Drunkblogging Tonight’s Debate in Iowa
5:50PM What is this — the dozenth debate so far? Earlier, I soothed my soul with a ribeye and a Caesar and half a bottle of Cab. Now I’m soothing my soul with the knowledge that this is the last debate of 2011.
That, and a massive vodka-rocks.
Right now, I’m just — unexpectedly and for the first time ever — thankful to Donald Trump. If Celebrity Debate had gone ahead as scheduled, I’m not sure I’d have made it to the new year.
With that, once more into the breach.
5:52PM Like you, I’ve tuned into Fox News a little early. And, like you, I’m wondering just what in the hell Bill O’Reilly thinks he’s doing.
5:59PM Name and the town you’re from. Name and the town you’re from.
Please, don’t let O’Reilly be the intro to any more debates.
6:00PM Sioux City, Iowa. They’re cheering. They have no idea.
6:00PM Brett Baier has the same hairline as my five-year-old son. How does he do that?
6:01PM Newt looks pissed. He must have seen today’s polls.
6:02PM Baier is making me sad, reminding me how bad things are both here and at home.
6:03PM To Newt: Why are you do unelectable, compared to Mitt, and perhaps Zombie Nixon?
6:04PM Newt: Merry Christmas! I’m white and round and jolly!
Also, I remember Reagan in ’76. REAGAN. Big solutions. REAGAN. You’re getting very sleepy.
I think he meant 1980.
6:05PM To Newt: Do you have the discipline and focus to be President?
Newt: I have so many things it should scare you. I can melt lasers with my eyes.
6:06PM I’m not sure “very large changes” is the right tact after the last three years.
6:06PM To Paul: Why aren’t you electable and will you support the nominee?
6:07PM Paul: “Probably anybody up here could beat Obama.”
Sometimes I Ron Paul.
6:07PM Paul: I’ll cut “one trillion dollars out of the budget the first year.”
Pitter and also patter.
6:08PM To Santorum: Why do voters hate you?
Santorum: “I’m counting on the voters of Iowa.”
He’ll do not-bad in Iowa. After that, it’s all down hill. Snowball style, with the skis and gloves and heads sticking out, all the way down.
6:09PM Fox’s little Time’s Up ding sounds like my IM ding. So it’s like it’s reminding me to message the candidates to shut up.
6:11PM To Romney: Are you really electable?
Romney: Let’s talk about the thing I want to talk about. “I spent my career in the private sector… I can debate President Obama based on that record.”
Romney is even talking about what he learned from his failures. THAT is big stuff, considering Obama’s refusal to do just that. Good stuff.
6:11PM To Bachmann: Explain how you might be electable.
Bachmann: “I’m a woman who said what she meant.”
That’s what makes me drink.
6:13PM To Perry: What makes you electable?
Perry: Save a pretzel for the gas jets.
No, really: “I’m kinda getting to where I like these debates… I’ll talk about what I did in Texas.”
THIS is the Perry we thought we’d see last summer.
Also — Tebow reference? Colorado Just. Went. Red.
6:14PM To Huntsman: Did you know your hair looks just like Earth-2 Superman?
6:14PM Huntsman: Yes, I do.
6:15PM Huntsman: “I’m going to fix this country’s trust deficit,” by bashing conservatives as yokels.
6:16PM To all: Work with Congress – how?
6:16PM Santorum: This is a great country.
6:17PM Perry: “You’d think this president would have learned to work in Washington, DC.”
Not if you’ve been watching, you wouldn’t.
6:18PM Mitt: As governor, I had to work with a lot of effing idiot drunk MA Democrats.
I might have paraphrased there.
6:18PM Newt: I agree with Mitt, who just surpassed me again in the IA polls.
6:19PM Paul: Everybody sucks on spending.
Still, war is cheap compared to welfare. Also, we get tanks and aircraft carriers out of the deal.
6:20PM Bachmann: “No new taxes, we’re taxed enough already.”
Nice. I just can’t tell who she’s trying to appeal to here.
6:20PM Huntsman: I got a flat tax, and Utah is business-friendly.
Unless you run a bar or a liquor store.
6:21PM Commercial break. I have the bottle of Jimmy Beam with me, but I need more ice.
I’ll be back long before the pols are.
6:22PM While the commercials are playing, just go on and do a Google image search for Earth-2 Superman and tell me I’m wrong.
6:23PM Stacy McCain is liveblogging, too. I know Stacy. Stacy is a friend of mine. And Stacy is… probably drinking just as much as I am.
6:24PM My lovely bride brought me ice.
6:27PM Romney: I added tens of thousands of jobs at Bain.
That’s 2,010,000 more than Obama.
6:28PM Sorry, that last question was to Mitt. It only involved Newt.
6:28PM To Newt: SHould you go to jail for taking Freddie money?
6:29PM Newt: I took my Freddie money in the free market. Also, I worked for Habitat for Humanity, unlike Mitt Romney who destroyed 10,000 jobs.
6:30PM Newt: I love me some government enterprises!
What a stinker line. It fell flat, too.
6:30PM Paul: “He has a different definition of private enterprise.”
Newt isn’t against subsidies. He’s against the “wrong” subsidies.
6:31PM Dear Dr Paul: Don’t bring up Austrian economists in a public forum. I love them, too, but you’re losing people.
6:31PM Newt: I still love me some government-sponsored enterprises! So long as they’re the “right” ones.
6:33PM Bachmann: “We know [Newt] cashed paychecks from Freddie Mac.”
Sometimes, Bachmann gets her facts right, and when she does, it’s devastating. Newt is bleeding right now, courtesy of a single-digit candidate.
6:33PM Newt: “That’s just not true.”
The part about the paychecks?
6:34PM There’s amphibian blood everywhere.
6:35PM Newt: “I have never once changed my position because of any kind of payment.” Also, I have bestselling books, biatch!
Wow. Ugly moment.
6:35PM To Newt: How do you save Medicare?
6:36PM Newt: “I’m not in the business of blaming Gov Romney.” Well, maybe not yet.
6:37PM Romney: “I hope people understand just how big today is.”
6:41PM Paul: “If everybody did what I did, there would be no earmarks.”
Ahem. Cough. Cough. $300 million four Texas shrimp fishermen. Cough.
6:41PM To Perry: Don’t you love big spending?
6:43PM Perry: “Don’t you beleive everything you read in the Austin-American Statesman.”
Also: The issue we ought to be talking about is how to reform DC. He’s saying this as a sort-of defense of Newt, and an attack on Congress. Which is half-controlled by his party.
A disjointed answer, but it got applause.
6:43PM To Huntsman: Don’t you just want to spank China?
6:44PM Huntsman: I know the names of many countries China deals with, and if you’re lucky I’ll speak some more Mandarin.
6:45PM To Santorum: Would you support a tax holiday for overseas profits?
6:46PM Santorum: Yes. But. Incentives! Conditions!
Look, we’re the only major country to tax overseas profits at all, and it’s killing us.
Stop the big government gimmicks already.
6:47PM To Mitt via Twitter: Where will jobs come from?
Romney: “The free market will decide that, government won’t.”
I’m warming up to him a little bit. Only a little bit.
6:48PM Big applause line from Romney.
6:48PM To Newt: Why do you hate the judiciary?
6:49PM Newt: My plan is so big, your puny brain is unable to comprehend it. I wrote a paper! In 2002! And I typed it with my eyeballs!
6:50PM Newt: As an historian, I AM THE ALL-POWEFUL ZORG!
6:51PM To Bachmann: Newt’s some crazy about courts, huh?
6:52PM Bachmann: I’ll show you crazy.
Sorry — cheap shot. Bachmann is giving a good answer here, and it goes to the root of how progressives have corrupted our courts.
6:53PM Paul: “The proper procedure is impeachment.”
6:54PM To Romney: Why, as governor, did you nominate a bunch of Democrats?
6:54PM Romney: I had to get my appointments past a commission of seven Democrats. What would you do?
6:56PM Supreme Court Justice Roulette time. Count me out.
6:58PM What, no love for Justice Stevens?
6:58PM Commercial break.
7:02PM We’re back.
7:02PM Baier: “We begin our number two…”
MY EARS MY EARS!
7:03PM Paul: Iranian nukes? S’cool.
7:06PM Paul: We talked Libya out of its nukes.
No, we pulled Saddam out of a spider-hole, you… you… many bad words.
7:06PM Paul: Too many sanctions on Iran! Play nice with the terror-mullahs.
7:07PM Santorum: “They’ve been at war with us since 1979.”
If Santorum looked like a real grownup, he’d be doing much better.
7:08PM Santorum: “They hate us because of what we are and what we believe in.”
If I were religious, I would say, Amen.
7:09PM Romney: What would you do about Iran having our stealth drone, and is Obama inviting war?
7:09PM That was TO Romney.
7:10PM Romney: “America has to lead the free world… the the free world needs to lead the entire world.”
7:10PM Big lines from Romney, big applause.
7:11PM To Bachmann: Back to Iraq?
Bachmann: Obama threw away victory.
7:12PM Bachmann taking on Paul, directly, on Iran.
She gave her best performance on Saturday, but this is better.
7:12PM Paul: “I would like to see a lot less nuclear weapons.”
Unless, you know, “some radicals” get some.
7:13PM Paul: “Why were we flying a drone over Iran?”
That’s what DC calls a self-melting ice cream cone.
I think I just coined that.
7:14PM Bachmann pwns Paul. There’s your shocker of the night.
7:14PM Paul: NENENENENENENE I can’t hear you.
7:15PM Paul: “We killed a million Iraqis.”
7:15PM We killed. A. Million. Iraqis.
Realllllly?
7:16PM Newt: Reduce UN commitments.
7:17PM Newt: “We have no obligation to lie” about how bad the UN is.
Lines like that explain how well he’s been doing.
7:18PM Huntsman: “Let me tell you what… ”
I had a niece, who upon her 12th birthday, started every sentence with “let me tell you what.” And then she would. Huntsman has the same appeal as a precious 12-year-old girl. Explains a lot.
7:18PM To Perry: Syria sucks, huh? What would you do?
7:19PM Perry: I’ve called for a no-fly zone, Syria is “attached at the hip” with Iran. And then some good zingers on Obama.
I disagree with Syria, but his critiques are right-on.
7:21PM Newt: China will take out Canadian oil!
It sounds science fiction. Under Obama, it’s political fact.
“Utterly irrational,” he says. No, it’s Obama-riffic.
7:23PM Newt has climbed out of the hole he was in earlier. This is the secret of his entire career(s).
7:24PM Huntsman: “It’s balancing act.”
Lines like that inspire… nada. He also used the word “transactional.”
Does he really wonder why he isn’t even an also-ran?
7:26PM Bachmann: “Keystone is extremely important.”
Understatement. That’s a nice thing to hear from her, and it was lovely.
7:26PM To Perry: Why do you love Big Oil, which is evil, and hate kinder, gentler, green energy?
7:28PM Perry: “Government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers” — and Texas leads in wind energy, anyhow.
7:28PM Commercial break.
7:32PM One mo’ again.
7:32PM Sioux City is loving this, those sick masochists.
7:33PM To Perry: Are you buying Holder’s F&F lies? (I paraphrase a LOT.)
7:33PM Perry: Heads would roll. Big applause. Great issue. Fox is the first to make it a debate issue.
7:34PM Santorum: I agree with one of the many people doing better than I am doing.
7:36PM To Romney: Why do you love amnesty?
7:36PM Romney: I’m quoting Rudi Giuliani, because he did so well in 2008.
7:38PM Newt; Big brain. Eye lasers. Melt bad illegals, spare good illegals.
7:39PM To Huntsman: Why won’t you pander to Latinos?
Huntsman: I’d be happy to do just that.
7:40PM To Romney: Why are you such a flip-flopper?
7:41PM Romney: I’m not a flip-flopper, but let me explain to you why my positions have evolved.
7:43PM Romney: I’m pro-gun, even if all the laws I signed aren’t. I love guns!
7:44PM Santorum: Mitt is a flip-flopper. I am not. I have also been fully-reupdiated by the voters of my own state.
7:45PM Mitt: I had lawyers who told me this stuff was totally OK.
7:47PM Bachmann: Newt supports partial-birth abortion.
She is, again, and I mean no nasty pun here, drawing blood.
7:48PM Bachmann is the spoiler tonight, and she’s been scary-good at it.
7:49PM Newt’s defending himself ably, but still – blood has been drawn.
Myself, I’m moderately pro-choice, but I can read the tealeaves here.
7:50PM Newt: “I wouldn’t go out and try an purge Republicans.”
No, Newt — the Republicans purged you, about 15 years ago.
7:51PM Question: Reagan’s 11th Commandment — why do you hate Reagan and each other so much?
7:51PM Santorum: I love Iowa and let’s vet the candidate.
7:52PM Perry: If you don’t get you tail kicked every now and then you’re not playing at a high enough level.
7:52PM Mitt: “We” can “play at a high enough level.”
We?
Oui.
7:53PM Newt: MY BRAIN CAN MELT IRON.
7:53PM Paul: “Maybe the media is messing up.”
That’s news. You betchya.
7:54PM Bachmann: “Reagan brought clarity.”
7:55PM Huntsman: “I worked for Reagan.” We need “heightened trust.”
So stop slamming your constituents.
7:55PM That’s it. It’s over. Final thoughts in just a moment.
8:00PM This was a Fox News debate. I know what people — lefty people — were expecting. You know, the Hulk debate: SMASH OBAMA!
Instead, the moderators, very deliberately, set the contestants — er, candidates — up against one another, issue after issue. So much so, that every time someone brought up the Current Occupant, it felt tacked on. Fake. Pandering.
This was a red-meat debate for the heart-and-soul of the Iowa voter.
On that basis, I suppose it was something like a success. There were no awful moments. Everyone played to their strengths.
But how it all advanced a conservative agenda… I have no idea.
Maybe Mitt won. Maybe Newt salvaged his lede. Maybe Perry continued his mini-surge. Certainly Santorum and Bachmann lived to fight another day.
But the big winner was President Obama, who hardly had a glove laid on him tonight. And at a Fox News debate.
That’s not how the Left will spin it. But that’s what I saw. How about you?
Dinner, check. Wine, check. Snifter of Taylor Fladgate, check. Is it time to hit the scotch yet?
Check, Max, CHECK!
Let the games begin! =^[.]^=
This is #16, I believe…
Everclear 190: for those times when Thunderbird just won’t put you out fast enough.
BO = Bloviating….
Let the debate begin
Staten Island, NY – the forgotten, conservative borough of NYC.
Watch out for the 6 foot penis!
Hmm…I think I peaked too fast. Time for coffee or a nap.
Decisions decisions…
Is it just me, or is Bret Baier’s nose too small for his face?
At http://live.foxnews.com/ there is a Tweet question up, “TWEET YOUR REACTIONS
Weigh in! Are the candidates answering the questions? During the debate, Tweet with the candidate name and either #answer or #dodge. And watch how the audience responds live”"
Why are all the candidates in the red on their meters, EXCEPT Ron Paul? No questions have been asked, yet! =0[.]o=
Newt begins by channeling Reagan…..
Michelle’s rocking the crazy eyes.
Zombie Nixon would beat Obama if the economy continues to tank. Of course Obama’s central-command statist economics may work. They say the 1000th try is a charm.
Paul dodges the ‘will you run as an independent’ question once again.
Someone needs to push him on a direct answer to that.
And second question goes to crazy uncle. Nice statement, but he’s not going to win.
We’re being propagandized to be for Romney or Paul. Talk about a rock and a hard place . . . choose schizophrenia versus sociopathy.
Michelle is channeling Tammy Fae Baker. Just look at all that makeup!!!
Hunstman: I don’t need no stinking pledges.
big bomb by Huntsman.
Agreed. He actually is pretty conservative, too bad he’s a stinky campaigner.
Yeah, why he’s not running as a conservative is puzzling. And telling.
I’m going to have to vote for Romney aren’t I?. I haven’t had a drink in nearly a decade, but I guess I can start again.
Please, if you’ve got an issue with alcohol, don’t let these jokers turn you back.
Aww, Romney wants to reach across the aisle.
And it’s not to throttle someone on the other side.
LMFAO!
the applause meter is not registering very well for romney.
I think you’re over quota on cynicism. Haven’t you about worn out the schoolyard rant delivered as “wit” for these debates?
Whoa. Is Ron Paul on ritalin?
Good answer, Mitt!
I just figured out that if Paul wins there will be total gridlock in Washington. Dems will hold the senate, GOP will hold the house, and Paul will have the White House. At this point – total gridlock would be bliss.
Oh, Newt. Government is supposed to be involved in programs it likes?
Hey, Mitt and Newt agree; today was a big (and good) day for America. Now that is different!
Dang, missed the Paul earmarks question. Evan Williams is going down to quickly tonight.
Impeach judges? Just ask Alcee Hastings about that.
Oh great, Paul’s making sense on judges.
There’s a second hour? My liver has just left me and is cowering in the basement.
Oh, and f you popular vote folks.
Paul wants to abolish Geo-Politics.
Wait, Ron Paul is believing the UN?
Israel is not threatening the existince of Iran.
They should be threatening Iran’s existence. That is the only language the Mullahs understand. Israel is weak.
7:12PM Paul: “I would like to see a lot less nuclear weapons.”
It’s “fewer nuclear weapons”, not “less.” I can forgive his craziness, but never bad grammar.
Well, someone had to. I can’t believe the shit they’ve let him get away with for the last few
monthsyearsdecades.Oh, for the love of all that is sane. Someone shut that idiot up.
Totally my own sentiment. That chicken Perdu guy is the biggest idiot I have ever known. Ron Paul (Chicken Perdu guy)is one the most ignorant foreign policy politicians I have ever known. He sounds so scary that he makes Obama sound like Churchill!!!! His isolationist naive apologetic views simply do not apply to our modern war games in this dangerous world! Last night he said: We don;t want to police the world blah blah… and I am like OK you idiot then the world is going to police you!!!! He is really the dumbest of the dumb…I wish he could just shut up!
rbj – “please, if you’ve got an issue with alcohol, don’t let these jokers turn you back.”
My only issue with alcohol is that haven’t been drinking enough lately.
Just want to make sure that if you’re someone who needs to be on the wagon, that you re nit jumping off it. Me? Tomorrow isn’t going to be fun.
I don’t know if I can ever get back my taste for alcohol, but with enough hard work and discipline I have faith I can achieve miracles!
So how far will Ron Paul’s poll numbers fall next week?
Ron Paul doesn’t believe in polls because they aren’t in the constitution.
They need to use the “ding” on Cavuto – four minute questions.
How can the US lead the “Free World” when we have more people in jail per capita than all these repressive countries? It’s not even close.
Having criminals oppress us isn’t any better than having the government do it.
When large numbers of the imprisoned are non-violent citizens guilty only of self-medicating with or selling substances that were legal for over half the country’s history; when that war on (some) drugs has corrupted all levels, top to bottom, of our law enforcement; when SWAT teams are shooting family dogs and terrorizing families as a regular part of their duties; when uniformed government gangs take money and property without due process or charges; then the criminals are in uniform and work for the government, and unless the citizen is very wealthy and/or has political connections, then the government is just the most powerful criminal gang oppressing the citizens.
I often agree with your comments, Adobe Walls, but I have seen too many families shattered and too many innocents sent to jail by prosecutors who conceal evidence in order to convict. I love my country and hate what its government has become. Much of this can be changed and we might become ‘the land of the free’ once more, if we get the right honest and just people in positions of power. Pray for our country and in the Lord’s name, VOTE! (I am not a Paulbot, BTW, RP’s foreign policy is scary–but he might make a fine Attorney General!)
– now hold hands and sing?
@ D.C. “wisdom” v. the wisdom of individual states on local spending — Perry just knocked that one out of the park. I’m still a cockeyed Chris Christie optimist, but you gotta’ admit, Perry’s starting to get his groove back.
Romney – my head is exploding. What is the difference between the Green Card and the card he’s proposing? What? Why doesn’t someone ask him that?
romney: we shouldn’t discriminate against gay citizens…except when we want to. this is where they lose me. i’ll never understand why i’m supposed to get my panties in a bunch because bob and bill want to pledge their love and fidelity to each other.
El,let them pledge their love; but when that pledge becomes marriage as a civil right, the day will come when those who refuse to perform those ceremonies in their churches will be forced to do so by the federal government. Ultimately, it won’t be optional because it will be a civil right.
Oh, bullshit. Is a Catholic priest forced to perform a marriage between two non-Catholics? Are Orthodox Rabbis forced to marry a Jew and a non-Jew? Is an Imam forced to marry a Muslim and a Jew? Why would any religious institution be forced to perform a gay marriage if it were just a legal as any other type of marriage?
Gimme a break with this crap. It’s a bullshit line that you guys throw out in an attempt to scare all of us anti-Big Government types.
Stop with the lies. Your BS fundamentalist religious social engineering attitudes are no different than the Left’s Big Government economic social engineering attitudes. You want to control us just as completely as they do.
Own it.
You have to watch these rights groups – pro-life is now trying to stop in vitro with their “model” law and gay marriage groups are trying to force pastors to perform gay marriage as part of their “model” law. In fact, in Vermont, the first passage of the law was returned to the legislature remove that dictate.
legal marriage IS a ‘civil right’. marriage licenses are issued by the state, not the vatican. there is no requirement for any sort of religious ceremony in order to be legally bound to your chosen partner. we’ve already had a lot of experience with marriage equality in several states and around the world…the sky has not fallen. there’s just a bunch of happy, responsible couples. what’s so ‘controversial’ ?
Don’t know about you, but my marriage license had to be signed by the minister who performed the ceremony before it took effect. I know because we returned from our honeymoon with a letter from North Carolina telling us the minister had sent the license back without signing it, and they wanted to know if that was what we wanted. We said not, but that was before I did the taxes the next year and encountered the “marriage” penalty – we should have let it go.
My marriage license required that the person performing the ceremony sign and return the paper before the marriage took effect. I know because we returned from our honeymoon with a letter from North Carolina notifying us that the minister had returned the license without signing it and asking us if that was what we wanted. We got it fixed, but I wished I had not when I did taxes the next year and encountered the marriage penalty.
They can pledge whatever they like but that doesn’t mean the govt. is obliged to give it a stamp of approval. And normal marriage is not “discrimination” – a homosexual has the right to marry someone of the opposite sex just like a normal person does. Fuzzy-headed “gay marriage” proponents don’t seem to understand this.
Another bullshit argument. I have the right to marry the bimbo down the street. But I don’t want to.
I married my wife because I fell in love with her and she fell in love with me and we decided we wanted to make that a public and permanent commitment. Why the hell should two gay men or two gay women not have the same exact right?
Why must you float this insane argument that they have the “right” to marry someone to whom they have no emotional or spiritual connection whatsoever? Are you really that stupid to believe that argument? Or do you have that low an opinion of the rest of us that you think we’ll believe it?
Jeebus, you people are retarded.
So wanting something makes it into a right? Oh well, I guess we know who the real retard is…
No. But why should I have the right, but my gay friends not? That’s discrimination.
Jackass.
“But why should I have the right, but my gay friends not? That’s discrimination.”
Answered above. Learn to read/think clearly.
Gay marriage opponents apparently cannot divorce themselves from the notion that it’s just as “normal” (I really don’t like using that term in this context) for gays to be attracted to the same gender as it is for straight people to be attracted to those of the opposite sex. They are too blind to see their own bigotry. Meantime, the concept of gay marriage is slowly but surely becoming acceptable to a growing number of people who are capable of reasonable thinking. This is a good thing.
…..cannot accept the notion…..
We’re in a Mitt vs. Santorum fight? Not enough alcohol or too much.
I disagree with those who believe the GOP candidates should lay off each other and go after Obama right now. He’s doing a great job sinking his own boat, and voter memory is short. Plenty of time to weed out the chaff…Gingrich, Paul and Romney in particular. Bachmann did well…deserves a second look. Huntswho? Santorumwhat? As for Perry…don’t think he is the conservative he says he is,but would be great as Bachmann’s VP pick.
I cannot stop laughing at that amphibian blood line! Tears!
@stephen: there were some jabs at obama tonight. maybe it’s just too soon to show all the cards and give the obamabots time to fashion responses and load them onto the teleprompter. if there’s one thing barack can’t deal with, it’s the suprise attack. we’re still just establishing where we are coming from…give it time.
thanks again for the amusing commentary. bottoms up.
Is there an article somewhere about Ron Paul and that $300M to texas shrimpers? I’m interested in that.
Here’s one.
No, there isn’t such an article, because there was no “$300 million” for Texas shrimp fishermen. ($300 million would rank as one of the most expensive earmarks in U.S. congressional history — up there with major military and transportation-infrastructure appropriations. The entire freaking “Bridge to Nowhere” was only $223 million.)
Green is referring (with an inaccurate figure) to the earmark appropriations Paul secures for his district. Google it; it’s not like it’s new news. In other words, if you’re itching for some fresh ammo to take into your YouTube comment battles or whatever, don’t bother. The Paul supporters can already rebut you…
The simple fact that Fast & Furious was mentioned is a big deal, though. It is now a public campaign issue. It will be up to the candidates to follow-up and keep the heat on. But it’s out there.
Perry won because he kept it simple and was always on his points(especially the Tebow line), plus he likes the 10th amendment. Bachmann, Romney, Santorum, Huntsman, Gingrich and Paul follow in that order. Gary Johnson could have beaten all of them but I see he didn’t get invited for the 11th time. Megan Kelly was the best looking questioner by a wide margin. Rick Perry nailed it on Eric Holder and his clown act. Mitt floated like a butterfly and Bachmann stung like a bee. Bachmann had her facts ready and came out fighting like she still wants to win this thing. I like my guns and Mitt does not. Santorum passed some laws before the people of Pennsylvania dumped him for being a weenie. Huntsman is very nuanced and I am tired of anything that is nuanced. Newt is bleeding badly and he has no organization to help him in Iowa or anywhere else. Ron Paul is a stupid Neville Chamberlain (head in sand) pacifist and I would vote for Genghis Khan over him, even if I also much prefer the Austrian economists. Of course, you may all draw your own conclusions and post them for my entertainment as well.
So what has 10 years of war in the Middle East gotten us? Most of it is now in the hands of Islamists. Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Libya.
The truth is, even if war worked, we simply aren’t in the position to win. Iraq was a draw, and Afghanistan is clearly a loss. The government we installed imprisons raped women unless they marry their rapist. Was that really worth sacrificing all those lives and money for? Frankly, it makes me sick that we support a government like that, even if it is slightly less despicable than the Taliban, it’s not far from it.
Ron Paul was my congressman when I lived in Missouri City, Texas. He was and, I assume, still is a very able congressman. But, when it comes to foreign affairs, I think he is stupid and dangerously naive. I also believe that, even with Obama’s best efforts to sabotage the outcome, the war in Iraq produced several positive developments including the removal of a despotic ruler who murdered more of his own people than we managed to kill in a war to remove him. This is contrasted with Ron Paul’s ridiculous comment that we killed over a million Iraqi citizens. Facts seldom mean anything to people who are immersed in ideologies, but if you like Ron Paul best and thought that he had the best debate of the evening I encourage you, to state your opinions without taking umbrage with my own. I still believe Ron Paul had a very poor debate. I am interested to see how you ranked the candidates based on the debate, but I am uninterested in your attempts to carry water for one candidate.
I like Perry’s message, but he hasn’t resolved the immigration issue. He is against essential E-Verify. Plus, his own words: “[after something]… only then can we begin a legitimate conversation about immigration reform (amnesty?).”
Immigration trumps all, unfortunately. If we don’t deal with it, before long, this country, and it’s constitution, are going to be thrown out. Because there’s a new population.
Rick Perry has the best record of any candidate on the stage regarding illegal immigration.
Rick Perry is the ONLY CANDIDATE to advocate and sign a Voter ID law
Rick Perry is the ONLY CANDIDATE to actually engage the border war $420,000,000.00 in Texas tax payer money backing up law enforcement plus elite Texas Ranger Recon teams.
Rick Perry has as governor had to try and clean up the mess the failed federal policies have created in Texas. He has over a decade of experience with the issue and is the best choice as president from an immigration stand point.
Perry did NOT win. He avoided making any stupid mistakes, but that is not enough for a comeback. Most of his statements fell pretty flat with me. Newt really stumbled in his tirade about taking on the courts, and Romney won by default as he avoided mistakes, since Romney is spending money on ads like crazy and has a real organization on the ground. Paul was consistently a disaster.
So Rick Perry didn’t win, he just didn’t make any mistakes.
But Romney wins because he didn’t make any mistakes???
Interesting logic you have there. Next your going to try and convince me that a failed ex governor who couldn’t even credibley run for a second term as his approval rating was a miserable 34% is the only electable candidate the GOP has to offer no doubt. Romney is a bad joke right? The guy and his supporters claim his liberal policies concerning gun rights, abortion, cap and trade, taxes, insurance mandates and gay rights/marriage are all the product of having to run in a blue state. Mitt himself rehashed this pile of crap in the debate when he was asked why he nominated only liberal judges. Of course this suggests that he has been trying to lie his way to success in elections. These very same people then go on to quote “what he says now” *wink* as proof he is a conservative *conveniently* as he runs for POTUS.
You people realize that whomever wins the next election is actually going to have to run the country right? This isn’t just a new reality show we are involved in and by the way POTUS doesn’t actually debate as a job requirement. Considering what’s at stake you would think conservatives would be looking at experience, achievements and philosophic success. There is no escaping the fact that when you look at the things that are necessary to actually be successful as president the only one in the field that has truly earned a shot at the job is Rick Perry.
Me. Green,
With all due respect, you sound like you think you could write for SNL. Unfortunately, you couldn’t. You’re just not funny.
My advice. Have one for the road.
Go away troll.
If you don’t enjoy the humor, don’t read the blog. No need to be rude about it.
SNL stopped being funny years ago. Grow up.
Yep, debate recap nailed it. At this rate President Obama wins in 2012. As usual we have the Stupid Party shooting itself in the foot, bent on electing McCain 2 with a slice of Nixon. This candidate will inevitably fail, like all RINO insiders have always failed to beat LibDem candidates.
I need a drink.
Steve,
Your drunkblog debates are awesome. I can’t stand the pain of watching these idiots make fools out of themselves on live TV, so I always come here instead. Your format is just what I need. Keep up the good work until your liver runs out!
Tom Cruise: Nah, no clarity for me today. Reagan already brought some. Let’s do it!
I can’t watch these things. I just cannot, even if I had a TV. Life is too short. But they have importance, somewhat, for the moment. So I read the Drunkblog. Thanks Stephan and hail the sacrificial liver. And for this line, “Save a pretzel for the gas jets.” Of course.
You, sir, are brilliantly hilarious! I’m gonna start drinking whatever it is you do.
So much to laud here, but the most revelatory line for my husband and I was this one:
“If Santorum looked like a real grownup, he’d be doing much better.”
I just hadn’t been able to pin down his problem.
Yes, as BB above said so eloquently ” . . . hail the sacrificial liver.”
I have a feeling we’re going to be stuck with Romney. *sigh*
I got the same impression last night.
I despise the way that Chris Wallace allowed Mitt
to wiggle his way ot of answering the gun question.
Thiswill be something that will come back to haunt
Romney in the general if he’s the nominee.
I noticed that too. Chris should have repeated that part of his question to Romney. I know Romney is a milk toast who is afraid of guns, but I wanted to see whether he would defend my right to have them.
I swear, people just SAY “Mitt won” because they are on auto-pilot from what their masters in the media tell them to say, and they obey.