1. Small Table Debate:
The small table debate, held first, was moderated by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum and consisted of Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Jim Gilmore.
There is only one clear winner: Carly Fiorina. Period. The three others simply need to go away as rapidly as possible. I think that may be a self-fulfilling prophecy within, say, two weeks max. None of them are going to pull Iowa.
More after the main debate.
BZ
Donald Trump has stated he will not appear at Thursday’s Fox News GOP debate due to perceived slights by Megyn Kelly.
This stems from the first Republican debate on August 6th of last year, co-moderated by Megyn Kelly.
She asked Trump at that time, “One of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downside, in particular when it comes to women. You have called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs’ and ‘disgusting animals.’ Your Twitter account. . .”
Trump: “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”
Kelly: “No it wasn’t. Your Twitter account. . .for the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.
Trump: “Yes, I’m sure it was.”
Kelly: “Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? And how will you answer the charge with Hillary Clinton who is likely to be the Democratic nominee that you are part of the war on women?”
Mr Trump believes that question evidenced bias on the part of Megyn Kelly. He said that Roger Ailes (Chairman and CEO of Fox News) should have Megyn Kelly banned from Thursday’s debate staff.
In my opinion, Trump has made a serious mistake by showing his skirt, so to speak. If Megyn Kelly offended him then and offends him during the debate, then he needs to stand there and defend himself, and to dish back as he sees fit.
It’s what he does and what people expect to see.
The retort “if he can’t handle Kelly then how would he handle Putin” is trite but has a semblance of accuracy. For history, at one point early in her McCain/VP campaign I was in support of Sarah Palin. However, once she resigned as Alaska governor in 2009, I knew she couldn’t take the heat. At least she did the right thing and got out of the kitchen. Since then I’ve known that Palin is a poseur. And no, she never said she could see Russia from her house.
With that in mind, Trump takes the easy or cowardly way out. Yes, you can readily reply that Trump is a bit in Hillary’s position where any further exposure can be deleterious to his campaign. But that would be wrong, because Trump absolutely thrives in a clashing and adversarial environment. He enjoys it. What he doesn’t enjoy is being faced with his own statements.
If Trump made various statements he should either own them or refute them.
But stepping away from a debate because he doesn’t like someone who asked him a tough question smacks of “taking his toys and going home.”
The Iowa caucus is next Monday, February 1st. (Go here to see how the Iowa caucuses work.)
Because of that I’ll be watching the debates anyway, as I want to see how Cruz, Rubio and Christie conduct themselves tonight, and how the interplay goes between them.
Bret Baier, Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly will moderate the Thursday debate, whose big table cast will include Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Rand Paul.
The small table debate, held first, will be moderated by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum and will consist of Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Jim Gilmore. I’ll believe that Jim Gilmore thingie when I see it.
I’ll be watching the debates and then posting about them later tonight.
BZ
BOULDER, CO – OCTOBER 28: Presidential candidates Ohio Governor John Kasich (L-R), Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz (R-TX), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) take the stage at the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at University of Colorados Coors Events Center October 28, 2015 in Boulder, Colorado. Fourteen Republican presidential candidates are participating in the third set of Republican presidential debates. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
As Americans, we tend to quantify people as winners or losers.
In this debate, first, who was the loser?
In my opinion, that’s easy: CNBC was the loser. The “moderators.”
They should be ashamed of their clear bias but Leftists have no concept of “shame.” Shame itself is a biased concept according to the Leftist philosophy. No one should be made to feel ashamed. Except, of course, Conservatives. They actually stood up for themselves.
This debate boosted CNBC’s ratings more in one night than in the last few years. CNBC knows that, which is why they agreed. John Harwood was a smug NYT-typical goon displaying his true colors. Proving nothing more than: CNBC still sucks. And CNBC, tomorrow, will go back to being as insignificant as it was on Tuesday. A fly speck.
Specifically, CNBC ratings became higher in one night than they’ve been in the past four years. Due to the GOP. And CNBC despises the GOP. It’s their job.
The very first question: “what’s your greatest weakness.” Each question was no accident. It wasn’t “off the cuff.” There was nothing “off the cuff” for these debate questions. The primary question was: “how are we going to fuck these Republicans?”
“Even in New Jersey what you’re doing now is called rude.”
Frankly, the candidates beat the moderators Wednesday night. Each moderator was a Flaming Liberal.
The story was: the moderators tried, at every turn, to bait the candidates. The story slowly became about the coalescence of the GOP group as opposed to the moderators. Carly Fiorina spoke for the greatest amount of time, Jeb Bush for the least amount of time, with Rand Paul next least. Rubio spoke for the “second greatest” amount of time. Jeb Bush is now in keeping with his replacement of Mitt Romney for the poster child of “uninvolved.”
The judgment in retrospect will be: this was a train wreck for CNBC and validates what more people are coming to realize. The American Media Maggots really are maggots.
Cruz did well, Rubio did well and Fiorina did well.
Trump, though he was of lesser energy, didn’t lose points.
Carson will stay the same. People either love him or hate him.
Christie did well but he’s on the bubble. This was make or break for Christie.
Kasich and Huckabee and Paul were unimpressive. They will and should subsume. Kasich always pisses me off so I’m biased — but — I couldn’t care less. And no, I couldn’t care less that blind people have “non-24” either.
Jeb Bush attacking Marco Rubio was a bit of craven theater that resulted in Bush being diminished still. Bush still doesn’t “get it.” Thankfully, to his demise.
Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina.
Those are my Top Three.
Advice to the GOP debaters in the future. Turn against Obama, then turn against his policies, then proffer your own solutions. Make the linkage. Connect the dots. You’ve made a good advancement in terms of not attacking yourselves, particularly in this debate. Keep calm and carry on.
Continue this trend at the next debate.
BZ
Two winners.
Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio.
Say what you will about the rest of the enclave, there were only two winners.
BZ
Different from what?
Different from most every other debate.
Why? Because someone from the Right is going to be asking the questions of the candidates.
That would be Hugh Hewitt, he of Salem Radio and of the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show, broadcasting from a secret studio “somewhere” in Southern California.
Hugh is an unvarnished and unabashed supporter of the Republicans, and is going to work alongside Jake Tapper on the second GOP debate tonight at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley (to now include Carly Fiorina), hosted by CNN. Tapper will moderate and Hewitt will pitch the questions.
Once this became known, many GOP brokers who formerly disdained any appearance with Hewitt somewhat soiled their shorts in order to line up a segment on his radio show. As a result Hugh has interviewed Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and any number of GOP presidential contenders. People who wouldn’t have given Mr Hewitt the time of day prior.
To include Donald Trump, who accused Hugh of throwing him “gotcha” questions. He later called Hugh a “third rate” radio announcer. The full transcript of that interview is here, should you wish to read it.
He doesn’t mind asking difficult questions of his guests. He was accused of attempting to sink Dr Ben Carson as well as Donald Trump.
The truth is, they only sank themselves by not being sufficiently prepared to appear on his show.
Further, you have to be smart enough to realize that the questions Hugh asked may be remarkably similar to the questions he’ll pose tonight. That was called “show prep.”
This Politico article makes an interesting observation
Donald Trump’s Grand Inquisitor
Hugh Hewitt drew Trump’s ire with a smart question. On Wednesday night, the conservative talk radio host will be ready for round 2.
by Todd S. Purdum
When the motor-mouthed mogul next takes the stage with the ten nearest rivals who have failed for months to trip him up—much less get traction against him—Hugh Hewitt will be the only person in the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library who has already managed to get the best of Donald Trump.
That distinction—earned ten days ago when Hewitt stumped Trump in an interview on his weekday radio show about the names of major world terrorist leaders, and the differences between Hamas and Hezbollah—means that Hewitt, who will serve as one of three debate questioners, may end up emerging as one of the central characters in the ongoing reality TV show that is this year’s GOP presidential primary. After all, it was Trump’s tangles in the last debate with Fox News’s Megyn Kelly that led days of news stories after the last debate—and Kelly and Trump only sparred once. What could a second round with Hewitt mean?
How did Hugh Hewitt find himself sitting in a chair asking questions at this debate?
“I lobbied incessantly,” with GOP chairman Reince Priebus, Hewitt explains during a break in taping his daily three-hour “Hugh Hewitt Show,” which has aired for 15 years on the conservative Salem Radio Network, co-sponsor with CNN of the debate. “For the general principle that conservative journalists be included as a counterbalance to mainstream media’s left tilt.”
So will this be a repeat of the Trump-Hewitt clash earlier this month? Or will it be Trump vs Everyone Else On Stage?
No matter what, the questions posed will have punch, relevancy and intelligence.
BZ