Trump, Bush, Walker, Rubio, Huckabee, Cruz, Paul, Christie, Carson, and Kasich: these are 12 Republican candidates invited to debate on FOX tonight. “Experts” claim this debate will be the highest rated program ever on the FOX Network. However, I’d like to present a dissenting opinion. I think this event could turn out to resemble your cranky uncle and his friends sitting around and complaining about Obama and Hillary. How many people tuning in can take two hours of that? I’ll be watching, but I’ll have a book in my lap. Will you be watching this Republican Debate? What do you expect will happen?
Sorry, George – but I counted only 10 names on your list …
PS:
The German media are full of reports on Trump’s crazy antics – seems everybody is laughing at the USA, just thinking that this guy seems to have a chance to become POTUS makes many peoples’ stomachs churn …
Wolf, FOX made a decision that they would only allow the top 10 Republican candidates (as determined by polls) on the debate stage tonight. The other seven Republican candidates will be given a non-prime time chat session that the U.S. Media is calling “The Kiddie Table.”
The “next 7” basically got a similar live debate at 5pm, only with slightly less famous FNC “talent” and essentially no audience in the stadium…Fox News didn’t want completely put off sitting elected officials in their favorite party.
I don’t think I could sit through the while thing without putting my foot through the TV screen at some point, so I’ll just catch the highlights Friday.
There has been comment on the fact that this debate format/roster affects the democratic process by elevating some candidates in the public eye before anyone has actually voted for them. I think this is true, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; the Iowa Caucus is a legendary cluster-f*ck, New Hampshire is the most conservative state in New England, and both states are so proud of their undue influence on the national election that they’ve written it into their state constitutions. Next to that, even Fox News seems (relatively) sane.
Dan, hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign money get spent in Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s all about the money.
Iowa and New Hampshire are small, very White states…thus making them useful first-run states for the election-machine big parties.
That’s a big boxful of NOPE for me. I’ve never voted for a Republican for president and this crazy-clown-car GOP lineup is not going to change that. I refuse to give FOX News even one minute of my time!
/”Dead yeller dog Democrat”…if you hadn’t already figured it out.
Deb, FOX is counting on the Crazy-Clown Car Debate tonight to generate huge ratings. But it could blow up in their faces if sanity rules.
Will not be watching. Just can’t take it.
Bill, FOX is hoping the Debate will be a circus. They might be right.
Trump will call the others idiots, morons, and losers who wouldn’t know what to do with a billion dollars if it bit them on the butt. To any question he’ll say. “I’ve got a plan for that. I’ll fix it and I’ll make the Mexicans pay for it.” About 45 minutes into the debate, his hair will get restless and attack the audience. Bush will tell us how much he loves his brother and his father and that he is either his brother or his father. He’ll take a swipe at Rubio and Cruz: “My Spanish is very good and I came by it the hard way — I had to learn it!” Walker will threaten all Fox employees who belong to unions. Huckabee will will let it slip that he wants to take showers with teen-age girls in high schools all across this great country of ours. Cruz will be smarmy. Paul will be smarmier. Both will end up in an arm wrestling contest and neither will win because the automatic gun bacon grease on Cruz’s hands will make it impossible for either to get a grip. Christie will tell America that he “wants to bridge the political differences in out country…oh, sh*t! Did I say bridge? Dammit.” Carson will spend the entire time explaining that he is a doctor and not some damned pizza chain owner. Rubio will keep grasping for a glass of water that isn’t there. Kasich will startle everyone by dancing across the stage, chanting, “In your face, Rick Perry!” Everyone will claim victory over gays, abortion, the anti-gun Nazis, the mush-headed environmentalists, science, welfare cheats, the Godless, Muslims, and the rest of the Republican pack.
With any sort of luck, the Republican Party will come to its senses and eventually nominate a rusty doorknob instead of any of these jamooks.
Jerry, would you mind me copying this and publishing it on a German forum for USA-fans, travellers and expats ?
I found your characterisations so hilarious!
Wolf, Jerry has a way with words.
Have at it, Wolf.
Thank you, Jerry!
Here’s a video with Sarah Palin to get everybody in the mood:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/05/new-sarah-palin-movie-points-to-bright-future/
Jerry, well said! When a guy like Donald Trump leads in the Republican polling, something is Very Wrong.
What Deb said, and Bill.
Even Jackie will not be watching. She’ll catch Larry O’Donnell’s recap/commentary. I wouldn’t even go there.
WHO CARES? Call me in August 2016, you know…the year with an actual election.
Jeff, I follow the business part of the Election. These candidates will be spending millions now just to bump up their poll numbers for future debates. This is a crazy electoral system…but we’re stuck with it.
Nice one, Jerry. I hope you’re right. Trump promising not to attack the other candidates took away the last tiny reason to even consider watching – not that I ever did, as mentioned already.
I hope he’s lying, or won’t be able to control himself, which is more likely.
Jeff, let’s not forget the FOX “moderators” who need to agitate the Republican candidates to “make news” and generate ratings. This is all political theater.
Sadly if you are married to a political scientist, they invite other political scientists over to watch these things so I am forced to watch it. It will make me depressed for days. I think I can say there is no candidate from either party I am wild about but I will vote for any Dem. as I always do.
Patti, FOX has transformed the Republican Debates into a reality TV show. It’s SURVIVOR with politicians.
Patti, do what I do. LEAVE THE ROOM.
I won’t watch, don’t care, Barbara says she may watch for the humor value. I’ll be in another room, reading, perhaps with headphones on.
They shouldn’t even be doing this so far ahead of the election. Remember when the candidate was chosen at the convention? Not that there hadn’t been lots of shuffling and smoky rooms before hand, of course. If I were The Ruler, I’d disallow campaigning more than 6 months prior to the election (any election, for any office or proposition), limit total media time, do away with PACs, limit contributions, require each party to have no more then 5 candidates.
Rick, it’s all about the hype…and money. Over a billion dollars will be spent in the 2016 Presidential Election. The Supreme Court really threw gasoline on the contribution fire when they defined “money” as “Free Speech.” Of course, that gives billionaires who are funding these candidates with millions of dollars more “Free Speech” and influence than those of us who only give a $100. The System is rigged.
Of course it is. If there was one Supreme Court ruling I could overturn, it might be that one. What scares me is the mindset of the people who want to vote for Cruz, Trump et al.
Rick, all the candidates have billionaires backing them. Our Government is for sale.
I read about those super-PACs and I thought:
That can’t be true at least not in a democracy.
I’m still hoping that the “repugs” will destroy each other …
Wolf, money rules in the U.S.A.
The Citizens United Supreme Court decision is the Dred Scott decision of the 21st Century. John Roberts, et. al., should be ashamed of themselves. It’s going to take a generation to untie ourselves from it.
Deb, Congress won’t overturn CITIZENS UNITED. They’re all compromised because of all the money.
They should be airing this on Comedy Central.
I’ll wait for the “highlights” on tomorrow’s clips.
Beth, instead of “highlights” I’m afraid there will be a lot of “low-lights.”
I can watch people bashing Hitlery all day, but the waffling non-responses to the questions would send me packing. I’ll probably switch over once in a while to see if anything’s happening if I even watch TV tonight.
Bob, I expect a lot of political theater in tonight’s debate.
Since I was too lazy to leave the room I ended up watching most of the debate. Politics as usual for the most part, but I got to hear what they sounded and looked like. Most of them were only names to me before.
Bob, the early opinions of the “experts” put Rubio and Kasich as the “winners.”
Jerry’s more serious predictions were pretty accurate.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, the notion that Trump was likely to say all the stupid, incendiary things was a remarkable lack of confidence in some of the more unintelligent and restrained jugheads on the nation scene, in both the 5pm 7-candidates debate (where Santorum is the biggest fool in the field, but by a slim margin ahead of Gilmore and Perry), and the 10-candidates (where Ben Carson and probably Rand Paul did the least to help themselves, and Walker and Cruz were fed the most softballs, and still managed to reply as foolishly as expected…Walker was the most stupid-looking, for what that was worth, with a somewhat slack-jawed default expression. Katich, in pretending to be a centrist (the way Clinton pretends of late to be a populist), probably benefited the most. The most amusement of the evening was perhaps Christie deciding the next person he wanted to punch in the face was Paul, as both lied about their own positions while accurately denigrating the other’s.
Kasich, of course.
Todd, excellent analysis of the first Republican Debate!
Too bad it won’t be the LAST Republican Debate.
Rick, I’m willing to let the debate process work its way out for both the Republicans and Democrats. The candidates will reveal Who They Really Are if given time and opportunity.
It was worth watching to hear the Rosie O’Donnell wisecrack.
Bob, I’m sure Trump had that “Rosie O’Donnell” remark ready to drop on the FOX moderators.