I'm liking Kasich if indeed his record is what he says it is. He doesn't bring a ridiculousness factor like many of the others. Curious if he is popular in Ohio.
The problem with Kasich is that he appears moderate and palatable. That's a death sentence to primary voters.
Didn't watch. Just read some of the exchanges. Paul sounds the best from what I read. And Donald Trump being involved in all this still doesn't seem real. It's just insane.
LMFAO. A lot of your comments read like that scene from Moneyball when the team's manager's are describing the players they scouted in largely subjective terms.
the most insane part is by all accounts the republican to run against clinton or less likely sanders will come from this group of people. it seems more like this should be a debate for mayor of cleveland or something.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VvzoaUmyUFg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Some funny stuff. Trump thinks asking about policy knowledge is gotcha question.
He is very popular in Ohio, but he stands no chance in this primary. He is being blasted by talk radio hosts and the tea party hates him. You listen to any talk radio and you'll hear him called "lilly-livered" or "panty-waist" multiple times.
Conservatives! neither interested in conservation or restraint. It's a Brave New World. Do people just not realize the gravitas required for the office?
Sadly, he would be a real threat in the general election because of that. He truly has worked with both sides and is in a state that is about as evenly split as possible. I watched last night against my better judgement. It was as completely stupid and mindnumbing as I expected. Trump's "the kid has a fever and is now autistic" line was nothing short of comedy. Fiorina talking about how she doubled the size of HP (while leaving out it was because of the merger with Compaq) or talking about the Planned Parenthood videos showing an actual living fetus on a table were the height of hilarity. I felt like the principal from Billy Madison last night.
Review of the debate: 1) It's awesome to read all the liberals in here decide who looked presidential. Formula is basically this: more liberal a Republican sounds, more "presidential" he is according to this board 2) He didn't speak a lot, but I have to say the one candidate that bothers me the most is Ted Cruz. He is just creepy. Every response he gives is like a scripted speech with dramatic pauses. Drives me absolutely crazy. Him begging the moderator at the end to let him speak so we could hear from a "real climate change skeptic" was embarrassing. 3) Donald Trump is a buffoon. The xenophobia of a chunk of the right is really his saving grace. If he wanted to really gain some traction he should repeat some things he said in the past about black people being lazy. That might get him to 35%. Guy is a dolt. Asked specifically about things he would do with Russia and the best he can say is "I'd get along with Putin." Everything will be great. It's amazing. He's literally up there with no clue and just winging it and a chunk of the party is eating it up. 4) Ben Carson is hard to watch. All I'll say. 5) I don't get the hate for Jeb Bush last night. Thought he actually did really well. 6) John Kasich has a strong record and a strong appeal to the middle, but he will never get through the primaries. He'd have my vote today if he were running. 7) Chris Christie was on fire last night as far as I'm concerned. It's too bad the Republican base blames him for Romney losing to Obama, because he definitely looks like a fighter. I don't agree with him on mar1juana, but I can see why he can get support. The man has power. 8) Rand Paul made a lot of great arguments last night. He definitely has his appeal. 9) Carly Fiorina looked outstanding with her responses, her passion, etc. It's too bad that her record doesn't really line up with what she claims. 10) Scott Walker needs to drop out of the race. Winners: Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie Losers: Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump (though it probably doesn't matter)
Also, it is absolutely AMAZING to me that the consensus among the Republicans seems to be that we should raise taxes!
Rand Paul is still the best of the bunch and he has no chance at all. The worst of the bunch is still Trump, but he's got some competition from Huckabee and Christie.
Broad consensus seems to be forming that: 1) The taxes on at least certain types of high income earners need to go up 2) Criminal justice reform is required. Even Carly Fiorina, who couldn't be more opposed to Rand Paul on mar1juana, agreed that we need to fix our mass incarceration problem and switch to rehabilitation efforts. 3) Ted Cruz seemed to be the only one on stage who would admit to being a climate change denier.
Lindsey Graham's warhawk speech reminded me of the opening scene from Patton. I was waiting for him to say "we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the axles of our tanks." That early debate was crazy.
Trump's decline has started. He knows the end is coming but why not ride this as long as possible? The vacuum he leaves behind will be so big it's hard to predict the main beneficiary. If the Establishment decides Fiorina is legit, Bush is in deep trouble. I think one of them could emerge as the front-runner. There isn't room for both. At the same time, I still don't know if Bush can do this. Did being out of office so many years dull his sword that much? It's just a matter of when the money runs out for Kasich, Paul, Christie and Walker. Rubio is running for VP but doesn't know it yet. Cruz and Huckabee are complete frauds and know it. Carson is going to fade away with grace and humility. Trump will impale himself on the way down. Then the real race can begin.
Cruz is a tea party darling. You guys have no idea the state of the right wing if you think he is a "fraud" in terms of the race. We won't have a real idea of what to make of things until Trump drops out. Then all of the xenophobes on the right will rush to Creepy Cruz. Bush is in it for the long term because he has money. I still think the most likely scenario is a Bush/Kasich or Bush/Fiorina ticket. Rubio is viable as a winner as well. The only ones I can see a viable way to win the primary are Bush, Rubio, Fiorina and I guess Trump. (blah!) Kasich is the leading VP choice because of Ohio.
