GOP "debate"

[kentonio]

I'm not sure Rubio could have fitted the words bless and blessed in any more times to his bit about god.

"I believe god has blessed our country, this country has been extraordinarily blessed, and we have honoured that blessing and that's why god has continued to bless us."

Also didn't anyone else think it was a bit wierd that he twice repeated the bit about the VA and changing the law? I thought for a second that the video had skipped backwards or something..

[grumbler]

Unfortunately I have to agree ...
election campaigns have degenerated into entertainment shows,
where it is more important that the candidate is entertaining and promises heaven and earth to his audience (even if this promises are illusionary), than to have a sensible program that actually can be realised within the 4 years and the current state of the country.

Cicero had pretty much the same complaint, only it was one year, given that that was the term of Roman magistrates.

[DaShi]

Seems like we should have a thread for this.

The only thing I really learned last night is that there is no one with a chance of winning the GOP nomination who I can support. The questions were mostly Tea Party litmus tests, designed to expose deviation from Republican orthodoxy. Kasich seems intelligent and reasonable, but he has no shot.

And everyone is still dancing to Trump's tune. So weird.

There is a thread about this. http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/2...Hatchet-Job%21

[DaShi]

While he's a clown, he's definitely not a politician. And people are tired of politicians. And he can be entertaining even though not so much last night.

Yeah Kasich seemed good but as of now no one knows who he is.

Rubio came off pretty good.

The Huck was scary.

Jeb looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

As a Repug, it was not very impressive. They only thing we have going is Hillary's trust issues.

Interesting, the biggest complaint about Rubio was exactly that he looked like a deer caught in headlights and his canned answers. Bush regained his composure, but generally failed to be impressive.

Christie pretty much threw his chances away with his petulant fight with Rand, who obviously doesn't care about the nomination. Scott Walker was there.

Trump had a few good one-liners but utterly failed to look like a presidential candidate. He'll still lead the polls for awhile because he's not the other guys.

In general, Kasich is the only one who seemed to come off better after the debate, but who cares. By current GOP standards, he's a democrat.

[rah]

Some say Clinton originally got elected because he was basically a republican (i voted for him)

[DaShi]

Perhaps, but were Clinton's nomination debates solely centered around proving his democratic credentials and literally nothing else?

[rah]

No, back then you pandered to the middle and not the edges.

[DaShi]

Better times.

[kentonio]

It does seem like a strange way of doing things. Start out having to be extreme and then somehow moderate that to be able to actually have a chance of being elected. Why are the moderates not engaging with the primary process, why is it just the people on the edges that seem to matter?

[giblets]

I think people with extreme viewpoints are more likely to participate in primary elections and donate money to candidates. Moderates are more likely to ignore the presidential race until a few months before the election when they have to decide if they will back the Republican or the Democrat. If you're a centrist you have less incentive to care who wins the general election than if you clearly fall on one side (but of course people who are really extreme will tend to view both parties as basically the same and not care about the process). Also, a centrist would be interested in both primaries and might vote in either primary while a partisan will mostly obsess over their own party. Although if Clinton doesn't face any real opposition you might get more moderates voting in the Republican primary than you normally would.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The extremes (ie, the base) tend to be the ones who care a whole lot about the party and therefore are the ones who are getting behind candidates this early. For a lot of folks on the extreme, the party is more of a identity marker than it may be for a moderate. Therefore they put more of their time and money into it. And they'll come out in droves to campaign and vote in primary elections. Hence, the pandering to the base early on.

[kentonio]

Maybe it's time for you lazy moderate ****s to get off your superior asses and go get involved then!!

[regexcellent]

Seems like we should have a thread for this.

The only thing I really learned last night is that there is no one with a chance of winning the GOP nomination who I can support. The questions were mostly Tea Party litmus tests, designed to expose deviation from Republican orthodoxy. Kasich seems intelligent and reasonable, but he has no shot.

And everyone is still dancing to Trump's tune. So weird.

1. Kasich isn't actually less conservative than the rest, he just sounds less conservative. He's TPaw with Jon Huntsman's tone. Not that Huntsman was actually any less conservative than Romney.
2. Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush are the ones who can win the primary, and also the ones who can win the general. The others have no chance.
3. In case you didn't notice, Donald Trump is finished. He just claimed that Megyn Kelly gave him tough questions because she was on her period, and was disinvited from the next event.

[Alexander's Horse]

Maybe it's the "mass debate" which is the problem. Makes them all look like onanists.

[Alexander's Horse]

I like Mike Huckerbee as a decent human being. Much more likeable than Santorum. Neither vaguely electable. I think Huckerbee just runs to keep his media profile up, for his talk shows and the like, and so he can play his musical instruments and people (in the south) will say he's a nice fellow. Santorum is just a weirdo, and I say that as a Catholic.

Trump will peak early and fade quickly. He just needs to keep running his mouth, no problem there...Ted Cruz another in that category.

The candidates with staying power will include Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Fiorino, people like that. It should come back to the vanilla middle.

Many people just don't like Hillary, so the repubs still have shot I reckon, as long as they don't field an extremist which scares the middle, especially women, and drives them into Hillary's creepy cold embrace.