Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Ben on November 11, 2015, 04:14:24 PM
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I watched both of them last night. Rather than go into detail, my Executive summary from my POV is:
Kids table:
Jindal is done. While the other three candidates all fairly harmoniously promoted conservative values over what the Dems are offering, he spent his time attacking the other Republicans in kind of a whiny and desperate way.
Huckabee once again said stuff I was 90% in agreement with, but I still can't put my finger on exactly why I can't vote for the guy.
Santorum actually had some good policy points, but he's never gonna get the poll numbers.
Christie made some eloquent points on the fiscal side, and made some very good arguments against Hillary. Once again though, he let his "police state" side show, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if he created one the day after he was elected.
Big table:
People said Bush did better than in all the previous debates, however I had zero time for him and fast forwarded through all his air time so have no idea what he said. :)
Kasich needs to give it up. He came off as a desperate, obnoxious boor who was promoting establishment talking points - of both the Rs and Ds.
Rubio once again came off as eloquent and prepared, and seemed to say the "right" mainstream things, and I'm betting right now that the Republican establishment is going to make him their guy.
Fiorina once again came off as presidential, and again gave good, specific answers, though she really didn't have any outstanding moments here IMO.
Carson was slightly more forceful, but his overall calm and contemplative demeanor still dominated. I would choose him for my brain surgeon every time, but while calm and contemplative is *A* good presidential quality, it can't be the only, or even predominate one. There's got to be some, "I dare you to cross the line" fire, and he just doesn't have that.
Cruz came off much better than in previous debates. As one commentor on a site I read said, "less like a fire and brimstone preacher". He was able to get good, conservative talking points and ideas across in a palatable and more likeable manner. He also gave clear and concise hard answers to questions, versus being nebulous.
Trump was a nicer version of Trump. I didn't really see anything new.
Rand Paul came off a good deal less "desperate to get a word in" and interacted better regarding disagreements with his opponents. One point where he impressed me was in arguing against increased military funding. A "trillion dollars" was being tossed around. I don't know where it came from. In his argument, he asked how someone can be a true fiscal conservative if they don't consider military cuts, or at least level funding while they are talking about cutting everything else. He argued for a strong military, but against just throwing money at them simply to "support our military". I find that hard to argue with, as DoD bureaucrats are as good as any other bureaucrats at wasting money. Disappointingly to me, all the other candidates ganged up on him with the establishment, "our military gets whatever they want" attitude.
Synopsis (again, IMO): Cruz is beginning to break himself out in a good way. With a year to go, I think he has a good chance to gather support and overtake the current front-runners. All the pundits and establishment people seem to be rallying around Rubio. Mainstream popularity might be leaning towards Carson, but like I said, I'm not sure he has the juice to push through. If I were a betting man, at this point I would say the establishment R's are going to do everything they can to make Rubio the guy.
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Kasich needs to give it up. He came off as a desperate, obnoxious boor who was promoting establishment talking points - of both the Rs and Ds.
What bugs me is that Kasich keeps telling everyone how he balanced the Federal budget.
Well.
Take a look at the year-by-year national debt at http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm)
You'll see that for each year Kasich "balanced" the budget the national debt increased.
Sure, the national debt has public and intragovernmental components which varied, but the bottom line is that if you end the year owing more in total than you did at the beginning . . . you did NOT balance the budget.
I won't vote for him.
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I will say (other than Kasich :laugh: ) pretty much all the candidates are really hammering a flat or otherwise simplified tax code. Everything from Cruz's elimination of the IRS to Fiorina's three page tax code.
I do at least appreciate that solidarity regarding our messed up tax codes and the IRS. I'm not sure I have much faith in any of them actually being able to do anything about it. If nothing else, they have to work with a milquetoast Republican dominated congress who folds the second a Democrat looks at them funny.
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Not sure how Kasich is up there when Walker and Perry are not. He's nobody, and I say this after voting for him twice here.
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Jindal, Huckabee, Santorum, Kasich, Christie, they just need to go ahead and drop out now. They may be running but they aren't pushing hard for it.
I don't see Bush making it much longer.
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I don't see Bush making it much longer.
I guess you haven't heard:
http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=50086.0
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Someone commented above about another year. The Republican primary starts in January or February. Super Tuesday is in March/April. In 6 months, the a lot of states will have voted already. If they do New Hampshire in January, we have about 2 months before voting starts.
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Someone commented above about another year. The Republican primary starts in January or February. Super Tuesday is in March/April. In 6 months, the a lot of states will have voted already. If they do New Hampshire in January, we have about 2 months before voting starts.
Iowa and New Hampshire will thin the herd by a lot. Iowa is February 1 and New Hampshire is Feb 9th.
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Iowa and New Hampshire will thin the herd by a lot. Iowa is February 1 and New Hampshire is Feb 9th.
This. There won't be an undercard/"kiddie table" debate after Feb 12th, and the top of the field will be winnowed quite a bit. It'll be down to Trump, Carson, Cruz, Fiorina, and Rubio by then. Bush might still be around, but his numbers will be tanking.
And yes, I see the establishment R's dumping Jeb! and moving to Rubio. I'm sorry, but Rubio just doesn't strike me as ready for the Big Chair.
Cruz/Fiorina 2016 !!!
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Cruz/Anybody.
Cruz/Carson would provide us the spectacle of the girl Democrat running against Hispanic and black presidential running mates. I'm sure the media would play up the historic nature of the Republican candidates. ;/
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Cruz/Anybody.
Cruz/Carson would provide us the spectacle of the girl Democrat running against Hispanic and black presidential running mates. I'm sure the media would play up the historic nature of the Republican candidates. ;/
What is the Hispanic equivalent of "Uncle Tom"?
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What is the Hispanic equivalent of "Uncle Tom"?
Tio Tomas!
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What is the Hispanic equivalent of "Uncle Tom"?
Coconut?
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That's it, brown on the outside, white on the inside.
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I'm sorry, but Rubio just doesn't strike me as ready for the Big Chair.
That seems to be the analysis of a lot of the experts as well. If Jeb wasn't failing so spectacularly, the establishment would still be looking at him now, and Rubio would be in their "rising star, ready for a run in 4-8 years guy.
It's going to be interesting watching what the RNC and the rest of the establishment do if pretty much anyone else is the nominee. My take is that they really don't like any of the "outsiders" at all. I'm really, really hoping they don't show lackluster support, but sometimes I think the establishment would rather see Hillary in the big chair than Cruz.
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That's it, brown on the outside, white on the inside.
I thought the term currently in vogue is "oreo cookie" . . .
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I thought the term currently in vogue is "oreo cookie" . . .
That would be Carson.
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Would Fiorina be considered a manicotti (Italian on the outside, white & cheesy inside)?
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What is the Hispanic equivalent of "Uncle Tom"?
White Hispanic? ???