaded. The neo-cons kept quiet, they didn't want Trump ripping them for supporting it.

Christie getting into a shouting match with Paul mostly killed him I think. Paul can afford it, because his supporters are locked to him and he wasn't getting anyone else anyway. Despite the fact that Christie totally put the wood to him, all that Republicans will come away with is that Christie is a loudmouth.
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Was that the exchange that began when Paul said Christie was hugging Obama? I'm not sure we saw the same thing, Christie's response was to hide behind the victims of 9/11 and then accuse Paul of making it easier for terrorists by wanting warrants for searches. Christie had bragged how he was the only one actually fighting terrorists since he was prosecuting them, supposedly with warrants as Paul mentioned. Rather confusing, was Christie endorsing spying on everyone and was he admitting his prosecutions were illegal?

The courts recently ruled it illegal, right?
 
Timsup2nothin said:
I suspect that that is why Trump fired the warning shot across their bow. Starting the debate with "raise your hand if you will not promise to support whoever wins the nomination" was a great stroke for riling up the crowd against him...but the threat to run as an independent did not go unnoticed in the halls of power in the GOP, guaranteed.
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Yeah, there's something going on behind the scenes here, but we aren't seeing all the moves.
 
Timsup2nothin said:
I'd call that somewhat accurate.

The Trump faithful (the disaffected) saw nothing to change their minds, and the less disaffected saw no reason to jump aboard the rebellion train. Same with Rand Paul and the "different kind of Republican" train.
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Agreed. I'm not sure ANYTHING will change the Trump faithfuls minds. Considering his policies and what he has said, if they haven't jumped ship now they're life long members of the Trump Club. That being said his challenge is to grow his base. Don't think he did that tonight. Same for Rand Paul.


Christie getting into a shouting match with Paul mostly killed him I think. Paul can afford it, because his supporters are locked to him and he wasn't getting anyone else anyway. Despite the fact that Christie totally put the wood to him, all that Republicans will come away with is that Christie is a loudmouth.
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Agreed on Christie putting the wood to Paul. Christie needs to switch his campaign line to "the real Donald". Loved the exchange.

Jeb at far too many times seemed to be channeling his brother. If he got a point in the polls for every word that he mangled the campaign would be over and he would be the clear winner.
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Bush is stumbling. Didn't realize how similar his mannerisms are to his brothers. Think I may have PTSD...barely held the flashbacks at bay.


Carson was clearly the smartest guy on the stage. Too bad 40% of Republicans couldn't hear what he said because they were busy saying "what is that black guy doing there?" Most of the remaining 60%, while not put off by a black candidate, are well aware that he has no shot.
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I didn't see it. Decent response on foreign policy, went downhill on waterboarding.

And rattling off the military figures to bolster his military knowledge ? Pretty much used Romneys figures, except he got the Air Force figure wrong. Of all the things to pull from the Romney debates, why horses and bayonets Dr. Carson ?!!?!?

Maybe the base loved extending biblical theology to the tax code, but that didn't strike me as especially intelligent. Wonder if he used the same text to guide his surgical procedures...


I think Kaisich was probably the most challenging candidate on the stage from a Democrat's point of view. If the rest of the gang doesn't hang the "Obamacare collaborator" label on him he may be far more dangerous than I gave him credit for.
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He is legit. He's rising right as Bush is stumbling. If Paul and Christy can stay on the big stage these debates are going to be fun to watch.
 
I think the GOP has a better shot of getting a good candidate if they just put all these guys together in a winner-take-all steel cage match than going through the debates. At least viewership would be higher.
 
They should let the DNC provide the moderators and the questions, instead of using RNC sycophants masquerading as journalists. Now that would be awesome.
 
Archbob said:
I think the GOP has a better shot of getting a good candidate if they just put all these guys together in a winner-take-all steel cage match than going through the debates. At least viewership would be higher.
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Actually, the early word is that more people watched the debate last night than voted in the 2012 Republican primaries. At 24 million viewers it more than tripled the previous record for viewers of a political debate.
 
Yeah, but anyone can turn on a TV and watch. You have to be a registered republican to vote in the primary I think. I vote in most state and national elections but I don't vote in the democratic primary since I'm not a registered democrat.
 
A lot of states have open primaries. Trump should win all of those, since Democrats will have no particular reason to participate in their own primary and can instead choose to use the Republican primary ballot to cause as much trouble as possible.
 
Timsup2nothin said:
A lot of states have open primaries. Trump should win all of those, since Democrats will have no particular reason to participate in their own primary and can instead choose to use the Republican primary ballot to cause as much trouble as possible.
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That operation has never really worked.
 
Archbob said:
That operation has never really worked.
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Has there ever been a situation like this?

One party has to be having a basically meaningless primary. That pretty much happens any time there is an incumbent, but most times there is no incumbent so that's usually going to be a disqualifier.

The other party has to have a clearly undesirable candidate that also has a serious possibility of winning so that a little help can put them over the top. THAT is what is unique here. Trump is roundly despised by the power brokers of the GOP...but could win more than a few primaries anyway. With some help from Democrats who have nothing better to do that gets worse for the GOP, and that's always fun.
 
Gucumatz said:
I think a question about faith isn't a silly question to be honest, particularly on the Republican side of the party. Many of these Republicans are probably fake Christians to begin with - who are only nominally Christian to satisfy the religious wing of their party and in truth care next to nothing about acting as their brother's keeper - like it seemed evident from Walker's response
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I bet most of them actually believe that they are good Christians. It's just that they are utter failures at understanding what it means to be a good Christian.
 
"For a moment, I thought I was watching a Comedy Central roast of the US Constitution." Bill Maher

"The entire slate of them up there seemed to not care that women can now vote." Bill Maher
 
Formaldehyde said:
"The entire slate of them up there seemed to not care that women can now vote." Bill Maher
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That one is a telling blow. I've seen more than a couple signs of outrage that Trump on the "fat pigs" issue didn't back down in the least and that none of the other candidates batted an eye. I knew Trump had his foot in his mouth there, but until I saw those responses it didn't really occur to me that the rest were tarring themselves with the inaction brush.
 
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