With it now looking unlikely that the NewsMax/Donald Trump debate will actually come off, tonight’s ABC/Yahoo (9pm EST) debate will likely be the last before Iowans go to the caucuses to divvy up their apportionment of delegates to the Republican National Convention. With the winter holidays looming, tonight will be the last chance to make a big impression. The common wisdom is that Mitt Romney’s campaign is tanking and that he’s at risk of failing if he doesn’t go massively negative on Newt Gingrich tonight.
Jon Huntsman didn’t qualify for this debate, and Herman Cain is gone, so the remaining candidates will have a little more time to talk. Santorum and Bachmann can have an impact on how the debate turns out. Who will they choose to attack?
Ron Paul is up with some rather nasty anti-Gingrich ads in Iowa. Will he follow them up with a blistering assault on the Newtster?
Can Rick Perry remember his lines and stay above the fray while his opponents drive up each other’s negatives?
And will Newt stay positive, composed, supremely smug and self-confident? Can anyone get under his skin?
Here’s a hint: insult his intelligence, not his integrity. He doesn’t care about his integrity, but it’s desperately important to him that people think he’s smart. Call him a half-wit and a moron and he’ll lose his shit.
As for the rest, I hope you have better things to do on a Saturday night than watch these assholes debate. But, if you’re around, tell us what you think.
No car (don’t own one), and my best friend (only friend?) in the area is at work until close (10 PM). I shall be watching…
Dare one hope that one of them will quote Krugman on Newt? “He’s a stupid man’s idea of what a smart person sounds like…”
In a Republican primary debate, that would be an “own goal”.
It’s not about being right, it’s about being Right.
It seems like there might be another one in Iowa on Fox next week. Yippee!
When Rick Perry refers to himself in the third person, it is unclear to me if it is intentional or if he doesn’t actually know that he’s Rick Perry.
He just wants to show everyone he can keep three of something straight.
But does that help him or hurt him with his base?
“Jon Huntsman didn’t qualify for this debate”
That pretty much says it all right there.
Bachmann? Santorum? Perry? Sure, come on in! We want to hear what you think!
Hey hey, whoa there, Mr. Ambassador! Where do you think you’re going?
Newt just winked at the audience during a Ron Paul response. Starbursts shall ensue, I am sure.
FWIW, there was more grace and intelligence on stage at the Heisman trophy ceremony than there is at this debate.
Michele Bachmann said something like, “I’m 55 years old and I’ve spent 50 years on this planet…”
And I was thinking, it must be the last five years that you’ve spent in outer space.
Marcus probably whispered into her ear that they had been abducted by aliens for five years just to account for all of the anal probing.
Nope. First five.
That is a hysterically amusing comment.
from the Clown Car Debate via the liveblogger from the UK’s Guardian:
Gingrich narrows his eyes and shoots back:
Let’s be candid the only reason you didn’t become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.
Ouch! “Just a second, just a second,” wibbles Romney. But Gingrich keeps going and smacks down all of Romney’s points. And wins a big round of applause.
If this was boxing fight the ref would have stepped in by now.
In his response, Romney falls back on babbling about numbers.
I didn’t hear applause. I heard a lot of boos and jeers. Not sure who they were directed at.
I wonder how many voters in Iowa have $10,000 to spare in order to settle an argument.
That was my first thought too.
My second thought was that Mormons are anti-gambling. Is Mittens trying to distance himself from his Mormonism?
Well so are the Christianists of the GOP…so
Ostensibly so. But judging by electoral history, hypocrisy is one of their desired character traits in a politician, and I just wonder if Romney has decided to target that.
I love how in a single off-hand comment he manages to completely undermine the New York Times current “Two Romneys: Wealthy Man, Thrifty Habits” fluff piece.
Well, this is why I like Ron Paul at the debates. Who gives a damn who you fuck? But you bet your ass I care about that Oath of Office. Nice.
Do you remember the Republican debate from 2008 in which John McCain started yelling at Ron Paul because he asked a question McCain didn’t know the answer to?
The debate rules included a round in which the candidates asked questions of each other. It was mostly “When did you stop beating your wife?” stuff, but Ron Paul took it seriously. He asked John McCain about the plunge protection team, and McCain didn’t know what he was talking about, so he started yelling about what an important senator he was.
RP: Senator McCain, what do you think about the Plunge Protection Team?
JM: DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM?!?
It was awesome.
If having two parents produces a dick like Rick Santorum, maybe single-parent households are the way to go.
Simple math would tell me that we would then end up with twice as many dicks. Maybe we should have 10 parent households instead.
You are on fire tonight.
Thanks. What I have is a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Of making fun of Republicans.
We’ve certainly had enough years of GOP crazy to hone those skills to razor-sharpness…thanks for making me laugh this morning.
Since the debate ended, I have been watching a very intelligent discussion being done by The Young Turks on Current TV with special guests Al Gore and Jennifer Grandholm (who is also starting a new show on Current soon.) Not your usual bunch of CNN-esque hacks doing the usual regurgitation of bullshit.
Well, what are these “debates”, really.
What purpose(s) do they serve?
Their first purpose is to make damned sure that no one who will seriously rock the PermaGov boat gets a boost in the primary.
Their second purpose is to establish which of the remaining acceptable-to-the-PermaGov candidates looks and acts better on camera…in other words, who is more “electable” given an electorate that consists primarily of voters who exist in an almost total media trance state. They are simply an extended screen test.
And their third purpose…made perfectly obvious by the gerbilheads who are chosen to host these little reality shows…is to trivialize the stakes, to give the impression that everything is still pretty much alright even though we do ‘have a few problems that some wise politician will be able to put right once he is in office.” They are there to fuel the optimism of the marks.
Plus of course making money from sponsors. If the ratings were good enough the networks would televise a political pool party or sleepover pillow fight. They would do a political “Big Brother/Ultimate Fighter” thing where all of the candidates had to live under the same roof with one another and bicker amongst themselves until one of them “won.”
In word, they are a diversion. Nothing more and nothing less.
And now a word about who won and who lost on this lame…but simultaneously important and quite possibly decisive… level.
Gingrich won. He’s good at this game. Very good. Astoundingly good. It’s a gift. There’s not much more to say. Like perfect pitch for a musician. Some musicians are total assholes in every way, but they cannot put a foot wrong when they are in their element. This is Gingrich’s element. They didn’t even lay a serious glove on him when the whole “morality/marriage vows” thing came up. Pure teflon, possibly a compulsive liar but most certainly a brilliant one. Lying takes practice, don’tcha know, and Gingrich has got it down.
In second place? Romney. Way behind Newtie, but ahead of the rest just on looks. Flusters easily, but recovers his superior smirk/smile very quickly. And he is tall.
Third? Ron Paul, but not third enough. I watched a good part of the performance, and as I have observed during some quick observations in the other debates a number of his statements got the only spontaneous positive reactions from the crowd. But overall he appears weak next to Romney and Gingrich. Not enough macho to win an election, I am afraid. The TV pheromones simply do not jump off the screen. Too bad. I think that he would be a very…interesting…president. I do not know if he is too old to be president but it appears that he is too old to look like he can be president. In this kind of reality show situation, that’s enough right there. Somewhere during the presentation the little man from ABC asked Paul a question and he didn’t hear it well. He looked slightly deaf at that moment…the way he reacted to not hearing it…and there it was. “Old,” printed in big TV letters on his forehead. Too bad. I like his act.
Michelle Bachmann came in fourth. Batty through she may be, she has a good front. If you knew absolutely nothing about any of the candidates and had no understanding of the issues whosoever, she might have the best front of all of them. She actually looks like she knows what she is doing and she is apparently totally unflappable. And If you knew absolutely nothing about any of the candidates and had no understanding of the issues whosoever you would be a perfect specimen of American voterhood. She’s running for Vice-President now. Will the RatPubs take the chance of making the same Palinesque mistake twice? Could be…
Lemme see…was there anyone else? Oh yes, there was a sexual byproduct of some kind stanking away there on the far left side of the stage. As Senator Bob Kerrey pegged Rick Santorum after he had been in the Senate only a few weeks: “Santorum-That’s Latin for asshole.” Comic relief at best.
Perry? A joke. No presence, no content, no brains. He didn’t even finish the race. He looks more like a hotel detective than a president.
There it is…sadly.
I am now of the suspicion that the Teflon Newt might go all the way. He has real talent. And he is a very dangerous man. Sociopathically dangerous, in my opinion.
Like this:
Sound familiar?
Yes it does.
Oh yes it does indeed.
Stay tuned.
This is getting dangerous.
AG
I agree about Gingrich. I’ve been struck my some of those traits.
The ability to lie cooly. Seeing others as instruments. Outraged by insignificant matters. The affair with his teacher when he was young.
This isn’t hyperbole; most sociopaths aren’t serial killers. They’re cold, manipulative SOBs who are out for themselves.
While I agree with the sociopathy, I honestly don’t know about newt’s personal charm and appeal. Gingrich reminds me of Eric Cartman. even before the cartoon existed, for that matter, I always thought he looked like an overgrown, particularly colicky baby. His voice is grating, and his “I’m so smart” act is really really annoying, and will get old very quickly.
Vile, ugly man.
Apparently…and unfortunately as well…many Americans seem to disagree.
So it goes.
AG
i think the jury’s still out on that, AG.
What?
The jury?
I said that “Apparently…and unfortunately as well…many Americans seem to disagree.” regarding Newt Gingrich’s character.
Here’s your jury. “Many Americans.”
He represents a really nasty thread that runs through the fabric of the American people, brendan. Face up to it. We have elected some truly repugnant men to national office. He’s certainly no worse than Richard Nixon or George Bush II, and he is probably a more gifted politician than either of them.
He is dangerous.
With his finger on a nuclear trigger?
He is very dangerous.
Bet on it.
AG
Was anyone else sickened by Diane Sawyer’s fawning all over the candidates? Finishing up the smarmy introduction with “We salute you.” and then giving accolades to the candidates’ families at the end.
Agree. And Sawyer tried to make a big deal out of the “grueling campaign process” that demands so much of a candidate and the families.
Please. A couple of public appearances in between aides taking care of all your needs and maybe for some taking time out to undergo the grueling process of shooting a campaign comm’l or sitting for yet another softball Fox interview.
I also don’t recall Diane or Steph slobbering this much over the Dems in the last primary cycle. If I were Mike Nichols I’d be deeply embarrassed today.
See my post above.
Between Sawyer’s fawning and Whatisname’s phonying, watching the show put one in danger of a spiritual diabetic attack.
Disgusting.
AG
Was the crowd hand picked by Rove?
No. If it had been a Rove crowd they would have sat on their hands instead of applauding almost every time Ron Paul said something substantive.
AG