Anyone else catch the debates?

Discussion in 'Politics Discussion' started by SteakTartare, Sep 17, 2015.

  1. SteakTartare

    SteakTartare Senior Investor

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    So, I just wrapped up watching the debates. I missed the early ones featuring the four in the basement and a little less than a 20 minutes of the main debate (most of which was probably intro crapola anyway), due to career and family stuff. But I caught the rest and I must say, I'm impressed by who GOP is fielding this time.

    Random thoughts:


    • Trump was great, despite being attacked from all sides. He's got some great ideas and he is a consummate showman.
    • Cruz had a few good moments. The Cohiba joke had me rolling.
    • I can't believe I'm saying this, but Bush put in a solid performance.
    • I was really impressed by one Carly Fiorina. She was smart, articulate, and gave no quarter. If not given the ultimate nod, for goodness sakes, consider her for Veep.
    • Carson was pretty good. He was his typical, unflappable self.
    • Kasich, though I think he is a great guy, was kind of a snoozer. To a lesser extent, the same could be said about Walker.
    • Huckabee appealed to his Christian base and made some good points too.

    All and all, I think it was a pretty interesting exchange.

    Anyone else catch the discussion and care to opine?
     
  2. Kicker774

    Kicker774 Well-Known Member

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    > Kasich, though I think he is a great guy, was kind of a snoozer.

    Kasich hasn't done nearly the amount of grandstanding the others have. I havn't heard any Hillary bashing out of him, or bashing of his Republican opponents.
    But because of that he is a snoozer and isn't going to get the media attention.

    Fiorina cat fought with Trump most the time then came out in favor of more military spending (As if we're not spending enough on the Military)

    Rand Paul was dead on with his comments: 'If you want to send your son/daughter to another war you have 15 other options' he also mentioned (in line with my thoughts/beliefs) that toppling Saddam was the wrong thing to do. While he may not had been the greatest guy, he kept the other whackos at bay similar to Assad. Those guys may be our enemies but they are the enemies of our enemies as well. It's not our business to be sticking our nose into.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 8, 2016
  3. Corzhens

    Corzhens Senior Investor

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    I am in the neutral side since I am not an American. From what I gathered, Trump was assassinated by his colleagues or should I say they ganged up on him. But the big winner is Carly Fiorina, not because she was rooted on women power but what she said about Trump's declaration of bankruptcy, not once, not twice but 4 times. So she's got a point in that for how could a man with bankruptcy issue manage a country? Another loser is Jeb Bush for his marijuana smoking in his younger years. Just my neutral opinion.
     
  4. Sunflogun

    Sunflogun Well-Known Member

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    Politic debates are always the same thing, politicians attacking each others based on statistics rather than debating what we want to hear, disgusting.
     
  5. 75Wildcat

    75Wildcat Guest

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    SteakTartare - You pretty much summed up my take on the debate! Seems Carly did very well. Jeb did better than last time (in spite of weed story). Trump was OK. Ben did OK. Marco was better. As for the rest... zzzzzzzz
     
  6. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Carly has been my #1 pick for weeks now - she really impresses me - very smart, tough, and worldly.

    I also like Rubio. Cruz, as always puts in a solid performance when he is allowed to talk.

    Christie, Bush, and Walker did better than expected IMO. Carson did a great job on the vaccine issue - too many on the left like to assume all Republicans are "anti-science", and he proved why that stupid generalization is dead wrong.

    In the early debate, Graham impressed me.

    We are currently spending over 66% of our money on entitlements, and another 5% on debt service - which will increase when rates increase. Any candidate worthy of my vote realizes the need for a strong military/national defense/world presence - it was true 240 years ago, and it's even more true now. This withdrawal of America from the world stage will be perhaps Obama's biggest failure (among many).

    America was founded on the notion that the federal government's main concern is providing a national defense - not on providing a cradle-to-grave middle class lifestyle for half the population at the expense of the other half, not micromanaging the lives of its citizens, not taking over private industries and taxing and regulating them to death, etc, etc.
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2015
  7. kgord

    kgord Senior Investor

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    I did watch them. I did not watch the early debates, but the later ones. I was quite impressed by both Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. I think many of the candidates did well. I think John Kasich has a track record to be proud of. It will be interesting to see how the candidates progress down the road as we get close to the election. I don't mind spending a few hours of my time getting caught up on issues of national importance, and seeing how the candidates would respond to our most pressing domestic issues.
     
  8. Ohh22

    Ohh22 Member

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    You did a pretty good job at summarizing my point of view on the debates. He can be pretty harsh and I'm not sure if he's president material.
     
  9. petesede

    petesede Guest

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    Kasich has the only real track record on the stage. Chairman of the house budget committee for the only two years in the past 40 that we had balanced budgets and fairly popular governor who did a lot of good things economically for the state.

    Cruz has done nothing in congress except repeatedly fail at repealing Obamacare. Rubio did nothing except co-authored a democratic immigration plan. Trump did nothing except fire Gary Bussey and file for bankruptcy a bunch of times. The problem with Bush is that if they are both in the race, Rubio is going to take Florida, which doesn´t say much for his time as Gov of Florida.

    Of course the Dems aren´t much better. Sanders really hasn´t done anything except cast sacrificial votes in order to make a ´statement´.
     
  10. baudwalk

    baudwalk Senior Investor

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    I, for one, am looking forward to IA, NH and SC to winnow the Republican field. The TV ratings for the last debate were the lowest yet. The debates are sounding more like noise than substance, and they distract from job 1 to defeat the liberal transformational progressive and get a handle on the $18T deficit. I would hope those running low single digits in the polls and fail in one or more of the early primaries reconsider their objectives. Differing opinions can sorted out in formulating the campaign planks.
     

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