What - No GOP Presidential Debate Thread?

I'll see the debate later on tape delay, but how did Brownback fare?

 

this is not in order of who i like, only in how i thought they did.

my ranking:
1. mccain
2. romney
3. huckabee
4. brownback
5. giuliani

dear god, i can't believe i put brownback fourth...

 

"Who on this stage does not believe in evolution?"

Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee raise their hands.

 

These debates are sad. You can't even call them debates, because, well, there's no debating. There's just answering. And you can rattle off most of the answers long before the dipshits on stage start talking.

You know why debates used to be important? Because in the midst of the argument, the two or three or 12 guys involved would drop their guard, talk without running through a list of talking points first and reveal their true, honest feelings. Sometimes that was good, sometimes that was bad -- for them. It was always good for the country. Because the wackjob who would invade another country for no reason, break every Constitutional law on the books and fumble through every single speaking engagement that wasn't mapped out to the comma would never make it in such a debate.

 

Huckabee is the best speaker of the bunch. I didn't watch it, but I would've had I remembered.

 

I don't think he made it in any of the debates in his first presidential run, but nearly half of the country apparently disagreed.

 

You aren't going to see donnybrooks this early in the campaign. Nobody feels the desperation yet. They want to establish who they are. Now lets say this is January 2008 and McCain is still leading the polls in IA, NH and SC. Then you will see Romney, Rudy, Fred Thompson, etc. going straight for his throat. And whoever is seen as the alternative to Rudy and McCain (probably Romney) will take heavy fire from the lesser-knowns who want to move up to that slot. This debate is all about seeing them on the same stage and being able to quickly compare talking points. And to let Chris Matthews fellate Reagan's ghost.

Going for any killshots now is like an all-out blitz every play in the first series of the game; there is a small chance that you smash the opposing QB and set the tone for the game. There is also a very good chance that the QB throws a long TD and you end up looking like a jackass.

Lets also not forget that debates are about more than substance and have been ever since 1960. Gore clearly outpointed Bush in the first debate in 2000, yet that debate may have made Bush president. Gore was overbearing and obnoxious and turned voters off. Despite his bumbling, voters felt comfortable with Bush. Had Gore's first debate against Bush gone like Kerry's first debate against Bush -- where Kerry was calm, cool, confident, decisive and witty -- Gore would have been elected with room to spare.

 

Oh yeah, my completely subjective ranking of how the candidates looked:

1. Romney
2. Huckabee
3. Brownback
4. McCain
5. Rudy
10. Everyone else

 

Even the later debates are bullshit now, though. Especially those "community forum" ones.

All the questions are scripted out. No one can deviate even slightly and there's no real debate. When the damn thing's over with, you can't pick a winner. And it's not because the candidates were so equally inspiring. It's because you didn't watch a debate. You watched two hours of questions and answers with some eye-rolling and political shots tossed in.

The whole setup is so childish, especially the three months of bickering back and forth over the format -- all in an effort to make sure neither candidate is forced to, at any point, reveal his true feelings about anything. God forbid the Rebulican candidate actually doesn't really care if gays marry or if the Democratic candidate doesn't really give a shit if you own a gun.

I think it's a conspiracy. They're trying to turn the average American off and send them running to anything else. That way they can just worry about satisfying their bases.

 

I didn't watch, but according to CNN, here is Brownback's response to the idea of repealing Roe v. Wade.
"Glorious day of human liberty and freedom."

We can argue about abortion for the rest of time, but how does taking away a woman's right to choose increase "human liberty and freedom?"
If he had said "human life," I might have agreed, but that's just asinine.
I can't remember who, but during the flag-burning debate last year, one Repub said he was going to protect our rights by taking away our right to burn the flag.
To quote, of all people, Rush Limbaugh, "WORDS MEAN THINGS!"

 

Worst questions of the night
1. Should Ah-nold be allowed to run for Prez (who cares)
2. Will it be good to have Bill Clinton back in the White House (uh, yeah that's why I'm running for the GOP nomination)
3. Name a dem you'd want in your cabinet.

and the question they should have asked: how many bombs should we drop on Iran? I can see McCain now saddling up like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove on a nuke Yee, Haw!