Here’s the live blog for the first Republican debate. Just five little mini-mes here, but it should be fun!
8:03-Tim Pawlenty asked if he still thinks Obama looks weak after killing Bin Laden. Repeats lie that torture led to catching Bin Laden. Plays the scary U.N. card. Seemed to imply that, yes, Obama still looks weak after killing Bin Laden.
8:04-Only Herman Cain wouldn’t put out a picture of a dead Bin Laden.
8:05-Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Loving Rick Santorum trying to rationalize how Bush really got Bin Laden. God I forgot how shrill that man was…
8:07-Lots of Paulbots in the audience. Bet Republicans love that.
8:09-The Fox News strategy for this debate seems to be “Let’s focus on Obama and not the Republicans…”
8:10-Gary Johnson “I was against Iraq”…Then where the fuck were you when we were fighting against Bush and his war policies? Asshole.
8:11-Chris Wallace calls Santorum on his Islamophobia. “As a Catholic this is a tough term to say…’Reformation’.” I shit you not, he said that!
8:13-Hmm…Al Jazeera, Tunisia, Egypt, the overthrow of Musharraf, the rest of the Jasmine Revolution….why do we need to be involved in this again Mr. Santorum? Oh yeah, God told you to…
8:14-Wallace tries to pick a fight between Paul and Pawlenty. Paultards are wild for their man. Should get interesting. Wallace calls Pawlenty on waterboarding flip flop.
8:17-Fight over waterboarding. Mixture of boos and applause from audience. Someone shouted “It’s illegal!” FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!!!
8:21-Johnson wants to abolish corporate income taxes. You know, the ones corporations don’t pay…
8:22-Herman Cain says President lied when he said he couldn’t do anything about gas prices in the short run. Offers a long term plan as a solution…
8:23-And RomneyCare comes up with Mittens not around to defend himself! Pawlenty takes the punch!…Scratch that. He started to go for it and then let it go. Way to miss getting your name in the headlines TPaw.
8:24-Random pretty blond Fox anchor words a question to defend Bush’s Medicare Part D.
8:25-Paultards love Ron Paul because of his foreign policy and drug war positions. Now they’re asking him about domestic stuff. Bet his supporters stick their fingers in their ears and start saying “La la la la la…”
8:27-AH HA HA HA HA HA! “Coming up, we’ll be asking these candidates about potential candidates that aren’t here!”
8:31-Santorum: Health care apparently equals slavery, which our founders were against…Really?
8:32-Default/debt limit question here. I hope Rick Crawford is watching this.
8:35-Herman Cain advocates national sales tax.
8:35-Oh my God! Lol! Gary Johnson is whining about not getting questions and waving his hands around hysterically!
8:37-Is it just me or does Chris Wallace have it in for Tim Pawlenty? Seems to be going after him hard on this fact checking stuff…To bad it’s a rare moment…
8:41-So wait a minute Ricky…Knowing English means you can’t learn a second language? What? Huh? Most powerful language on Earth? Did I really hear that or did I imagine it?
8:42-More brown bashing. Gee, who’d have guessed?
8:44-Cain says Obama supported Khadafi initially. Umm…when?
8:46-You know, Obama’s foreign policy approaches have a long history of turning out to be right in the end after being doggedly attacked by Republicans. Bin Laden, Egypt, taking out the pirates in Somalia, etc. all good examples. So what do these clowns do if Libya turns out to be one of those instances?
8:47-Santorum can’t explain his Pakistan policy…
So far it looks like TPaw and Santorum will bring back Neocon policies. Paul and Johnson are isolationists or near isolationists of course. Not clear where Cain falls in that dynamic.
8:51-Some debate. Each candidate gets a different question. No real interaction, or at least very little of it.
8:54-Gay bashing time.
8:57-Johnson gets booed for being prochoice.
8:59-Santorum blasts Mitch Daniels, not on stage, for his call for a “truce on social issues.”
9:02-Umm…the Republicans are already the union busters.
9:04-Paul joins the union busters…surprise surprise.
9:05-Pawlenty dodges question on evolution. Wants to talk unions. Finally figures out how to answer the question.
9:06-Wallace is busting Pawlenty’s chops again on his flip flopping, including cap and trade. Someone in the audience boos. Yeah, TPaw isn’t going to make it past Iowa IMO.
9:08-Is that fake southern accent Pawlenty’s used slipping through?
9:09-Santorum tries to distance himself from his past attacks on working women. Totally lying about what he said in his book.
9:12-I think Ron Paul is on heroin…
9:17-If the GOP is so concerned about jobs and gas prices why isn’t the Republican House doing something about it rather than redefining rape?
9:19-More questions coming on candidates that aren’t there…pics of Bachmann, Gingrich, Trump, Huckabee, and Romney put up. No Palin. Fox trying to protect Saint Sarah?
9:23-Time to talk about the guys not running.
9:25-Gingrich’s affairs and divorces get brought up. Santorum defends him.
9:26-“If you had a reality TV show like Donald Trump what would it be?” My God this is really fucking stupid.
9:27-Closing statements…should have come before the reality TV thing.
Conclusion: This debate was a total joke. Most of the candidates were total jokes. But that was the point of tuning in and doing the live blog-entertainment. Won’t be able to blog all of these, nor will many of them be this fun, but at least the first one was somewhat enjoyable.
Initially, I had thought Ron Johnson might be a serious version of Ron Paul. Not thinking that so much now. He and Paul won’t get anywhere in this, but they’ll at least provide some fun. Santorum you would think would appeal to social conservatives so much as to gain traction, but I really don’t think he has the personality to gain traction after watching this. Cain meanwhile actually surprised me. He came across as one of the few serious candidates in the room and struck the right notes for his audience. I doubt he gains any traction as the field grows, but who knows? Cain for VP maybe?
I figured a long time ago that Pawlenty would fizzle out, dropping out after losing Iowa or, if he thinks he can pull off a win in NH, after losing both Iowa and New Hampshire. After seeing him tonight, with all the hits he took for his flip flops, I’m more convinced than ever that I am right about that. And I bet the treatment he got will be just a preview for what’s in store for Mitt Romney.
And the winner is… Fox News focus group overwhelmingly throw support to Herman Cain after seeing him in the debate. (Told you he hit the right notes.) Apparently, only one person in the room supported him before the debate.
I’m very disappointed in Gary Johnson’s performance in the debate. A more serious Ron Paul would be good for political discourse in this country. I’d read several articles on him, but never seen him in a setting like this. Too bad he had that Tom Tancredo thing going on where the person’s onscreen/onstage anxiety infects me while I’m watching it. Yikes.
The focus group results were not surprising Herman Cain said exactly what a typical Republican wants, basically vague junk like calling himself a “problem-solver” and talking about “defining the right problem” in a forceful voice that makes him sound tough and manly.
“Herman Cain said exactly what a typical Republican wants, basically vague junk like calling himself a “problem-solver” and talking about “defining the right problem” in a forceful voice that makes him sound tough and manly.
LMAO!!!
If that were true we all woould have voted for OBAMANATION.