The sound & fury of the GOP debate: A candidate-by-candidate breakdown of its weirdest & most idioti

[applegrove]

The sound & fury of the GOP debate: A candidate-by-candidate breakdown of its weirdest & most idiotic moments

by Sean Illing at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/07/the_sound_fury_of_the_gop_debate_a_candidate_by_candidate_breakdown_of_its_weirdest_most_idiotic_moments/

"SNIP.............


Jeb Bush

First observation: Jeb is more like his brother George W. than I thought – a little taller and a little less bumbling, but there’s a lot of W. there if you pay attention. In any case, Jeb reached peak awkward on the question of Iraq. He made clear that the Iraq War was a “terrible mistake” and based on “faulty intelligence.” I suspect he wanted to say “manufactured intelligence,” but he rightly resisted the urge to be truthful. He also said that while the war was pointless and accomplished nothing apart from fracturing a critical region, all the deaths that resulted from it were meaningful and definitely not in vain. The reason is simple: We’ll all feel worse if we acknowledge that the casualties were unnecessary, so we shouldn’t do that. Also, as governor of Florida, he had to call the families of soldiers who died, and that would’ve been much harder if the deaths were meaningless. Lastly, he championed his defunding of Planned Parenthood in Florida. He stressed that his goal was to “create a culture of life,” so he hindered the efforts of an organization dedicated to providing essential health services to women – you know, because he respects life, which apparently only counts if unborn.

Rand Paul

Paul immediately appeared desperate for attention. (Attention he would never receive.) He provided the first awkward moment of the debate by launching an obviously rehearsed jab at Trump two seconds in. Needless to say, it fell flat. Sadly, Paul contributed very little apart from his opening gambit. His lone highlight was his brief tussle with the designated-tough-guy Chris Christie. The fight consisted of Paul getting out-alpha’d by the New Jersey governor while defending the constitution and criticizing illegal government surveillance. Sensing his defeat, Paul concluded by reminding the audience that Christie once gave Obama a “big hug” and that that’s something he should be embarrassed about it. Hugs = socialism.

Ted Cruz

Let’s be honest: Ted Cruz is creepy. He also appears pathologically unlikeable – a sentiment obviously shared by his colleagues. The thing about Cruz is that he never really says anything. I honestly don’t remember a single point he made last night. His desperate desire for applause combined with his penchant for speaking as though he’s auditioning for “Hamlet” is just too distracting. I was too busy not liking him to notice what he was saying. My guess is I’m not alone.

.............

John Kasich

I have to say, Kasich was surprisingly sane and decent. (Translation: He is doomed.) Perhaps he just looks that way on a stage studded with simpletons. In any event, his moment came fairly early on, when declared boldly and courageously (given the room) that we should care about poor people. He even had the audacity to suggest that Christians should be Christ-like. I doubt that will resonate with the GOP base, but I applaud Kasich’s bravery.




...............SNIP"