Republican debates

[MillCreek]

Anyone else watching the debates?  We are liking Nikki Haley so far, especially her comments on China.

[Ben]

I didn't sit through the whole thing, but watching snippets, and keeping in mind it's only the first debate: IMO, Haley will likely be the choice of the moderate or "anyone but Trump" voters. Ramaswamy stood out, but was a bit too adversarial, though pretty much everyone was attacking him, so he kinda had a reason. DeSantis was solid. I was surprised Scott was so demure. I'm not sure that he'll be going anywhere, even though I like most of what he says.

Who were those other people on stage? Did they just randomly pull them in off the street?

[fifth_column]

I didn't watch any of the debate. I've started watching the Carlson interview with Trump, I don't know if I'll be able to watch the whole thing:

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1694513603251241143?s=20

ETA:

Interestingly, an estimated 50 million people watched the debate last night while the number of views the Carlson interview has received so far is nearly 220 million.

[HankB]

I found Mike Pence and Nikki Haley both annoying - what they said was largely good, but by ignoring the time signal and just going on and on both of them were disruptive of the debate and had me wanting to say "JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!!!" I found both (particularly Pence) to be remarkably unlikable in this format.

Asa Hutchinson solidified his never-Trumper RINO credentials, especially when he parroted the democrat party talking points by referring to January 6 as an "insurrection." I just don't trust him to govern any better than a D were he to get in.

Tim Scott was articulate but his performance just didn't excite. He seemed to be running for a VP spot.

Chris Christie seemed more interested in bashing the other candidates (and Trump) than pushing forward his vision of how he'd govern. Nothing he said engendered any trust on my part.

Doug Burgum only had a limited opportunity to speak and came off as being thoughtful and reasonable, but didn't seem to display any real passion. I wonder what kind of a "fighter" he would be in the general election. (Wonder if he was on pain meds for his leg injury.)

DeSantis was clear and concise and I liked what he said - he seemed to be staying above the on-stage rowdiness of Pence, Haley, and Ramaswamy.

Vivek Ramaswamy was articulate and enthusiastic - his preparation and delivery was great, showed enthusiasm, and as a debater he reminded me of Ben Shapiro. (That's a good thing.) He was more specific on his policy objectives than most of the other candidates - a big plus.  I do have some reservations about his Ukraine policy. (I have reservations about Biden's Ukraine policy too.)   

MAJOR SUGGESTION TO FOX NEWS: At the next debate, cut the microphone of any candidate still talking 10 seconds after the time signal chimes.

[Hawkmoon]

MAJOR SUGGESTION TO FOX NEWS: At the next debate, cut the microphone of any candidate still talking 10 seconds after the time signal chimes.

That should have been a given.

[MechAg94]

I was watching Crowder's livestream.  Ramaswamy seemed like the sharpest tool in the shed as far as debate goes.  And he seemed to be the only one really answering the questions with specifics rather than going off into campaign speak. 

I didn't mind his position on Ukraine.  The idea that his default position is to stay out of foreign adventures is a good starting point.  I am generally in favor of Ukraine defending themselves against a Russian invasion, I just have major reservations about getting too involved and feel there is likely a great deal of corruption involved.  Someone made the point that a few European countries have given them more than us.  I am curious if we are giving additional aid money to those countries on the back side to buy newer planes and tanks.  I also think we likely have a lot more hands on involvement there than is publicly stated. 

I heard others say last night that Desantis sounded good when we ran on his record in Florida which I agree with.  If he doesn't get any traction soon, I hope he drops out to focus on holding Florida.   Niki Haley sounded decent overall.  Pence didn't sound good.  The others didn't stand out to me.

[Boomhauer]

Haley just *expletive deleted*ed up.

https://www.businessinsider.com/nikki-haley-raise-us-retirement-age-2023-8

Most people are already pretty pissed that they are forced to contribute to social security and not see the money until 65/67 so further screwing with it is not exactly a great idea.

[MillCreek]

^^^Something that my wife and I ponder is if Social Security may be means tested in our lifetime. We are paying more for Medicare as 'high earners', which I consider means testing.  Will the Social Security payouts follow this precedent?

[HankB]

^^^Something that my wife and I ponder is if Social Security may be means tested in our lifetime. We are paying more for Medicare as 'high earners', which I consider means testing.  Will the Social Security payouts follow this precedent?

Reagan imposed taxes on up to 50% of SS benefits, and Clinton upped that to 85%. Isn't that means testing enough?

Also, Social Security is based on what a person contributes during their WORKING life. Welfare is handed out without regard to WORK. And only the Almighty knows how much we're spending to provide benefits to illegal aliens and how much we're sending overseas to bolster Ukraine's pension system.

Why don't we transfer the money being spent on all this other crap to the Social Security trust fund?

[Hawkmoon]

Why don't we transfer the money being spent on all this other crap to the Social Security trust fund?

I'm sure that's racist ... somehow.