Thursday, October 29, 2015

GOP debate recap

This is actually what I tuned in to see, but it was a bit more restrained.  Pity.  ;)

For those of you who are vaguely interested in politics, but not enough so to actually watch 2 hours of their regularly televised sit-com, I offer this debate recap:  Mark O. Rubio seemed cool and above the fray, Dr. Ben Carson, always the polite gentleman, showed....umm....good posture, The Donald seemed to have ratcheted down his mouth a couple of notches, Chris Christie was once again the 8-to-5 working guy's guy, Mike Huckleberry showed he was still the best orator, Ted Cruz had a memorable line, John Kasich seemed to be desperately struggling to keep his head above water, Carly Fiorina was chomping at the bit for a cat fight with Hillary C,  and Jeb Bush and Rand Paul rode off into the sunset (they just don't know it yet).

And the CNBC moderators were assholes.  What the hell was wrong with those folks?  Every question they asked was little more than "have you stopped beating your wife?"

For the life of me I can't understand why Dr. Carson is now the front-runner. Is he smart?  Yes, he's brilliant.  Does he act like an adult when the opportunity is there for a sleazy attack?  Yes, he's a class guy.  But IMHO his demeanor is more that of a statistical actuary than a leader.

I expect my leaders to be able to inspire, to work a crowd up into a force for action.  Such as....

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall NEVER surrender."  Winston Churchill

or "Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR...DOWN...THIS...WALL!"  Ronald Reagan

or "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  FDR

Dr. Carson has a soft-spoken demeanor that is [to me] reminiscent of Jimmah Carter, and we all know how THAT turned out!  (He was absolutely run over by the scum-bag Washington professional politicians.)

Several of the candidates (Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie) seemed almost like they were "Democrat Lite" when they spoke of entitlements.  "Workers have BOUGHT their 'entitlements', they were not just given to them."  Gov. Christie even slapped us with the truth:  The money we put into our Social Security Trust Fund is GONE.  Over the past 50 years our "leaders" have STOLEN it.   We're not EVER going to see it again.   Fact!  


And Christie wants to jail the crooked bankers who almost imploded the world back in '08.  YES!

There was almost unanimity over how unhealthy our income inequality is.  This from Republicans?  Whoa!

Poor Jeb.  If you're a Jeb Bush fan, I'm sorry, but it's over for him.  The Bush dynasty has obviously ended with Dubyah.  Give Jeb a nice dinner and a gold watch and retire him.  Now.

Even Ted Cruz got a well-deserved round of applause from the audience when he called out the moderators for being unfair beyond belief.

And Donald Trump.  *sigh*  I think he'll lumber along for a while longer as a legitimate contender, but voters seem to be getting a little lot more serious about the issues, and The Donald hasn't really told us much yet about how he's going to do what he's promised.  I'm not sure if he can.  

My chuckle moment was when Trump skewered PAC's as the scourge of politics.  Ha!   So true!  But as he was the only one there not accepting PAC money, he was a lonely voice of one.  Touche Donald!

I think Mark O. will get a bounce from this debate.  Something about him, though, troubles me.  I'm just not sure exactly what.  I'm sure if there's anything there it will surface in time.

There you have it....my opinion, which ranks right up there with a big bowl of cold oatmeal.  ;)

S


17 comments:

  1. Very fair summary. The most biased questioning from commentators I have ever witnessed, for the most part the candidates did not fall for the obvious traps. Love Trump, he is very entertaining! I think Carly may have the best combination of brains and toughness, I really like Carson, but you may be correct, he may be too smart and too polite and too honest to be a politician.

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    1. I think he might make an admirable Secretary of _____, able to analyze, troubleshoot, and implement. I just don't see him whipping a crowd into a frenzy like I think a good leader should be able to.

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    2. Well, yes, even Hitler. He got most Germans of his day, some very enthusiastically, to do what he wanted. He had leadership abilities, albeit very EVIL leadership abilities.

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  2. I don't know how anyone can say Ben Carson is brilliant with a straight face, unless they're only referring to performing surgery.

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    1. Yeah - I'm having trouble with that too!

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    2. But Pat/Dana....you can be pro/anti gay marriage, pro/anti abortion, pro/anti 2nd amendment, pro/anti evolution, etc and still be highly intelligent. I think Dr Carson is intelligent, but I'm not saying I necessarily agree with his politics. There is a difference.

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    3. Have you not been paying attention to all the moronic things he has said? The Jews could have stopped the Holocaust if they had guns. Hey, rob that guy over there instead of me! Why didn't you school shooting victims just rush the gunman?

      Wake up already. You can't even blame that stuff on "media bias."

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    4. PT is such an angry man. I guess when you are so much smarter than everyone else it is frustrating that everyone does not see your wisdom and just agree with everything you say.

      OK, I'm going to practice saying Ben Carson is intelligent and keep a straight face...so far it is pretty easy.

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  3. I thought Rubio did well, but he never answers questions and I find that troubling. I agree that Jeb is toast.

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    1. That's typical of most politicians. They're asked a question and they say, "I'm glad you asked that", then talk about everything BUT what they were asked. And the questioner usually lets them get away with it!

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  4. It would be amusing if it wasn't so sad.

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  5. I didn't watch the debate. But I know that Marco Rubio has an awful voting record (something like 30% of all votes in the Senate missed just this year). Other than that I can't really comment on anything, but I do enjoy your summaries.

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  6. I would like to see a debate where only one or two questions are asked and then let the debaters answer them fully, in whole thoughts. There is a lot that bothers me about Marco Rubio.

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    1. Something serious and actually informative would be nice, but I think the media is more concerned with ratings. They love all the drama and controversy. Besides, I'm not sure many candidates can answer "fully and in whole thoughts".

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  7. I particularly liked when one of the bozo's on the bus suggested afterwards that only loyal members of the gop be allowed to pose questions.

    As to Carson, it's all been said. Interesting that some hospitals where he had privileges revoked them after questions were posed about his judgement.

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    1. Remember when presidential debates were serious, informative events? NoW they're little more than reality TV. And I did not know that about Dr. C....very interesting.

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