The Official GOP Debate Thread

[BonnieBengal]

(08-06-2015, 11:48 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I will say Megan Kelly has been made to look the buffoon. Hopefully next debate they eliminate the eye candy and go with a moderator that can hold their own.

Yes, it's really lowered my opinion of her.  I thought she was smarter.

[Aquapod770]

(08-06-2015, 11:54 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: God questions? Really?

The whole "Facebook" questions thing is a really really bad idea.

[GMDino]

I can't wait to read all the responses tomorrow on this thread.

But what a crapfest that debate was. From the awkward five minutes standing on the the stage before it started to the very end.

[StLucieBengal]

Last question was dumb.    

Cruz did well, didnt get many chances but turned his opportunies to a positive .   He should rise.    

Rand was feisty and made good points on substance but it could backfire on him depending on how his tone came off.   He will either move up or stay put.   He still leads hillary in 5 purple states.  Could very well be the toughest general for any democrat.  

Christie confirmed he is a big government guy and does not care about anyones individual freedom.   He will always find an excuse to violate people

Bush, looked clumsy and had nothing.  His attempt to flip on common core is a joke .  If your gonna support it then support it ... Don't hedge your bets.    

Carson, ended well, and had a solid night.  Although I don't feel he has enough to be president, he is better than these big gov types.  I wanna see more substance.   Loved the Alinsky reference and calling out progressives btw

Huckabee, had a nice night but his history screams progressive.    And his lack of details on social security reform is troubling.    This is a main issue for him yet no specifics.  

Walker, solid night should get a boost.  The abortion to save the mother will hurt.    I can't stand abortions but there is no way I am letting my wife die.    

Rubio had specifics, still not liking his big gov tendencies.   But he did well.   He should move up
.. Perfect answer on abortion about how we will be judged by future generations.

Kaisich, didn't stand out.    Meh

Trump, took a lot of shots as expected.   But shook it off.  I love that he doesn't apologize for buying policians or using the laws to his advantage.     And that he doesn't care about being polically correct.   Will probably flex a little in the polls.  

Stock up: Rubio, Cruz, Walker, Carson

Wildcard: Rand (not sure how the fire will play)

Should get a small bump but won't last: Huckabee

Stock Down: Christie, Bush, Kaisich

[StLucieBengal]

(08-06-2015, 10:26 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: I liked that Scott Walker abortion exchange.

Megyn Kelly asks him if his opposition to abortion in the case where it will save the mother's right is too out of the mainstream since 83% of Americans support it.

Walker responds by saying that Hillary's support for Planned Parenthood is radical.

lol

Not sure how the life of the wife exception/nonexception will play. That's a tough deal for him. But I respect him for standing his ground.

[StLucieBengal]

(08-07-2015, 12:18 AM)Aquapod770 Wrote: The whole "Facebook" questions thing is a really really bad idea.

Agreed.   That's horrible.  

[StLucieBengal]

And loved Trump trolling Christie on Atlantic City going Bankrupt. "Ask Chris"

[BmorePat87]

Kasich and Rubio stock just went up.

[Belsnickel]

I watched none of it. There is no candidate in either the GOP or the DNC that I think would be good and a debate would do nothing to alter that opinion.

[BonnieBengal]

Cruz won the debate IMO. He stood out among the others as someone who wants to fix the problems and not play politics. Somebody, I think it was Rand Paul, accused him of not working with the establishment, and he agreed. He showed that he is fighting the problems with the Republican establishment.

I'm still voting for Carson though at this point. They didn't give him much time to speak, but when they did, he resonated with a lot of people.

[Brownshoe]

All I know is I don't want Trump or Kasich to win. I think Trump is an idiot, and Kasich was behind senate bill 5 (that didn't pass). He was able to privatize my job though. For that I hope that he doesn't even get close to winning.

[Belsnickel]

(08-07-2015, 08:22 AM)BonnieBengal Wrote: Cruz won the debate IMO. He stood out among the others as someone who wants to fix the problems and not play politics. Somebody, I think it was Rand Paul, accused him of not working with the establishment, and he agreed. He showed that he is fighting the problems with the Republican establishment.

I'm still voting for Carson though at this point. They didn't give him much time to speak, but when they did, he resonated with a lot of people.

From what I am seeing on Facebook and what not, the opinions on who "won" the debate last night are across the spectrum. I've yet to see any pundits have any input on it, but I doubt it will be much more definitive.

Relying on debates to form any sort of opinion about a candidate it pointless. They spend so much time preparing for it and it's under these controlled circumstances. It's a dog and pony show that amounts to political masturbation, especially for the debates leading up to the primaries.

[GMDino]

(08-07-2015, 08:22 AM)BonnieBengal Wrote: Cruz won the debate IMO.  He stood out among the others as someone who wants to fix the problems and not play politics.  Somebody, I think it was Rand Paul, accused him of not working with the establishment, and he agreed.  He showed that he is fighting the problems with the Republican establishment.

I'm still voting for Carson though at this point.  They didn't give him much time to speak, but when they did, he resonated with a lot of people.

Dear lord I hope you don't vote.

[GMDino]

So basically I was tweeting about the debate until just before the god question (did anyone say Zeus told him to run?) and the closing statements. I had to leave the house then so I have no comment on that.

The entire 10 minutes before the "official" start of the debate was joke. It was like watching a bad SNL skit. Then they have the ten men stand there while they essentially make fun of them for five minutes before they go to their podiums? Best tweet I read about that one:

[img]
photo sharing sites[/img]

Having three people ask ten people questions was just dumb. It was unwieldy and ended up being unfair air time wise to the candidates.

No-neck, The Blonde and Wallace looked as confused as the candidates half the time.

Just some general observations from an old television and radio guy because issue wise it was blah, blah, blah.

Cruz: Has zero chance. He looks like Jon Lovitz when he played the devil character on SNL.

Rand: Rand needs a better haircut / toupee. And to sound less whiney. My wife kept asking where that accent came from.

Christie: Christie's bombastic approach actually came off better than Trumps. Someone here said he showed he was "big government" although I'm not sure based on his track record that's the case. Also he loses points for the noun+verb+911 speech.

Bush: Looked and sounded awful. The National stage isn't for him.

Carson: Too quiet, too unprepared. He's a brilliant surgeon who thinks because people wanted him to run he should run despite not having a clue. His tax plan is to tithe. That about wraps up his 15 minutes.

Huckabee: Points for making the first Supreme Being comment of the night. No surprise who wants a theocracy in the US but he had a few good moments too. I think I'd like him if he wasn't talking religion every other sentence.

Walker: Sounded like the Koch brothers had him well prepared. He gave answers that won't hurt him.

Rubio: I liked Rubio but it seems he was trying to make a dent and always seemed overly excited about stuff there was no reason to get excited about.

Kaisich: Seemed like the most "normal" person on the stage. Without knowing his policies in OH if I was forced to pick one off that stage to vote for it was him. His answer on gay marriage while nice could do with out "I went to a gay friend's wedding". That's the "some of my friends are black" answer.

Trump: Trump really showed his true colors. If voters are smart that will hurt him so I'm not banking on it hurting him. They were way harder on him than the rest...but he's the leader of the pack right now. If he can't take that little bit of heat what will do when everyone turns it up? He gets testy when he failures are pointed out. He turns to insults when he feels challenged. And he has no plan. I tweeted that it appears he will be stand at the border and yell insults at Mexico until they build a wall.

Way to much penis swinging and

Overall? Eh.

Of course I wasn't expecting much given the set up either. Way to much penis swinging and talking about how "tough" they are going to be. As if diplomacy means zero. I hope none of you (like me) have children who can go in to the meat grinder so these guys can play war from the safety of their offices.

When they whittle it down to a few real candidates and they can start comparing actual policy I'll start caring.

[SunsetBengal]

I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know about any of the candidates. I thought the format was pretty lame, lost a lot of opinion for Megyn Kelly, feel like O'Reilly would have done a much better job.

A few thoughts:

I felt like they loaded it up to try to embarrass Trump, seemed like he held his composure pretty well. I thought that Cruz and Rubio were the most prepared. Didn't get a good feeling at all from Paul, Christie, or Bush, I think they will all see a decline in new polls. Did anyone else notice Rubio's gigantic ears, or think that Rand Paul comes off like an angry Keebler Elf?

[GMDino]

(08-07-2015, 10:39 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know about any of the candidates.  I thought the format was pretty lame, lost a lot of opinion for Megyn Kelly, feel like O'Reilly would have done a much better job.  

A few thoughts:

I felt like they loaded it up to try to embarrass Trump, seemed like he held his composure pretty well.  I thought that Cruz and Rubio were the most prepared.  Didn't get a good feeling at all from Paul, Christie, or Bush, I think they will all see a decline in new polls.  Did anyone else notice Rubio's gigantic ears, or think that Rand Paul comes off like an angry Keebler Elf?

I can't see where Cruz did anything to separate himself but he didn't poop on the stage.  Trump showed exactly why he'd be a poor politician / president.  he can NOT handle criticism at all.  There's a difference between not being PC and insulting anyone who disagrees with you.

My wife commented on Rubio's ears too!  

Saw a tweet that said Paul needs to decided between the two haircuts he has. 

[BmorePat87]

Ron was a far more skilled debater than Rand. Rand stuck with his arguments and couldn't find any response when called out by a mainstream opponent.

Cruz seemed prepared, but also an afterthought.

Kasich gained the most since his pre debate stock was incredibly low.

Walker didn't look bad, and that's a win for him.

Bush didn't look great, and that's a loss for him

Trump was Trump. Not presidential. A bit unhinged.

Carson was soft spoken and an afterthought. He'll be remembered for his race line, but that's about it.

Christie was loud and in charge while speaking, but I don't think he can recover from Bridgegate.

Rubio seemed good. Young, Latino, and presidential.

Huckabee is working one angle and it won't win anything for him.

Apparently Carly looked good in the lesser debate while Jindal looked bad.

[*michaelsean*]

(08-07-2015, 10:26 AM)GMDino Wrote: So basically I was tweeting about the debate until just before the god question (did anyone say Zeus told him to run?) and the closing statements.  I had to leave the house then so I have no comment on that.

The entire 10 minutes before the "official" start of the debate was joke.  It was like watching a bad SNL skit.  Then they have the ten men stand there while they essentially make fun of them for five minutes before they go to their podiums?  Best tweet I read about that one:

[img]
photo sharing sites[/img]

Having three people ask ten people questions was just dumb.  It was unwieldy and ended up being unfair air time wise to the candidates.

No-neck, The Blonde and Wallace looked as confused as the candidates half the time.

Just some general observations from an old television and radio guy because issue wise it was blah, blah, blah.

Cruz:  Has zero chance.  He looks like Jon Lovitz when he played the devil character on SNL.      

Rand: Rand needs a better haircut / toupee. And to sound less whiney.  My wife kept asking where that accent came from.

Christie:  Christie's bombastic approach actually came off better than Trumps.  Someone here said he showed he was "big government" although I'm not sure based on his track record that's the case.  Also he loses points for the noun+verb+911 speech.

Bush:  Looked and sounded awful.  The National stage isn't for him.    

Carson: Too quiet, too unprepared.  He's a brilliant surgeon who thinks because people wanted him to run he should run despite not having a clue.  His tax plan is to tithe.  That about wraps up his 15 minutes.

Huckabee:  Points for making the first Supreme Being comment of the night.  No surprise who wants a theocracy in the US but he had a few good moments too.  I think I'd like him if he wasn't talking religion every other sentence.

Walker: Sounded like the Koch brothers had him well prepared.  He gave answers that won't hurt him.

Rubio:  I liked Rubio but it seems he was trying to make a dent and always seemed overly excited about stuff there was no reason to get excited about.

Kaisich:  Seemed like the most "normal" person on the stage.  Without knowing his policies in OH if I was forced to pick one off that stage to vote for it was him.  His answer on gay marriage while nice could do with out "I went to a gay friend's wedding".  That's the "some of my friends are black" answer.

Trump: Trump really showed his true colors.  If voters are smart that will hurt him so I'm not banking on it hurting him.  They were way harder on him than the rest...but he's the leader of the pack right now.  If he can't take that little bit of heat what will do when everyone turns it up?  He gets testy when he failures are pointed out.  He turns to insults when he feels challenged.  And he has no plan.  I tweeted that it appears he will be stand at the border and yell insults at Mexico until they build a wall.

Way to much penis swinging and

Overall?  Eh.

Of course I wasn't expecting much given the set up either.  Way to much penis swinging and talking about how "tough" they are going to be.  As if diplomacy means zero.  I hope none of you (like me) have children who can go in to the meat grinder so these guys can play war from the safety of their offices.

When they whittle it down to a few real candidates and they can start comparing actual policy I'll start caring.

First of all, quit acting like you don't know who the blond is.

2nd, you think that was a swinging dick contest?  Wait until Hillary has a go at it. 

[GMDino]

(08-07-2015, 11:03 AM)michaelsean Wrote: First of all, quit acting like you don't know who the blond is.

2nd, you think that was a swinging dick contest?  Wait until Hillary has a go at it. 

Oh I know.  Twitter was full of pictures last night.



Still should have just been Wallace.  

[Beaker]

I liked Kasich. I think he has a shot if he can start to gain in recognition. Right now too many Americans don't really know who he is or how he has done as OH gov.