Thoughts on the 1st Republican Debate
Well, I can't say that I thought that there was a clear "winner" in the debate, though there were a few losers. The evening would've made for a brutal drinking game though. Since the debate was held in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the memory of Reagan was symbolically represented by the retired Air Force 1, a Boeing 707, which loomed over the stage and the audience like a massive prehistoric god. As such, almost every candidate (I don't think Ron Paul did) felt compelled to invoke Reagan, comparing his stance on an issue to the Gipper's. If you had to drink every time someone said "Reagan" during the 90 minute worshipfest, there's no way there'd be a sober person in the room.
Here are a few of my thoughts on the debate:
Although Bush couldn't get Roe v Wade overturned with Republican control of Congress and a culturally conservative Supreme Court, women who want to be anything more than baby machines (not that there's anything wrong with that, so long as it's their choice), should consider stockpiling birth control pills if one of them wins. Actually, there were a couple of guys who were willing to let states decide.
The Governator was there. When asked if they were willing to amend the Constitution to let foreigners run for President (no conditions of the change were given other than removing the native born requisite), all but two said No (Huckabee was one). Good luck getting Arnold's support guys.
Nancy Reagan was there. When asked if they were willing to support funding for embryonic stem cell research to possibly treat Alzheimer's and other diseases, I think all that replied said No. Some suggested using adult stem cells, others said that there was enough private funding going on that the federal government didn't need to get involved.
Nancy and Arnold sat next to one another. Any time the camera showed them, neither smiled.
Sam Brownback, a senator from Kansas was scary. If he gets elected, expect more W stuff, possibly worse. Cultural conservative with neocon ideologies.
I didn't like Jim Gilmore, the governor of Virginia during 9/11. Another cultural conservative, he and Brownback jockeyed for the position of "the only true conservative."
Rudy Giuliani struggled a little bit on abortion, but held his own relatively well. While he was the leader in the polls before the debate, I'm not sure he still will be.
Duncan Hunter is another cultural conservative asshole. He's good on trade, but its his only redeeming quality. Read his Wiki entry. I don't need to say anything more.
I still like Mike Huckabee. I don't agree with him on a fair amount of his positions, but he doesn't come across as a dickhead like so many of these other guys. He's got at least a little bit of Constitutional conservatism in him, wanting to give the states back some of their rights that the federal government has usurped over the last few decades.
What the fuck was up with John McCain? I thought that I was watching the Looney Tunes' Henery Hawk. You know him as the chicken hawk that was always trying to catch and eat Foghorn Leghorn. Well, that was John McCain tonight. I didn't recognize him.
Ron Paul lacked the charisma needed to really win the crowd (and party) over. He stuck to his libertarian principles, but I really felt like what he was saying fell on deaf ears. But he didn't do anything to embarrass himself and he was the one candidate who really, really distanced himself from W on Iraq, domestic spying, and fiscal policy.
Mitt Romney did better than I expected but he seemed to calculated. I don't know if he'll hold up. He might though.
Tom Tancredo was a clear loser tonight. He seemed ill prepared to speak on his feet in the format. He's a one issue candidate: illegal immigration. Yeah, he's a cultural conservative too.
Tommy Thompson came off ok-ish. Kind of a much lower quality Huckabee.
I didn't hear any questions about the Virginia Tech massacre, but I was out of the room from time to time tending to kids and laundry.
Terri Schiavo and Scooter Libby both came up at the end. Not everyone got to answer both. Of the few people who got to address Congress' involvement, McCain barely came down against it but Giuliani said that it should never have left Florida. Most guys wanted to give Libby a pardon or wouldn't talk about an ongoing court case.
At the end, I'm not too encouraged. If I had to rate them for votability (for me, not the public), I'd go Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and... well, that's about it. They're fighting for the support of the base right now. Maybe next year at this time some of the lower quality but better financed candidates will moderate their views a bit to capture the independent voters.
\_/
DED
Here are a few of my thoughts on the debate:
Although Bush couldn't get Roe v Wade overturned with Republican control of Congress and a culturally conservative Supreme Court, women who want to be anything more than baby machines (not that there's anything wrong with that, so long as it's their choice), should consider stockpiling birth control pills if one of them wins. Actually, there were a couple of guys who were willing to let states decide.
The Governator was there. When asked if they were willing to amend the Constitution to let foreigners run for President (no conditions of the change were given other than removing the native born requisite), all but two said No (Huckabee was one). Good luck getting Arnold's support guys.
Nancy Reagan was there. When asked if they were willing to support funding for embryonic stem cell research to possibly treat Alzheimer's and other diseases, I think all that replied said No. Some suggested using adult stem cells, others said that there was enough private funding going on that the federal government didn't need to get involved.
Nancy and Arnold sat next to one another. Any time the camera showed them, neither smiled.
Sam Brownback, a senator from Kansas was scary. If he gets elected, expect more W stuff, possibly worse. Cultural conservative with neocon ideologies.
I didn't like Jim Gilmore, the governor of Virginia during 9/11. Another cultural conservative, he and Brownback jockeyed for the position of "the only true conservative."
Rudy Giuliani struggled a little bit on abortion, but held his own relatively well. While he was the leader in the polls before the debate, I'm not sure he still will be.
Duncan Hunter is another cultural conservative asshole. He's good on trade, but its his only redeeming quality. Read his Wiki entry. I don't need to say anything more.
I still like Mike Huckabee. I don't agree with him on a fair amount of his positions, but he doesn't come across as a dickhead like so many of these other guys. He's got at least a little bit of Constitutional conservatism in him, wanting to give the states back some of their rights that the federal government has usurped over the last few decades.
What the fuck was up with John McCain? I thought that I was watching the Looney Tunes' Henery Hawk. You know him as the chicken hawk that was always trying to catch and eat Foghorn Leghorn. Well, that was John McCain tonight. I didn't recognize him.
Ron Paul lacked the charisma needed to really win the crowd (and party) over. He stuck to his libertarian principles, but I really felt like what he was saying fell on deaf ears. But he didn't do anything to embarrass himself and he was the one candidate who really, really distanced himself from W on Iraq, domestic spying, and fiscal policy.
Mitt Romney did better than I expected but he seemed to calculated. I don't know if he'll hold up. He might though.
Tom Tancredo was a clear loser tonight. He seemed ill prepared to speak on his feet in the format. He's a one issue candidate: illegal immigration. Yeah, he's a cultural conservative too.
Tommy Thompson came off ok-ish. Kind of a much lower quality Huckabee.
I didn't hear any questions about the Virginia Tech massacre, but I was out of the room from time to time tending to kids and laundry.
Terri Schiavo and Scooter Libby both came up at the end. Not everyone got to answer both. Of the few people who got to address Congress' involvement, McCain barely came down against it but Giuliani said that it should never have left Florida. Most guys wanted to give Libby a pardon or wouldn't talk about an ongoing court case.
At the end, I'm not too encouraged. If I had to rate them for votability (for me, not the public), I'd go Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and... well, that's about it. They're fighting for the support of the base right now. Maybe next year at this time some of the lower quality but better financed candidates will moderate their views a bit to capture the independent voters.
\_/
DED
Labels: politics
posted by DED at 9:57 PM
9 Comments:
Thanks for the review, I can't watch that stuff. I can't stand the sight of any of them. I am really, really, scared that whoever is next will be worse than Bush. Two years ago I wouldn't believe that possible, but now I consider it likely.
I'm with Mort: can't watch. But I'm always curious what Ron Paul has to say.
I think it's a marker of how far outside the political mainstream I am that I find him so compelling and no one else gives a shit, even viewing him as a curiosity.
I didn't want to watch. I felt like I had to in order to be prepared for future arguments.
Mort: I hear you. Too many of these guys didn't distance themselves enough from W except to criticize his mismanagement of Iraq. Come to think of it, unless they talked about it while I was out of the room, no one mentioned the Katrina fuck up.
A couple guys had "good" ideas regarding where to proceed with Iraq. I use that term ("good") lightly as I want us out of there and staying there in any way just seems like a horrible idea. Anyway, one guy (I forget who. They tend to blur together) suggested abandoning the parliamentary system and giving each province its own government, just like each state in the US has its own government. The same guy suggested splitting the oil revenue among the states, the Iraqi federal gov't, and the people themselves. He figured that if everyone had a financial stake in Iraq's oil industry, they'd be more likely to settle down. I'm surprised that it was suggested and I wish I remembered who it was as this guy won't be getting anymore campaign money from Big Oil.
Mike: The 3 of us are so far out of the political mainstream just for knowing who Ron Paul is. ;)
ded, I thought you might like this video report.
I can't get the link to work. It is about a brewery using wind power. If you go over to cnn.com today maybe you can find it.
[link]
http://www.cnn.com/video/
player/player.html?url=/video/
business/2007/05/07/bg.green.beer.
cnnmoney.cnn&source=money
Thanks for the link, Mort! Good video! (Had a little problem with the link at first. Only got audio, then I fullscreened it and the video came on. Went back to the beginning and started over.)
I expected it to be about Sierra Nevada or some other West Coast brewery. I was really surprised that it was Brooklyn Brewery. That's great news. They make great beer. Now I've got another reason to buy from them. :)
:)
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