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Republican Debate Grade: F
Politics isn’t bean bag. You win or you lose. It’s not school, whereby with even a D-minus, you still pass. That’s a false standard and scale. My grading system for politics is Pass/Fail.
Many are giving grades out to the participants of this farce, this reality-show theatre to the ‘candidates,’ the actors, the contestants in the game show. This is little more than The Apprentice with Bret Baier as interlocutor and some other spin master-witch, playing a bad version of Ivanka, compelling grown men to raise their hands like schoolchildren. They are the power. Make no mistake.
Like any reality show, the participants selected are a mix of ingredients, handpicked by the producers for best effect. It’s Real Housewives minus the Botox.
Everyone is on the show for a reason, and people are fired and filtered out for a reason. Like on “Survivor.”
How was Larry Elder excluded and this nobody inserted? Do these rules make sense, and do you trust them more than reality show manipulators? It’s a show (sponsored by Pfizer).
What didn’t they talk about? What questions weren’t asked?
Who is in the live audience?
It’s professional wrestling.
Will blowhard Christie smack down policy wonk DeSantis?
Will Nikki Haley prove women can be smart and know a lot about foreign policy? And cook for the family?!
Mike Pence will use his sword of spirit to slay the Democrat dragon!
Then Vivek will explain things to people, many of whom can’t follow a simple line of logic, and be afraid to vote for him because he hurts their brains when he talks.
And what will they say about Trump?
Tune in and find out!
The Republican Party and Fox News conspired to put on a show which had preconditions to close options for candidates running in the Republican Party. The front runner was excluded and the also-rans got to perform, and then they all pretend it’s important.
Published in General
We haven’t had a real/fair debate in my lifetime . To call these things debate’s is absurd !
You can see it as a debate between the media position, and the candidates position.
They either agree or they disagree with the premise. If they disagree, they become enemies immediately. Ron Paul, Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump and if he gets more popularity, Vivek.
Some can try to rhetorically finesse but they will be continually badgered and pinned-down. We know where that tactic leads. They get overwhelmed and subsumed by the media monster.
One of the past fake debates had a great moment when Ted Cruz shot his Cruz missile at the inquisitors . If we had real republicans , all the inquisitors would be treated with contempt .
Alas, Cruz settled in and became a “Statesman” .
I miss Newt.
So, what subjects were NOT discussed? Like, does anyone care about gas prices anymore? Inflation in general?
And whose fault was that?
It was a trap just like the fox debate in 2016, and the pledge was a trap for a potential crooked primary. Ie taking Trump off the ballot in some states because of the trumped up legal issues that crooked DA’s and the injustice dept. have cooked up.
There was also the controversy of Fox not allowing other news outlets of using clips. The GOP should not have debates with exclusive outlets. That is dumb. The GOP is dumb.
Well, I went ahead and watched the whole thing. Vivek was great; he was the only one who said Trump’s was a political prosecution. DeSantis was okay though completely scripted, but his points were good. But when asked, Hutchinson and Christie said they would renege on their pledges and would not support Trump if he was the nominee; Hutchinson if Trump were convicted, and Christie regardless of the verdicts because Trumps behavior was beneath the dignity of the office.
So much for these two candidates honoring their pledged words. What else might they be promising that they have no intention of keeping.
Yes! I had not thought about it this way. All a rich show.
I’ve also already seen the first article to say along the lines of the detrump gets elected who’ll be such a lame doc from day one that’ll be ineffective.
I wonder if that is going to be the next tact
Yours
Remember the rule: We’re supposed to hold our nose and vote for whatever Republican they give us. They aren’t bound by that rule.
Only in California could a “D minus minus minus” have been a passing grade.
I didn’t search out the debate. The Party doesn’t inspire any confidence or that they learned anything from the Trump administration. There’s no talk about securing the election and fixing what went wrong in 2020. They appear to have blinders on and think all will be well in 2024 if they continue down the same path that they always have.
I haven’t watched it either. I might.
Wholly agree about BS Fox terms of exclusivity and the deafening silence on the thorneist problem now. This country is about to melt down from government abuse of large and small alike, provided they align country class not ruling class, and last decade’s platitudes warm nobody’s heart.
A trap? Sorry, I’m afraid I’m not following.
First off, did you read the post? You cherry-picked one phrase.
Have you ever been presented a document to sign whereby it was not in your interest to sign? Reading the fine print? You could call that a “trap” . That’s what a trap is in this context.
So Trump who is far ahead in the polls, the former President and virtual incumbent is supposed to ‘debate’ these vipers, also-rans and political whores and sign a pledge to back them if they were the nominee? Are you kidding me?
These people have already gone against the spirit of that pledge and there’s no way they (some of them) mean it, since they’ve already worked against Trump in public and in private. Of course, they will not be vilified for reneging, but Trump would. There should be no requirement for candidates to sign such a pledge anyway.
The other reason Trump didn’t show is because Fox News is openly hostile to him and his candidacy. Fox is the designated Republican kingmaker (for some reason) and they have clearly rejected Trump. So why should Trump show up?
As the post asserts, it’s a complete farce. A reality show. But apparently that’s also something you are unable to follow.
Yes, Franco’s point is perfectly made by the so-called lightning round at the end. Odd questions, a different one each to each contestant. Purely game show entertainment, or maybe farcically “ending on a light note”. And no one, even Christie, deserves a joking question about UFOs in their final question. He answered it well by sidestepping it, but it was unworthy of the occasion, showing the whole “debate” to be clearly a dog and pony show.
I did, and I mostly agree with it: televised debates are stupid. I “cherry-picked” the part I disagreed with, i.e. that it seems odd to me to say Trump was “excluded” when he was invited and declined to attend.
Fair enough, thanks for the explanation.
I absolutely hate these pledges and hand raising questions. They are gotcha moments and not worthy of a debate. I liked when De Santis (I think) refused and said “we’re not school children.”
I watched the debate and liked listening to the candidates. Would prefer no moderators. Just a referee to break up physical altercations and to turn off their mikes if everyone talks at once.
I’d prefer they be allowed to shock each other like in that classic Simpsons episode.
And they got a refund, plus a free TV out of it!
The day after the debate I was driving somewhere and twiddling the radio dial. I hit on Clay Travis saying that Bergum and Hutchinson had no business on the debate stage. I laughed because someone at ricochet had said that morning that Bergum was the only “A” grade on the stage. I twiddled the dial a bit more and found a good local college station broadcasting some good music. I have no opinion on the debate because I didn’t waste my time listening.
Exactly!
One night in the 1980’s, a Chicago PBS station aired the Kennedy/Nixon debate of 1960.
I had by that time already been brain washed that this debate was what had cost Nixon the Oval Office. That while under the camera, he looked haggard, spoke haltingly and possessed none of the Kennedy mystique.
But watching these two men debate, I was floored.
Both men were articulate and on their game. Their platforms were explained intelligently, not in sound byte clips but as fully thought out policies which would be beneficial for the public good.
They listened to each other. At times they agreed. When they did disagree it was done politely and with good humor.
The film clip was in black and white. After all, in 1960 few households if any had color TV’s. It was not possible for the average individual to tell that Kennedy was tanned and healthy looking while Nixon looked pale. (If that was even the case!)
All seeing this did was confirm to me that our nation has been dumbed down, and politicians no longer bother to treat the public like we have so much as a brain cell to share among ourselves.
Trump was the first president in a long time to be his “authentic” self and to figure out that people were smart and could understand where he was coming from. This is possibly the Number One reason that the neoCons and libs hate him with a passion.
Carol Joy,
Odd political fact; JFK and Nixon were very good friends when they were in the Senate together and not far apart politically. Nixon was very upset that he had to miss Kennedy’s wedding because it was one of the three times he had to play golf with Ike as VP.
Them were the days when the Dems weren’t hyper partisan .
Great Post. Vivek was the only one who deserved to be on that stage. To not address the Stalinist Police State censorship, wall to wall propaganda and the disgusting Stalinist prosecutions of innocent Americans is an insult to the American people.
The HORROR! Political candidates working against each other. Republicans should be required to bow down and kiss Trump’s feet. Kind of like in Uzbekistan where all the “opposition” presidential candidates endorse the dictator for president before the election. Or did you mean something else?
Do you really think that’s what Franco is saying? Are you only being so sarcastic because you have nothing else to say.