The first GOP presidential debate

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Termite
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The first GOP presidential debate

Post by Termite »

The 9 p.m. debate

Mike Huckabee: You're not going to get a lot of speaking time. So let's see a return of your quick wit. If you want loyalty from Evangelical voters who are drifting toward Marco Rubio, remind them how unreliable the GOP elite really is. Evangelicals are not in a trusting mood. Offer your candidacy as their whip.

Rand Paul: Stop cringing, man. You will never win over your dedicated haters. Take one page from your father, and do what no one expects at a candidate's debate: Debate something. In fact, you should be attacking Bush. Not Jeb, though — attack his brother. Bait other candidates into defending an unpopular president, and you can show yourself as a new, different kind of Republican.

Scott Walker: First, work on those pronunciations of foreign leaders, buddy. If I were you, I'd dismiss all the senators as yappers, and instead start a fight with Bush about your respective gubernatorial records. Note that your state has mostly recovered economically, while Bush's Florida turned out to be a time-bomb for real-estate values.

Donald Trump: Take advantage of media expectations that you will be all hot air. If you support your lacerating attacks on other candidates with even just a handful of factual statements, or any sign that you really focused for even two whole minutes on a sheet of research about your opponents, you will magnify all the trends that are going your way. People will be blown away.

Ben Carson: Like Trump, your speech patterns, cadence, and presentation are themselves evidence that you are not from the political class. But you are also Trump's opposite. Trump is ego. You have equipoise. Even if Trump has $10 billion in net worth, your record as a brain surgeon is the most impressive resume on the stage. If you out-study Trump on the issues, you will begin collecting the "anti-politics" poll numbers that currently belong to him.

Chris Christie: I don't know, man. Good luck. You can't out-mean Donald Trump, and it's deadly to you if you let him out-mean you. Pray that John Kasich flames out tonight.

John Kasich: You have a distinctive personality that no one will like. Don't show it. Just talk about Ohio's rebound. And pray that Christie flames out tonight.

Ted Cruz: You and I both know your card is that the Republicans are not willing to fight. But you also should have figured out by now that your historic mission is to put Donald Trump back in his place. He's a Clinton-donating charlatan, a johnny-come-lately, a tax-loving cronyist — and you know it. If he presents you the opportunity, bury him. Any other reaction to him reveals your fear, which is death to your brand.

Jeb Bush: Everyone knows you are a competent establishment guy. Show them you are a social conservative. But prepare for a heat-seeking snark missile from Mike Huckabee for sitting on the board of a philanthropy that gave millions to Planned Parenthood. Just stop any more bleeding of your support and don't give any media organization or mega-donor a reason to start polling Mitt Romney's name.

Good luck!
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JustinR
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by JustinR »

Is it too much to hope for Trump challenging Cruz to a duel and Cruz pulling out a 1911 and shooting him square in the chest before Trump is done pronouncing "duel," Cruz re-holstering and announcing with a smirk, "challenge accepted?"

I may be channeling Frank J a bit there.
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Vonz90
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by Vonz90 »

Mike Huckabee: not really a Republican. Knows he has no chance but this will help his next book deal.

Rand Paul: more nut than Republican. Does not seem serious about the race.

Scott Walker: Good track record. Not sure if ready for the big stage, but we will see.

Donald Trump: A big government Dem pretending to be a Republican as an ego trip. He might be fun to watch in the short term but he is at best a distraction and at worse can suck the air away from the serious players.

Ben Carson: I like Carson but would much rather see him run for a House seat or the open MD senate seat. POTUS is not a starter position.

Chris Christie: Good for NJ maybe but a left winger in every state but maybe 4 or 5. Meh.

John Kasich: Meh, social liberal, squishy on the fiscal side and prone to call everyone who disagrees with him mean hearted. In other words GWB 2.0.

Ted Cruz: Serious candidate. I think he has some growing to do as far as his presence with the media and so forth. I'm not sure he will be able to avoid the extremist label (not that he is, but he media will try to paint him that way) as his demeanor lays him open to it.

Jeb Bush: GWB without the intellectual rigor and an over fondness for Mexican illegal immigrants.

In the end, it is too early to even have a debate IMHO.
Aesop
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by Aesop »

Vonz90 wrote:Mike Huckabee: not really a Republican. Knows he has no chance but this will help his next book deal.

Rand Paul: more nut than Republican. Does not seem serious about the race.

Scott Walker: Good track record. Not sure if ready for the big stage, but we will see.

Donald Trump: A big government Dem pretending to be a Republican as an ego trip. He might be fun to watch in the short term but he is at best a distraction and at worse can suck the air away from the serious players.

Ben Carson: I like Carson but would much rather see him run for a House seat or the open MD senate seat. POTUS is not a starter position.

Chris Christie: Good for NJ maybe but a left winger in every state but maybe 4 or 5. Meh.

John Kasich: Meh, social liberal, squishy on the fiscal side and prone to call everyone who disagrees with him mean hearted. In other words GWB 2.0.

Ted Cruz: Serious candidate. I think he has some growing to do as far as his presence with the media and so forth. I'm not sure he will be able to avoid the extremist label (not that he is, but he media will try to paint him that way) as his demeanor lays him open to it.

Jeb Bush: GWB without the intellectual rigor and an over fondness for Mexican illegal immigrants.
Concur entirely, except for:
In the end, it is too early to even have a debate IMHO.
The sooner they weed out waste-of-time joke candidates like Huckabee, Carson, and Christie, and start exposing Trump and Jeb as the frauds they are, returning them to their justly deserved single digits, the sooner we can get down to a serious primary season among actual candidates.
We won't even talk about the Seven Dwarves debating at the kids' table.

Even giving Trump his due, he couldn't even deliver his own state electorally, so even ignoring the gaping flaw of his record in the past being utterly at odds with his present-day rhetoric (which I expect the MSM is going to exploit in earnest once he's done his job, and sucked the life out of the candidacies of people like Cruz, Paul, and Walker, which was the intention in giving him airtime in the first place), Trump on his best day brings nothing to the table long-term, other than the ability to out douchetards like Perry, Rubio, Grahamnesty, and Dubbya 2.0, and put actual issues front and center.

The embarrassment for the others is that they couldn't get that kind of traction or exposure on those issues, but no small part of that is an unmitigated desire by the DNC and the media (but I repeat myself) to hamstring everyone but another Dole/McCain/Romney GOP-Lite abortion with legs in every campaign in perpetuity, with their willing allies from the 20% of the electorate sitting in the middle of the road, heads up their asses, and too stupid to pay attention for longer than 5 minutes every four years.

Driest Sarcasm Of The Year Award, with dust storm clusters:
Jeb Bush: GWB without the intellectual rigor and an over fondness for Mexican illegal immigrants.
Well-played, sir. :lol:
Last edited by Aesop on Fri Aug 07, 2015 1:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Yogimus
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by Yogimus »

This should be interesting
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Yogimus
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by Yogimus »

Aaaand trump refuses to stand behind his statements.

in a hostile manner.
rightisright
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by rightisright »

I started to watch the shit-show but couldn't stomach more than the first 10 minutes. Please give me an SNL update on it tomorrow. Go America!
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Yogimus
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by Yogimus »

Oh goodie.

A general told me I need to do X to win this war. FUCK THAT GUY!
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JustinR
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by JustinR »

"So Mr. Trump, what are your accomplishments?"

"I made myself very rich by gambling on pulling out of a dying Atlantic City, and abused the bankruptcy laws of the United States four times because of those nasty, mean loan sharks. But it's ok, everyone else does it too."

Stick a spork in him, cause he's fired.

*Trump pouty lips*
"The armory was even better. Above the door was a sign: You dream, we build." -Mark Owen, No Easy Day

"My assault weapon won't be 'illegal,' it will be 'undocumented.'" -KL
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NVGdude
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Re: The first GOP presidential debate

Post by NVGdude »

Since the debate was not broadcast on television I listened to it instead. (On cable != broadcast)

Rubio did very well, articulate and thoughtful, while also clearly expressing a positive vision of the future. Nobody won this thing, but Rubio clearly came out well.

Bush did ok, but Rubio owned him on the subject of Common Core.

Kasich's only job was to tell everyone in the country who the heck he is, without being labeled as a big-government Republican. He did that pretty well, and effectively (for now) managed to avoid the issue of billions of extra Ohians' money going to a medicare expansion.

Huckabee, why is he allowed on stage again? He blathered about the so-called Fair Tax as a fix for SSI. The issue is structural. Go away.

Trump, could never do as well as expected, but his line about Rosie O'Donnel was pure gold. Sadly we'll be stuck with his bloviating for a while longer.

Rand completely owned the fat jackass from New Jersey. "Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights." *Boom*

Christie, your bridge has sailed. Go away.

Carson is friendly and personable and would make a great director of HHS or surgeon general. Didn't do himself any favors with his meandering closing statement.

Cruz, started strongly, ended extremely strongly. Still think he'd make a better supreme court justice than president.

Walker was boring. He needed a standout moment and didn't seem to find one. His best line was remembering tying yellow ribbons on trees during the Iran Hostage Crisis. More boring than Kasich.
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