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Home » There’s a GOP debate tonight

There’s a GOP debate tonight

The New Neo Posted on by

And Trump won’t be there.

It will be interesting to see what dynamics emerge among the others.

Comments

There’s a GOP debate tonight — 39 Comments

  3. It was at the Repub debate in 2016 that Trump made fools of his 19 opponents, by pressing solid ideas like border guarding instead of all the mushmouthed say-nothings by the other candidates.

    Hopefully the Rs will move beyond their hopes of ‘our turn at the trough’, and actually make statements about governance at least 1/2 as clear as one A. Lincoln was known to do. Maybe they’re even address the stupidity of the Inflation Reduction Act, and note the disasters it’s wreaking on the US economy via squandering subsidies on favored industries, and the imminent trillion-dollar annual interest burden on the budget.

  5. At least Ramaswamy actually called climate change a hoax. First non-mealy mouth statement on the issue I’ve heard from any candidate over many years.

  6. My first choice, Gov. Burgum, is participating, thankfully, despite his injury today. Nevertheless, I’m not watching. I’ve always hated these clown shows, even when I was a Democrat. The addition of real time commentary and tweeting makes it all the more clownish.

    I did see the clip of DeSantis’s commenting on the ‘Rich Men’ song, which was excellent. But that’s it for tonight. I’ll read the reviews of this comic opera tomorrow.

  8. Ackler – This is the first I’ve seen of Burgum. I’m impressed. Unfortuntely, his style doesn’t fit the modern zeitgeist very well. It’s a shame.

  9. It’s 9PM here, so I guess I missed most of the debate. Well then, time for a shot of a very good Single Malt to make me feel better about missing the debate. NOT

  11. Well then, time for a shot of a very good Single Malt to make me feel better about missing the debate. NOT

    SHIREHOME:

    Stephen Green does his usual drunkblogging thing. He advises readers that he is drinking Jura 10-year-old neat.

    I happen to have a bottle of same in the cupboard collecting dust, so I pulled it out for a small one with lots of ice. (Not really a scotch guy.)

    Cheers!

  12. Bauxite, I kind of wanted to like him; but that didn’t stand the test.
    He certainly rehearsed the theatrical gestures. Maybe he heard the line that some are peddling that DeSantis was not entertaining enough to be President.
    Whoever told him to smile probably regrets that advice.

    I can’t fairly call this a farce because I didn’t watch enough. I left when they let it become a conversation between Pence and Ramaswamy. It is possible that it got better, but I have a low tolerance.

    I would have liked to hear more from Gov Burgum, but he didn’t get a word in before I bolted. I suspect he won’t get more than a minute.

    It was kind of interesting to hear Haley running against Republicans in her opening shot. Maybe that will sell, who knows?

    It looked as though Pence was going to be the surrogate whipping boy for the shortcomings of the Trump Administration.

    I suspect this farce (oops I said it) will benefit Trump more than anyone else. Guess he learned from Biden. Don’t engage, and you won’t make mistakes. Of course he still manages to blunder. Understand he pledged a 10% across the board tariff. Guess he thinks the Chinese, et al, will eat that 10% and not pass it along to the cash strapped American public who are utterly dependent on their products. Nor retaliate against any exports that we have left. Of course, as is often the case, you have to try to separate the bloviating from the truth. But, he said it and may have to defend it if he ever answers questions.

    I recorded the “event”. Maybe I will go back to it some time.

  15. Cornhead:

    I thought Vivek was awful. He acted like he’d swallowed an entire bottle of speed. He said things were simple that aren’t. He has no idea what he doesn’t know – for me, the same impression as before.

    My impression is that those who already liked Vivek really liked him in the debate. Those he didn’t, really don’t.

  16. huxley–

    Scotch rather than vin ordinaire? You’ll end up speaking French with a Scottish burr.

  19. I like Ramaswamey. His ‘ten commandments’ are right on.

    What I do not like, and you may call me a racist if you like, is the invasion of Indians into our politics. The Prime Minister of Britain is of Indian origin (!), as is the mayor of London. When I say ‘our’ in this context, it refers to Western Civilization. There is no reason that an Indian should be the PM of Britain. Are there not enough white British people that can rise above and become the PM there? Have Eton and Oxford closed their doors? I have nothing against Sunak, but there are a great number of fine young native British people that have much deeper roots in the history of England than any Indian. Churchill and Thatcher come to mind.

    I have nothing in particular against Hindu Indians (Muslim Indians/Pakistanis are a different matter). In my career as a computer programmer, I was surrounded by Indians. I have more experience dealing with Indians than probably most of the readers of this blog.

    The Indians are, amongst other things, unaware of the great boon that our ancestors granted us, such as freedom of speech and limited government. I do not wish to be derogatory, but they are nepotistic, without being aware of their nepotism. It is simply the way they have been raised, the way they are, and I do not wish to impute any nefarious motive to them. However, it is a great disservice to the west to allow them to take over positions of great political influence.

    Erronius

  20. Comment at ACE from ND resident (edited for language):

    Burgum is a *** RINO. I genuinely don’t think he can even be re-elected at this point.

    He’s a tech guy, sold his company to MSFT for a couple billion. Snaked into the debate by giving out $20 gift cards for a $1 donation. Gates is also backing his campaign.

    He vetoed our school choice bill, after looking our school administrator in the face and saying he’d sign it if it got to his desk. Burned half his good will in the legislature on that too.

    Was dragged into the trans fight by the legislature, he didn’t lead on any of that, so don’t let him ***** you.

    Has really accomplished nothing. He also doesn’t want to support an abortion ban because he actually supports it, he just pretends to be a conservative and comes up with conservative sounding answers to justify it. His school choice veto?;

    “It didn’t go far enough”

    Don’t listen to the small town shtick, he’s a product of Fargo, which is like the only blue county in the entire **** state.

    I wish you guys could have seen the comments on his announcement to run on the local pages, he was getting DRAGGED.

  21. Whatever you think of their message or candidacies, Burgum and Christie were the only candidates who sounded like human beings rather than wind-up sound byte machines. Christie’s joke about UFOs and New Jersey was particularly humanizing, and completely unscripted.

    DeSantis has a great message and a great record. He needs to avoid looking so angry. He comes off as shrill. His vibe is “nerd.” That’s complely OK, but he needs to own it. “Angry nerd” isn’t going to get him very far. He needs to look a more comfortable in his own skin. A little self-deprecating humor would go a long way. For example, it was pretty clear from his comments that he, himself, was not a Navy Seal, but it looked like he was trying to collect some reflected glory from the Seals. (I think DeSantis was a JAG Corps lawyer assigned to a Seal unit.) He should try something like this, “As you can clearly see from looking at me, I was not a Navy Seal, but I did have the great privilege of serving with a Seal Unit in Iraq and here’s what I learned. . .”

    Pence has no political future and his preachy manorism is grating, even when I agree with what he’s saying. I wish it weren’t true, but his religiousity will not play well beyond a relatively small sliver of the electorate.

    Christie isn’t my candidate, but he spoke the truth about Trump. There is power in truth.

    I like Tim Scott a lot, but I think he was just OK.

    Haley would beat Joe Biden, Gavin Newsome, or whoever else. She drones on a bit, but she doesn’t back down. (But she fights!)

    Ramaswamy is a dumpster fire. I understand the tendency in recent years for people on the right to go for fresh faced charalatans who tell them what they want to hear, but it’s getting old. I’m tired of losing elections to Democrats because we spend so much time dealing with crazy.

    And speaking of crazy, over on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter Trump was musing about civil war and praising all of the peace and love on J6. Because that’s exactly how to win over swing voters! (And this just days after the Trumpers were on DeSantis for supposedly misspeaking about “listless vessels.”)

    What is clear to me about the debate is that there were at least four very solid potential conservative presidents at the debate last night. What a waste that we’re going to ride the Trump train over a cliff instead.

  22. Watched part of the Clown Show because SWMBO insisted on watching…

    My take: Christie and Pence were awful beyond belief, completely disqualified themselves from even being elected as gong farmers…for different reasons, but equally bad. Christie’s essentially racist attacks on Ramaswamey should have been beyond the pale and roundly condemned by everyone, but, of course, weren’t.

    SWMBO liked Burgum, me less so. Not awful, but about as likely to be nominated as William Jennings Bryan after the Scopes trial….

    Ramaswamey said some true and useful things (climate change is a hoax…that is certainly true as far as anthropomorphic climate change, though the climate is always changing and we don’t understand it….) but I did not find him convincing as a candidate with solutions.

    Scott is a good man who has reached his level of incompetence in the Senate and should stay there. Not tough enough, not substantive enough. But has a solid bio of achievement before politics.

    Hutchinson not a bad guy, but can’t take him seriously.

    DeSantis did well at times, less well at others. I like him as governor of Florida and think we would be better off if he stays as governor to keep the state red if the Dims steal the 2024 election.

    Haley overperformed expectations in a number of areas, and did a great job in SC a long time ago…. I am uncomfortable with her war-mongering, however. I think she would be a good VP.

    Unfortunately, that kind of leaves me with Trump – whose policies I generally approved of. But, and it’s a big but, his understandable desire for payback and the hatred for him which is so wide outside of the base – which includes the infamous ‘suburban women’ factor – that I worry he can’t win what will be a rigged general election…a fair one isn’t even a slam dunk….

    Sigh… None of the Above?

    Dims are going to end up running Newsom or Michelle Obama…it will be bad….

  23. Concerned Conservative™ likes Christie becauce Christie has the OMBs too. Shocked, truly shocked I be.

  24. I looked over the pundits reaction at CNN this morning. The consensus over there is that Haley is “da bomb”. Interesting who the left thinks won and is the best. BTW, they despised Vivek and DeSantis; ignored the rest. Take that for what you will.

    For myself, I think both Ramaswamy and DeSantis tried “too hard”, but I liked DeSantis a bit more, but as mentioned above, thank you Vivek for calling out climate change. On the opposite side…no way to Haley with “climate change is real”. I’m not a one item voter, but anyone who endorses the climate madness is gone in my view. Pence and Christie were just annoying. Scott OK, and Burgum surprised me. The field needs to be winnowed. I don’t have a clear choice. I won’t vote for Trump in the primary as I see that giving the Ds another 4-8 years in the general; he’s toxic to a majority of the public.

  25. om – You can tell that Christie spent years on his feat in a courtroom. His communication skills were the best on the stage last night, messages aside. On Trump, it’s not OMB to point out crazy, boorish behavior. Sorry.

    CatoRenasci – I share your concerns about war mongering. Haley and Christie were particularly guilty on that point. I’m sorry, I just don’t see anything suggesting that Putin is spoiling for war with NATO. It’s not always 1938. I’m a little more concerned that we might blunder our way into 1914.

  26. vivek did very good, cutting up christie, who along with hutchinson, serves the deep state, pence was beyond embarassing,

  27. if we were serious about war, but look who’s in charge, seriously, although the last 20 years have proven the less competent the more you get promoted see austin and milley

  28. If I were in charge of debates I would change the rules on time allotments and rebuttals. When candidate A is asked a question only his/her microphone is on. At the end of his/her time allotment their microphone is turned off. If candidate B was mentioned by candidate A, after candidate A’s time is up candidate B’s microphone is turned on for the agreed rebuttal time allotment.
    Pence continuously overran his time, interrupted other candidates (especially VR) and generally acted like an asinine clown. He’s dead to me.
    Christie is lucky that any other candidate didn’t simply say “Bridge. Gate.”

  29. @miguel cervantes: The roots of the current level of incompetence at the upper reaches of our officer corps lie in the Clinton administration. Clinton retired >100 general officers and started promoting much more politically. Conservatives were not promoted, especially at flag rank, but it reached down to the field grade. The current senior officers were either junior field grade or upper company grade who saw the handwriting on the wall…Bush II, unfortunately, was not successful at reversing all of this…he, like his father, saw the military in the old not overtly political mold and tried to do that, rather than weed out the far lefties. Obama’s 8 years means that a junior officer who came on active duty in 1993 had 19 years of very partisan Democrats in a 31 year career, 8 years of non partisan thinking Bush, and 4 years of Trump, who was distracted by attacks…. His or her key promotion periods: to field grade, to full colonel/captain, to flag rank, were under Democratic control.

  30. Trump and Carlson showed why I really don’t like either anymore. I think it is beyond low class for Trump to skip the debate, and then for he and his Shill to “stage” their little tete a tete to conflict.

    On the other hand, it would be hard to blame any candidate for saying, “I am not going to participate in that kind of charade.”

    If FNC wanted to do a service, have each willing candidate on individually for an in depth Q&A with Brit Hume. IMO, only Brit Hume.

  31. I didn’t watch. Reading the comments here, it’s hard to believe y’all were watching the same event.

  32. As one deplorable politician recently said, “At this point, what difference does it make?” Unless we can somehow stop the impending steal of the 2024 presidential election it makes no difference at all. And they have been improving their theft tactics (e.g. the 2022 midterms) so well that I fear there is little or no chance, no matter whom either the GOP or Dem candidates are. I did like Vivek, simply because he, like Trump, is the only non-politician in the mix. And BTW, climate change is a hoax.

  33. Does anyone think the Oliver Anthony vote will matter? The black male vote? Hispanics?

    Does anyone who hangs out here know any of these people? Do they read or listen to any pundits who know these people?

    My take is that the CNN, college campus and NR tea and crumpets folks will be a lot less influential in 2024 than the Oliver Anthony working class folks of all colors.

    I also suspect that Trump’s campaign appearances will see substantially higher turnouts than 2020 (imagine that). They will resemble Taylor Swift concerts. And the folks massing in huge numbers to see him aren’t going to swallow a stolen election by a zombie living in the basement.

    It may well be that the best possible way to combat vote fraud is for Trump to make it a critical aspect of his campaign and implore those attending his rallies to volunteer as election workers to keep the thieves honest.

  34. I didn’t watch (no cable), but what I’m hearing is that Ramaswamy called “the climate change agenda” a hoax, which isn’t quite the same as calling climate change, or possible changes in the climate, a hoax.

    Ramaswamy may be a “message candidate” like … well … Steve Forbes is a name that comes to mind. I don’t see Vivek going the whole distance, but he can hold other candidates’ feet to the fire and make them answer difficult questions. He may be making the “principled” approach better than DeSantis, whose strength (which Vivek lacks) is as an administrator and hands-on guy.

  35. stan seems to ask if anyone here knows any southern white males, or people in the middle to lower economic strata (the ‘workin’ man/woman).

    Oh, you mean the peers of my youth or the union folks where I work, or the craft/tradesmen at my church?

  36. Abraxas, for the candidates to answer difficult questions, someone has to ask the difficult questions; and give the candidate time to reply.

    I think Ramaswamy showed that he doesn’t have a consistent message. He says interesting things on some topics; then goes way off track on other fundamental issues. I am no fan of Christie, but I think he nailed Ramaswamy last night.
    Since young Vivek deliberately insulted the whole field, I expect that he will get the back of the hand in any future appearance. Of course that could endear him to the segments of the American electorate that prefers style over substance.

  37. I disabled my TV inputs a long time ago because the external inputs are 99% garbage, so my TV is used to view DVDs. But I’m not ignorant of events and candidates. I think Vivek is bright and has some good ideas, but I favor DeSantis as the nominee. Democrats are evil IMO and are persecuting Trump with lies and Dem persecutors like the disgusting Millis in ATL since before he took office.

  38. There is no reason that an Indian should be the PM of Britain.

    You should have spouted that one off PRIOR to the time that Indians invented the number system, transmitted by Arabs, which we gratefully use instead of Latin numerals.

    And would you run a painted Pict for prime minister instead? They got there before the Angles…

  39. “DeSantis did well at times, less well at others. I like him as governor of Florida and think we would be better off if he stays as governor to keep the state red if the Dims steal the 2024 election.”

    Florida governors can only serve two consecutive terms (though they can run again after sitting out one term), so DeSantis cannot run for Florida Governor in the next election. So even if he doesn’t end up in the White House, he cannot be governor four years from now.

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