Drunkblogging Tonight’s Republican Presidential Debate
5:44PM This is the — 15th? 16th? 17th? — GOP debate? I lost count over the holidays, when I was enjoying some much-needed time re-learning my sons’ first names. But I can tell you this: Sometime back in November, I started keeping Tums down here in my studio bathroom.
I’m sure I’ll be reaching for them at some point this evening.
Maybe more than once.
Locked and loaded — let’s get ready to rumble.
5:49PM I’m right now watching Karl Rove handicap the debate before it happens. Which reminds me, I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
5:53PM Forget the spin. Here’s what to expect. Everyone will attack Romney, and Romney will do his best to remain sunny and above-it-all. Easy in theory, tough in practice — but by now Romney has plenty of practice.
5:55PM COMMERCIAL BREAK: Babies trading stocks on a smartphone. Replace the smartphone with a big CRT screen and make him dance at the end, and it’s 1998 all over again.
Commercials repeat themselves as farce, too.
5:58PM For the record, I am not becoming a BillOreilleydotcom Premium Member.
6:00PM Here we go…
6:00PM South Carolina for a GOP debate sounds like West Texas for friday night football.
6:01PM A moment of silence or whatever for Jon Huntsman. I, for one, will always miss his daughters.
6:01PM Juan Williams! Somebody Evans! Somebody else!
6:02PM Tonight’s warning cue: None, if possible.
I’d go for a comical slide whistle. Put ‘em in their place.
6:03PM MLK opener: What do you do in a time of challenge?
6:03PM Hoo-boy: Open season on Romney.
I’ll pull my shocked face out of this drawer.
6:04PM To Newt: Why do you hate capitalism?
6:05PM Newt: I stayed positive until it stopped working. Also, capitalism RAWKS. Because Reagan. Not because Bain.
A little rough out of the gate for Newt tonight, but he has debate staying power.
6:05PM Newt: “We need to satisfy the country.” He has a good start on that, for sure.
6:06PM Newt: I’m just “raising questions” about Mitt and Bain and how he put poor people on the streets and took their skins to make the moldings in his solid gold palace.
6:07PM Newt: “There was a pattern, in some companies… ”
6:07PM Mitt: “I appreciate the Speaker’s work… ” above the fray, exactly as I have foreseen.
6:08PM Mitt: “My record… as the person who ran the Olympics… ”
You know what? I can’t remember him mentioning that before, and it was quite the accomplishment.
6:09PM First big cheers go to Mitt. In South Carolina. This is like me cheering Last Call.
6:10PM To Perry: How do you curb “vulture capitalism?”
Perry: “We’re all about capitalism,” here in Texas where we create jobs.
I know I encouraged Perry to go to SC, and was encouraged when he went. But right now I wonder why he’s on this stage.
6:11PM Perry just made a cheap “firing” shot at Romney. It was beneath a guy who just tried to defend himself as a defender of capitalism.
6:11PM Romney is going to get a LOT of 30-second responses tonight.
6:12PM Romney just pivoted closing a steel mill to Chinese monetary practices. He’s slick.
6:13PM Bearded Guy asks Mitt: Why are you such a vulture?
6:14PM Romney: “Do I believe free enterprise works? …Absolutely!” Especially when it comes to individual mandates and stuff.
6:15PM Kelly Evans to Ron: Why do you hate hateful attacks you engage in?
6:15PM When Ron Paul laughs, he makes me think of Buck Henry babysitting Lorraine Newman and Gilda Radner on the original SNL.
I’m officially creeped out right now.
6:16PM Santorum: Man, I make a lot of mistakes.
6:16PM Second big applause of the night went to Santorum.
6:17PM Santorum: “I support right to work,” except when I don’t.
6:18PM Juan Williams to Santorum: Isn’t it time to play nicer with the other candidates?
Santorum: I have played nice. Honest.
6:19PM First good dig of the night: Mitt tried to pass the blame for an ad to a 527, and Santorum just told him to answer the question.
6:20PM Second good dig of the night, Santorum insisting Romney “answer the question.”
But, Senator Santorum? MLK Day is “a big deal” for ALL Americans, not just African-Americans. All. Of. Us.
6:22PM Mitt: “As governor of MA, I had an 85% Democratic legislature.”
This is the one thing, the one thing, that would bring me out to vote for Romney next fall. With a GOP Congress, Romney’s worst pandering instincts would be held in check.
But right now, Santorum is holding his own.
And Perry is doing a Me-Too, the three-term governor calling the out-of-work pols “insiders.”
6:23PM Brett: “We may have to rethink the whole no-bell thing.”
Two words, Brett: Slide whistle.
6:25PM Commercial break. Merciful, merciful commercial break.
6:27PM Almost forgot to mention Juan Williams’s tie, which I covet.
6:28PM FWIW, Myrtle Beach is where I go to buy booze, when I’m staying on the beach in North Carolina.
6:28PM To Mitt: Are you a perfectly-lubricated weathervane?
To which I say: Ewwwwwww.
6:29PM Romney: I’m not a weathervane, I just sneak through the cracks. So, more of a garter snake, really.
6:30PM By the way, I’m not joining in a pile-on for anybody, or avoiding targeting the frontrunner — I just call them as I see them, which these days is increasingly in twos.
6:32PM Juan to Perry: Why would you stop minorities from voting?
Perry: SC is “at war with this administration” regarding voting.
Big applause. Perry, getting second-rate attention, is having a first-rate night. It’s just four months too late, and that makes me sad.
6:33PM Brett to Santorum: Why do you hate the unemployed?
6:34PM I’m just fascinated by the fact that Santorum’s hair is just as perfect at Mitt’s, but his colorist is so much more heavy-handed.
Also, he has some nice content here, but I never want to hear that “we gave the states” flexibility. I want to hear more stuff like Perry says, that it isn’t DC’s business.
6:35PM Wow. A question for Newt. He’s been almost an afterthought so far tonight.
6:36PM Newt: Tie unemployment benefits to job training, because DC knows where the jobs are. Or something.
Such small-government instincts, tied to big-government dreams.
6:37PM To Mitt: Are you going to print up a bunch of money to bail out Europe?
Mitt: No blank checks.
But what about blank Czechs or Belgians or Spaniards or Greeks?
6:38PM Oh, Mitt just sounded all Reaganesque there. I don’t buy it, but he sure sounded it.
6:39PM To Ron: Why do you hate the military?
6:40PM Ron: When I’m President, I’ll open Army bases right in your house!
Um… Third Amendment?
6:42PM I’ve never heard Ron this incoherent. I don’t always agree with him — by a longshot — but I can always follow his logic. That answer was all over the place, trying to justify his military budget plans while pandering to SC voters. His worst debate moment of this campaign.
6:42PM MItt: I’d like to lower taxes, but keep collecting them as-is until then. Or something.
6:43PM Ron: “The inflation tax.” He’s right. That one is in full effect, too.
6:43PM To Mitt: Release your income tax records.
6:45PM Mitt: A definite maybe that Might at some point when it becomes traditional with the exposure if I’m the nominee and with the April date.
Bad answer. Enough ummmms to fill a Hanson video.
6:45PM Mitt: The Latin voters love me like the Bossa Nova.
6:46PM I’m loving the heck out of the Everybody Hates Mitt show, but I could use another commercial break.
6:48PM Santorum is great when he talks family. He sucks sea otters when he talks solutions to how to save families.
6:49PM Juan to Ron: Here’s a question about race, you old race-baiter.
6:50PM Paul: I hate the drug war, which persecutes minorities. (And please forget when I was predicting a race war back in the ’90s!)
6:51PM Ron: Watch as I plug MLK shamelessly after deriding his holiday.
6:51PM Juan to Newt: Why do you insult back Americans?
6:52PM Newt: I never did that. My own daughter was a janitor.
6:53PM Newt is in favor of doughnuts. If he’d come out in favor of home-delivered bacon, he’d have my vote right now, and for life.
6:53PM Newt: “Only the elites despise earning money.”
And I’d bet real money, that’s the best line of the night.
6:54PM Juan just got booed for implying that Newt has been race-baiting.
I love Juan Williams, but that was a cheap shot. It also set up Newt to do that thing he does against the press. And something tells me Juan knew that long in advance.
6:56PM Commercial break. But when we come back, it’s time to talk about foreign policy, if anyone remembers what that is.
7:00PM To Ron: Why do you want Osama bin Laden to still be alive today?
7:01PM Ron: “I did not say that.”
Well, yeah, you did.
7:01PM When I win the lottery, I will buy Ron Paul a suit that fits. And also a clue.
7:04PM “Think about Saddam Hussein… we did that.”
Wow. That’s like Perry-in-October awful.
7:04PM First boos of the night went to Ron Paul.
7:05PM Newt: I’d have killed bin Laden so efficiently it would have been retroactive to 1998.
7:06PM Camera pulled back to show Newt and Ron together. One looked like a candidate. The other looked like… the creepy SNL babysitter.
7:07PM Newt: Andrew Jackson “had a pretty clear idea about America’s enemies: Kill them.”
Ron: But then they won’t like us!
Huge boos for Ron. He’s talking himself into fourth place in SC, down from second.
7:08PM To Mitt: Negotiate with the Taliban to wind down Afghanistan?
Mitt: Kill our enemies and hear the lamentations of the wimmin.
7:10PM MItt: Biden is wrong on the Taliban.
Actually, Biden is right. And I only say that once every… Biden.
7:11PM To Santorum: Libya oh Libya oh have you seen Libya, Libya the tortured country?
7:11PM Santorum: I love Israel. I even got Syria out of Lebanon. Honest I did.
Bidenesque.
7:12PM To Perry: Say something smart about Turkey. Please.
7:13PM Perry: Many see Turkey’s government as terrorists.
They do?
7:13PM Perry: Also, I lived in Turkey, or a country much like it. And Obama makes us nervous.
7:14PM Perry: “I volunteered to wear the uniform of this country.” Subtext: Ron Paul got drafted.
7:15PM Perry standing up for the Marines. “They need to be punished,” but Islamists cut heads off.
7:16PM That was Perry’s best performance of the entire process to date. Likely almost his last, too.
7:16PM Paul: Taliban OK, AQ bad.
7:17PM Mitt: I’d have signed the NDAA, with indefinite detention of American citizens.
Big boos, well-earned.
The NDAA is the national security version of SOPA.
7:18PM Romney is defending NDAA based on trusting the right guy in the White House. Well, so is Obama.
7:19PM Santorum on NDAA: No!
He’s no fan of federalism, but he’s right on NDAA.
7:21PM Ron: “I need a minute,” not 30 seconds, to talk about NDAA.
We need a lengthy national debate on this one. But remember, Obama signed it late in the afternoon of December 31, when no one was looking.
7:22PM Perry on NDAA (I think): I’d cut taxes.
I’m feeling whiplashed, like I missed a segue somewhere. Help me out here.
7:23PM Perry is having another very nice moment. If he’d performed like this back in September, he’d be the frontrunner in SC this week.
Oops.
7:25PM It makes me sad to see Republicans defend Medicare as-was. But we’ll see a lot of that going into November.
7:26PM To Newt: Why do you love big-market solutions to Social Security?
7:27PM I smile when Republicans say “Chill-AY” like I cringe when Obama says “PAH-kee-stahn.”
It’s not the accent, it’s the example.
7:28PM Santorum: I’d cut taxes like a prison snitch.
Or something. Honestly, I just hate this guy so much I lose track.
7:31PM Newt: “One of the ways we pay for it…”
Phrases like that is why Republicans lose — GOP tax collectors for the Democratic welfare state.
7:34PM It’s Santorum versis Newt! And Mitt sides with Santorum going into Florida in a couple weeks where Newt is a strong second!
Actually, that’s thinking just far ahead enough to make me give MItt some respect.
7:35PM I can’t tell you how much I need this commercial break.
7:38PM Juan to Mitt: Why do you hate gun owners?
Mitt: DEMOCRATS MADE ME DO IT. I swear.
7:39PM Mitt: “We should not add new legislation.”
For or against gun ownership?
7:39PM OK, Mitt came around and clarified FOR gun ownership.
7:39PM Mitt: Must kill moose and elk!
7:41PM To Santorum: Do you hate gun owners?
Santorum: I supported legislation that was crafted.
Pardon my French, but Rick Santorum is a slippery little shit sometimes.
7:42PM I trust Ron Paul a lot more on guns than I do Rick Santorum.
7:45PM Newt: I’m so right to life, I’m carrying Roo in my pouch right now.
7:46PM MItt to Newt: Your SuperPAC ad on Bain was “as accurate as BigFoot.”
Welcome to 1978, Governor.
7:47PM MItt hates McCain-Feingold? I just got a little love for MItt.
Do you know what that takes?
7:49PM Perry: Border crossings are low because of Obamanomics.
Well, yeah.
And where was this Rick Perry since he declared?
7:50PM Newt on NCLB: “It’s a failure.” Maybe not on the same scale as Newt-last-month-collapse, but still a failure.
7:51PM And that’s it. Fini. Das ende. Mercy. A quick wrap four you in just a few.
8:01PM Rick Santorum understood that the object tonight was to go after frontrunner Mitt Romney tooth and nail. And he did just that, for nearly the first 20 minutes of a nearly-two hour debate. Then, like the rest of the candidates, Santorum let himself fall into the GOP-on-GOP free-for-all.
So, yes, Santorum got in some effective digs on Romney, early on, where they’ll be mostly forgotten.
Ron Paul put in an embarrassingly bad performance. I’m no fan, but I had that initial reaction confirmed by a Paul supporter who I know and trust. Paul was just not on his game tonight. His demeanor makes me think he just doesn’t care enough anymore. And after working so hard and polling so poorly, I can’t say I blame the guy.
Newt had the most to win, and he won some of it. But not enough.
Perry had… his best performance to date. Such a shame he wasn’t putting in performances like tonight’s late last summer.
Santorum. I can’t judge him fairly, because he makes me want to chew through my own forehead. But I tried like hell to give him credit where it was due, and I hope you appreciate the fact that doing so cost me more brain cells tonight than all my cocktails, combined.
Romney was the man to beat. Tonight was not nearly his best performance. He was taken off-guard, and a couple times he was visibly rattled. Still, he’s far-and-way the likely nominee. So I’d like to see him seriously rattled again on Thursday night. Because I have the feeling that these GOP debates are coming quickly to a close, but what Romney has experienced to date is nothing compared to the general election.
Romney needs to take his hits now, so he’s ready for the really bruising battle next fall.
8:03PM For deeper analysis, please see Bryan Preston. I’m pretty sure he’s more sober than I am — which isn’t saying much. But I’m darn sure he’s one of the sharpest operators out there. Anyway, click the link for something deeper and smarter than I can manage right now.
8:03PM For deeper analysis, please see Bryan Preston. I’m pretty sure he’s more sober than I am — which isn’t saying much. But I’m darn sure he’s one of the sharpest operators out there. Anyway, click the link for something deeper and smarter than I can manage right now.
Damn. It can’t believe that I’m still watching these things. Maybe it’s time for a trip to Betty Ford.
I feel your pain. Believe me.
Nah, off to Jack Daniels. Stupid party may hand us four more years.
I’m on pins and needles in anticipation of this celebrity bowling tournament.
Who will throw strikes? Who can pick up the spare? Who will let loose the gutter ball? Who will stay back at the table swilling beer? Who will complain about the ill fitting bowling shoes?
Why is this happening? And why am I watching?
It’s like watching a conversation between Pinky and The Brain only without the clever dialogue.
Thanks for taking one (or sixteen or seventeen)for the team, Stephen. I’ve skipped them all. . .
I don’t know you, but I know I envy you.
Thanks VodkaP for doing this. I have given up on watching the events, and take your in depth analysis instead. It’s saved the added Tums expense.
Gingrich #dodge
I’m really worried that 3 fingers of brandy isn’t enough to get me through even the first ten minutes… How can there be ANOTHER debate??
Cant get video up on Fox News Live on the computer or WSJ Live on the Roku.
Oh well. Snooze.
Newt starts out with a 7-10 split and fails to pick it up.
Yes Newt. Raise questions. But don’t smear Free Market Capitalism. Big difference.
Damn… Romney had that response about Bain ready and delivered it perfectly.
Funny, Perry doesn’t sound like a capitalist
Release the Kraken – Mitt’s tax returns.
Does anyone know how to get the Fox video player working? Is this online somewhere else?
I think it is overloaded and so is the WSJ Live feed on my Roku. Roku is advertising on the bottom bar of the home screen this debate on WSJ Live.
Lame. Fail.
I as well as KM have not watched a single debate. I ask myself: who scheduled all these debates and why? I answer myself: I do not know who has scheduled them; they have occurred in order to give troglodytes of today (people who still watch television to get their news) exposure to the candidates. I also answer my question of why: to give the network and cable news personalities who ask questions during the debate a chance to shine as well. For the liberal news personalities it is a chance to put a “gotcha” notch on their belts. The next day the non-liberal talk show and television personalities get a chance to belittle the liberal news personalities for their stupid questions. The same is true of the bloggers, the best of whom is Stephen Green of Vodkapundit!!!!! I too thank you for your valor and most of all for your wit when it comes to belittling.
Thanks so much, WB.
To Romney: shut up and answer! o_O
A lot of “I will do this” & “I will do that.”
We’ll see.
Meantime, it’s gonna be Romney so get used to it…..
Go get ‘em Ricky.
Same ole script as before – get em fighting amongst themselves.
Fox is no better than MSNBC and CNN. Well – they are better than MSNBC…
Love the Buck Henry reference. Back when SNL was good.
Not my blame! It’s that pesky democratic constituency
So when it comes to restoring voting rights for ex-cons it should be up to the state but when it comes to right to work it should be up to the federal govt. Romney makes no sense.
Looks like Perry’s got a bit of spunk tonight – I wonder if he remembered to pack his brain…
Only if he stopped playing with it in enough time.
Perry… too little, too late.
Tormore single malt 12 y.o. is great!
Everybody come and join.
Have you tried the 10 year old Jura? It’s my new favorite scotch. More layers than a Kardashian wedding cake.
I’ll look for it!
Had a glass of Lagavulin 16 last night. OMG Smooth.
Not the absolutely very best Scotch I’ve ever had, but pretty damn good.
I have a friend who took a distillery tour in Scotland a few years ago. He said it was amazing. I’m planning on doing the same as a treat when my projects hit gold.
New org that looks promising to help mobilize for the election, and beyond:
http://americanmajority.org/
Mitt is getting a lot of air time. I wanna see ole Uncle Pauly – you know – the crazy one.
It is a sweet tie.
The “weather vane” question. Makes me think of Jeff Probst’s close examinations of the Survivor players at tribal council.
Romney -I am not a waffler. I say, are you lying now or were you lying then?
Rick Perry cites EPA and Justice Dept. Forgets NLRB, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
He mentioned NLRB telling SC they couldn’t have Boeing.
99 weeks is an Associate Degree… good point.
Good point Newt – I never thought of it like that.
Not to run over to Europe to try to save their banks… unfortunately, we’re already doing this. Swaps = QE3.
Looks like Perry brought his brain. Too bad it showed up too late to be of value. He’s a likable guy.
Back to Mitt. He looks so presidential. I get the feeling he thinks he’s inevitable. Hell – I get that feeling.
“I get that feeling.”
There’s a reason for that. He’s the one. People have decided. Barring the entrance of yet another dark horse, he’s it. All others have been looked at & summarily rejected. The tribe has spoken…..
So it’s McRomney. The reach-across-the-aisle, compromise (give in to) the socialists, look good on TV, smile a lot, be affable, be the willing target for media left-wing rage, and sit down, shut up and color. Don’t raise a ruckus, don’t p*ss off the black people or the hispanics, but remember to remind whitefolk how evil we are when the left demands it of you. And make sure the doors to the graineries are left open for “the poor” and the “downtrodden” and the “disadvantaged”. After all, that’s how votes are gotten and I’d better sidle up to that fact or I’ll be left behind.
OK, got it.
The slow road to socialism vs. the fast. *sigh*
I KNEW Paul was going to say zero!! LOL
Romney open to showing his taxes. Fine. At this point he’d prolly show his dick size.
Who the hell invited Williams? He harps on is immigration and racism – doesn’t seem to know anything else.
Oh, please, Ron. When it comes to the drug trade, it’s not white or black, it’s GREEN, as in “Money talks, s**t walks.”
Prohibition brung violence to the alcohol market, war on drugs is doing a similar thing (similar, not equal).
Moreover, I started working at 14 too, I agree with Newt in that one, that’s the old classic proven way.
“Only the elites despise earning money”…. ummm, maybe that should be “only the elites despise the poor earning money.”
GO AWAY JUAN!!!
What a putz.
Juan Williams is a twit… send him back to Pee B.S.
Go Newt! Lecture that moron!
Newt handing Juan’s ass on a platter. I love it.
Teach the man to fish……Well done, Newt.
The old Mitt is back! He totally rocked on that one. Dismissed Juan with extreme skill.
You watching the parallel universe debates?
Crap! I meant NEWT, not Mitt.
This drunk blogging is harder than it looks. I’ll just sip my Makers Mark and leave it to the professionals from now on.
Newt gets a standing ovation. He earned it. The guy has a certain charming way about himself. Too bad Mitt wasn’t videoed pissing on dead Taliban with those Marines. We could have Newt going toe to toe with The Won. That would be entertaining!
I think there should be a drinking game: every mention of MLK should be a shot (two shots if used in conjunction with class warfare or equating blacks with felonies)
I’m game… just concerned that there might not be enought liquor in the house.
I’m drinking beer. Redhook ESB. Great stuff. I’ll just chug a bunch every time I hear someone channel MLK.
Juan, do you black liberals think about anything but your race?
The weak point of Paul… foreign policy! There EXIST government that protect criminals, all along the human history, and when they don’t send them to you for trial/jail you HAVE to go to war or be an invitation to further attacks (this is even reported in Bible).
That is right. David, before he was King of Israel, was a general for the Philistines, who protected him from King Saul.
I agree with you, that’s his weak point. His second weak point is the Newsletters.
The other candidates have the following weak points: the federal budget, the federal regulatory state, the federal drug war, the federal budget, NCLB, TARP, the federal budget, the NDAA (except maybe Santorum), and the federal budget, to which none of them has proposed specific and meaningful cuts. (Their proposals are either specific, but not large, or large, and not specific.)
If Ron Paul is president, the government will spend less money in 2016 than in 2012. Can you say that about your favorite candidate?
Hey! I like Ron Paul because he is the most principled candidate regarding Freedom and Economy. I don’t mind about the newsletter, I consider that to be overblown, I don’t believe for a second that he’s antisemite. But his failure regarding wars is a fundamental one, wars are part of Human race and need to be understood (VDHanson has the best view on this topic) even if you really want to avoid them. Paul doesn’t show this understanding, only the wishing to avoid them. It’d be great if Paul showed us how and where are located his “red lines”, when he’d consider to go to war, instead of only being fixed to “all is to blame to past deeds of USA”. It’d be refreshing.
After him, I like Newt and Perry. My favorite candidate would be a mutant hybrid between Paul and Newt. They complement each other well, I think Newt is principled but not to the point Paul is, but Newt has studied HISTORY and understand the human nature better than Paul.
Remember: war is horrible and stuff, and would be great to beat ALL the swords into ploughshares, but history and human nature says this is not possible.
I think his red line is pretty clear: he’d go to war when Congress declares war. That’s what the Constitution says, and I do think it’s wise to have this power in the hands of a representative body instead of one man. Once the war is declared, the president and the generals take over, but the decision to go to war should not be theirs alone.
You’re confusing the form with the substance. While I agree Congress have to declare war, I am asking about what (hypothetical or not) situations he’d consider as casus belli, a war that has to be done. When is it unavoidable. I’m not asking about bureaucratic procedures, even if they are written in the constitution; neither I’m denying the validity of those procedures; I’m just asking about what facts would he consider as sufficient to go to war…
Or, in another words, under which circumstances would Ron Paul go to Congress to explain why is a war necessary and try to convince them?
Some examples:
“iran closes Hormuz strait” -> is this a motive for Mr. Paul to go to Congress and ask them to declare war? Yes? Not? and why?
OBL attacks America with planes agains civil and military objectives -> is this a casus belli for Mr Paul? Yes? Not? Why?
But these are examples. Ron Paul should explain principles regarding this. So Americans can sleep more peacefully. He has to answer things like: “attacks are to be retaliated or not?” “hot pursuit to catch a terrorists are acceptable or nor?” “how many blows USA has to take before going to retaliate”.
As far as I know, Paul has not explained very well those things.
Ron Paul is a babbling idiot.
Ron Paul continues his pattern of displaying utter insanity on a number of foreign policy issues.
Oh, please. Do unto others? THEY KILLED OURS!! What a stupid f***.
Foreign policy and Ron Paul – reminds me of Hee Haw – and almost as many laughs. Where’s Goldie?
Mitt Romney rejects the idea of “Goodbye Day.” [shameless plug for Willian Cohen's latest book]
Mittens got it right vis a vis the Taliban. One up for him.
And Romney, sensing the pique of the booing audience turning on Rue Paul, feels liberated to speak in terms of enemies and the military. No negotiation, woo hoo, defeat the taliban, woo hoo.
Like. Duh.
This was my impression of him too! Just a fake politician playing and saying what you want to hear
Mitt has the right slant on negotiating with Taliban – with an M16.
Obama wants to talk everyone to death. He’s gonna talk Israel to death via Iran.
Turkey should never have been included in NATO.
Turkey did great things for us, and sent significant forces to fight with us in Korea. They were also a key ally to Israel, until the current Islamicist weenees came to power. (That in partial response to the Kurdish terrorism and Greek oppression of Turks on Cyprus).
I hope we need never find out if Greeks will go to war to defend Turks.
Yes, secularist Turkey… not pro-Islamist Turkey.
The only thing the Greeks will fight is their own society… to keep their entitlements.
Ok, but Cyprus is not Greece, they have the ethnic greek population but it’s another independent country, ally of US, Israel and -of course, mainland Greece.
Cyprus is not oppressing turks, turks invaded Cyprus and need to get out of the island. The West allowed it because during those years Turkey was a real ally (it was secularist) and the Greeks (attempting to annex Cyprus) were -if I remember well, communist
It is time for Juan to do a heavy lamination of his race card and deposit some good will somewhere with Anglos and Hispanics. Right now it is getting dog eared and rejected all over the place.
Ron Paul needs the gong…. where was this Rick Perry months ago?
Poor Perry, just wasn’t ready. He may be a veritable diamond in the rough.
Sorry, Ron. No excuses for the Taliban, not for what they have been up to lately. IOW, it’s not the fricking ’60s.
ok, the lady in blue’s speaking; I’ll turn to some Catalan Cream 17%, to set the ambient
$100 donation goes to the first candidate that CONDONES pissing on dead Taliban. It should be US policy that it is MANDATORY to defile the corpses of dead enemies as long as one can do the defiling without getting shot in the process.
And to take pictures and to send them around the Internet.
They won’t let us put heads on pikes. Can’t we at least piss on their dead?
Oh gawd. We are above all that, dontcha know? /sarc
We only piss on their dead because bacon is too good to insert in their mouths.
Perry takes a jab at Timmy G. Where O where were you 4 months ago when your nation needed you?
Where have you been Rick Perry?
Geez. Why are none of them talking about removing the Medicare mandate altogether? I know…..’cause it ain’t ever gonna happen! You’re 65? Welcome to Medicare whether you fricking like it or not!!!
Guess what, Mitty? Gov’t NEVER goes out of business unlike the private sector because it has yet to run out of taxpayers from whom it can extract funding for all of its activities! HELLO?!
7:28PM Santorum: I’d cut taxes like a prison snitch.
Or something. Honestly, I just hate this guy so much I lose track.
Really! Don’t we get enough of this from the Democrats!
Steve,
You only hate Santorum because he sounds like the white noise that followed the Air Force ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth’ poem that preceded the National Anthem, followed by white noise.
We had no choices then. Watching this debate only reminds you of that.
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lol, Santorum is a self-destructing wave in the answer/dodge rate
Hey JUAN! How about asking about the dog-in-the-crate-on-the-roof-of-the-car thing? What a dope.
Super pack? Romney is a corporate capitalist>
Social Issues: Evangelicals and the social issues crowd still matter – These candidates with the exception of Paul are all afraid to voice their positions on conservatives’ concerns on issues like Abortion and gay marriage.They’d rather talk about gun control. something that they all agree on.
Hey, why don’t be talk about condoms again?
Social Issues: Evangelicals and the social issues crowd still matter – These candidates with the exception of Paul are all afraid to voice their positions on conservatives’ concerns on issues like Abortion and gay marriage.They’d rather talk about gun control. something that they all agree on.
Bleah….more stuff for the likes of Probst & Survivor tribal councils….arguing about the super PACS over which they apparently have no power. Who cares?
Mitt, Newt, stop playing nice… I want to see blooooooood!!!!!
Romney is a liar. he said he hasnt talked to the Super P’ in months. Last week he said he has no way of contacting them.
Ron Paul sound the most sane. the Rest are bafoons
Bafoons or baboons?
Maybe you meant “buffoons,” you marginally literate assclown?
Newt: “Reduce” the NEA. No. ELIMINATE it. Hate the ways these people just want to nip around the edges of what should be sensible reforms. Get the feds OUT of public education! Put it into the hands of the states where it belongs!
Baileys for dessert anyone?
Hey, drunk sessions can finish with a dessert too!
I prefer vanilla ice cream smothered with creme de menthe.
bringing a special vanilla gelato and creme de menthe right to you!
TOnight was special! BLT won over mashed potato on white bread with spicy mayo.
Spicy mayo won over mashed potato rollup with chipotle mango infused bullshit.
The only time I got excited was when Gingrich called in airstrikes against the NEA who frolick with Ron Paul in the near proximity of Pakistan.
Maybe I got that a bit muddled.
Winner? Gingrich. Had he not stepped on his male protuberance earlier during the process this might have helped him.
Note: I worked as a janitor for my local middle school when I was in high school and it didn’t kill me. And I got money. And it didn’t relegate me to life as a perpetual janitor. I kinda liked that early work experience stuff from Newt. And he put it to Juan Williams.
Former JanNEWTorials for Newt!
It’s ON like DONKEY KONG!
Go Rick! Good answer (on the border) I would take ALL FIVE OF THESE GUYS OVER OBAMA. I just really don’t like Romney, I don’t like someone who will tell me what I want to hear just so he can get elected. That’s why there is no ‘passion’ for him. Duh. Yeah, I’ll vote for him if that’s all there is, but that is a big newsflash to get all Rinos out of office, one Rino at a time. Then maybe we can get a Constitutional Conservative. The best debate so far.
I don’t understand the rationale, “Rick Perry’s doing way better since last summer, so I won’t vote for him.” If he’s finally showing himself to be the candidate you thought he was, then why WOULDN’T you vote for him?
Gee, is being a chicken hawk a necessary prerequisite for being a vulture capitalist? (There certainly seems to be a correlation with chicken hawks and high corporate business connections and running for high public office–Quayle, Chenney, Trump, Etc.) Does being a missionary to France on a mission for god in lieu of pulling a trigger against those godless communists in Vietnam qualify Mitt as a missionary chicken hawk? Or was the Mitt roughing it in France because he wasn’t washed and rinsed and brain washed like his complaining old man?
I liked the most all the candidates with names somehow related to alcohol, like Perry liquor, GINgrich and Ron (spanish for rum) Paul
Will Wilkinson had the best reaction I’ve seen:
“This is Jon Huntsman’s best debate by far.”
Newt: I’m so right to life, I’m carrying Roo in my pouch right now.
Ha! What a great line. You are a seriously funny person.
The more Romney is attacked, the more Romney rules