I missed the last GOP debate and the dynamics have changed over the past two weeks but I have been struck by a few things tonight:
the ferocity of the anti-Obama SCOTUS opening minutes;
Trump in full melt down;
the strength of Bush’s fight, and to a lesser extent Kasich. Kasich has been especially good when he gets to talk at length, a man who thinks in complete sentences. Since he does not use the names of his opponents, they do not get the easy rebuttal;
Rubio is holding his own, which is not enough if the GOP establishment looks at Trump (yuck), Cruz (yuck) and a bunch of other guys. Rubio needs, Bush needs, Kasich needs the old guard to decide one of them is their choice. It ain’t gonna happen based on tonight’s debate. But Bush has a better funded super PAC which keeps him alive longer than Kasich and maybe Rubio.
Rafael Cruz sounds pretty, ahh, “bushy.” I hope he is the GOP nominee.
And Carson sounds like he belongs on the old Sesame Street.
…but I figured it would open with them all trying to show how only they would nominate a justice even further right than Scalia, and how dare the sitting President with almost a full year left in office even think about nominating a replacement.
Not their ideas. Their ideas don’t even matter compared to their behavior — this debate could be in Japanese and I would be horrified. They are yelling at each other, stabbing fingers at each other, muttering…it’s like a group of old men squabbling over the last bench in the park. I can’t imagine thinking any of these guys with the nuclear launch codes.
Moderators need to shut off their mics when it’s not the candidates’ turn. At least Kasich and Carson have shown some understanding of civil discourse.
Often during this game show I wondered why CBS did not have a mic kill switch in active use.
Trump basically repeated, entirely accurately in my view, the notionthat the the Iraq War gave rise to ISIL, destabilized the region, costed thousands of lives and trillions of dollars and called Bush a liar right to his face. Never thought I’d see so much truth accidentally on display at a Republican debate, especially with Trump as the truth teller.
I am totally on board with that, but are we both probably wondering if he would make an entirely different argument against Obama and HRC if they face off in the fall.
Naww. I am not wondering.