Where we stand after GOP Debate #2. Pt 1

So, despite being almost as long as the superbowl, the 2nd (actually the 5th) republican debate is finally behind us.

Now the most immediate impact was the unexpected death of millions of people who were playing the GOP debate drinking game, and had to take a shot anytime someone mentioned Reagan or Obama.

But as we try to move past that as a nation, how should the GOP field look after the second debate?

Now just like my previous post on debate 1, there is a small explanation required so as to make sense of some of my numbers.

Just like last time:
the way this works, I'm going to start with the Candidate I think has the bleakest future and move up. However after each number showing the candidates present prospects, I will also list a second number in () after the name, which is the "number" based on the polls going into the debate. So for example #1 Clinton, (10) would mean the candidate (Clinton in this fictional case) who currently looks the best, came in to the debate with the worst support in the polls.

New this go around will be a 3rd number following the second, this is where I placed the candidates standing in my evaluation of the first debate. So using Clinton again #1 Clinton (10/8) would mean I think Clinton did the best, came into the debate in 10th, but I had thought should have been entering at 8th in my previous analysis.

and of course due to the larger field of candidates invited to the debate we will be leading off this time with #11

#11 Scott Walker. (5/5)

Who? No seriously, he was at the debate?  As I remember he tried to join the dog pile on Trump at the beginning, got smacked down hard by Trump, then in the second hour lost out on "most talking time" on a question that was actually about his policy. Seriously, when you cant command the most time to anwser a question about your own policy your in trouble.

Actually to be honest, time was Walkers biggest problem . He only spoke for 8 1/2 minutes......the least of any candidate, in a 3+ hour debate.

Which is probably due to Walker basically disappearing from the entire 3 hour of the debate.

When he finally did break his self imposed vow of silence, it was to answer the questions even the moderators said were less serious and more light hearted.

Because, sitting out the hard questions is exactly what america looks for in a president....

On the upside, the 3rd hour of silence did give us a nice preview of what Walker will say in the next Republican Debate....the one he will be watching from home.

#10 Mike Huckabee. (7(tie)/7)

This is actually one most people are going to agree with, given that, no one else has dropped as far in the polls between debates as the Huckster. He entered the first debate in 4th....and this one tied for 7th. Yikes

This time out, Huckabee set a record, lying only 4 sentences in to his opening comments when he said  " None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets."

Now to be fair to Huckabee, HE isnt under investigation for shit...Governor Walker on the other hand is under multiple FBI investigations.

So because its not about him, its possible Huckabee didnt know about it, so didnt mean to lie.

Sadly for Huckabee, things he speaks about without knowing is kinda a reoccurring problem for him...and as always, this takes the form of the 14th amendment.

In fact at the debate he said his Litmus test for appointing a supreme court justice would consist of a few things including:

"Number one, I’d ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? [...][D]o you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they’re deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you’re going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood."


Which is ironic, given that, per the 14th amendment his conclusion in that statement is a non sequitur from him premise.

So Huckabee would likely never be able to appoint a supreme court justice, as they would all promise to uphold the 14th amendment as written....Huckabee meanwhile is unfamiliar to the amendment to the point he thinks Dred Scott (which was reversed by the amendment) is still law.

Now to be fair to Huckabee, he did make 2 very good arguements.

The first was about which woman we should put on the $10 bill. And showing the strong forcefully opinions for which he is known, Huckabee said:

"That’s an easy one. I’d put my wife on there.

I’ve been married to her 41 years. She’s fought cancer and lived through it. She’s raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she’s put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. "
Now at first glance it looks like he basically dodged the softballest of softball questions....or just couldnt think of any famous women.

But the truth is, he's right. I think anyone who can stand Mike Huckabee for 41 years is worthy of some kind of major award/honor for their plight.

And actually, his second good point is so good I think it should be the campaign slogan.....of anyone running against Huckabee

"we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the [oval] office who doesn’t know what he does not know."

There you are folks, straight from the horses ass....

#9 Ben Carson (2/9)

Profiles in courage is listed in the thesaurus as the antonym to Ben Carsons performance.
For example he was asked about his criticism of donald trumps plan to deport all illegals in which he claimed anyone who wanted to do that had no idea what it entailed. When asked for elaboration on what it would take, his answer was basically "fucked if I know"

Then there was his minimum wage plans....or actually more like his minimum wage plans cause he wants two different wages....one, lower one, for people who arnt able to vote against him.....another higher one for those who are in fact old enough to vote.

Because hey, he wants to fuck over the working class....but not if they can return the favor.

Also, apparently he came out against the war in Afghanistan.....actually, now that I think about it, that one took balls.  See Iraq is controversial, but pretty much everyone agrees on Afghanistan (at least the decision to initally go in) we got attacked, the attackers were in Afghanistan, we asked the Afghans to turn them over, they said no, we went in to get them.

But to Carson, it seems the best response would have been to do nothing. Because hey, if you ever get in a real fight....hitting the guys fist with your face as often as possible is the best strategy.

Actually you know what, I take it back about the courage...see after getting verbally bitch smacked on this by Christie, Carson basically backed down and said that well the real problem that caused 9/11 was a weak military so the best response would have been a show of military strength.

Finally there was his faceoff with Trump...over the fact that Trump just came out as an anti-vaxer (being against vaccination due to the totally made up idea it causes autism and other problems).

In other  words this was a pompous jackass against a medical doctor on a medical issue....Carson should win this hands down right?

Turned out not so much. First when asked if  Trump should stop lying, Carson ducked
"Well, you know, I’ve just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he’s an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts."

Trump of course claimed he had the real facts and moved on spewing bullshit

Then Carson actually agreed with some of Trumps bullshit, specifically the idea that people should spread out vaccinations to avoid medical complications, something that the same tests he had referred to before in his explanation to trump says is not true (and also possibly dangerous).

So yea, Dr Carson engaged in a medical debate with an assclown and lost it so badly he actually agreed with the ass clown.

Well Doc, it was nice knowing ya, sincerely your credibility.

Oh and lastly, just like the Huckster, Carson couldnt (or wouldnt) name a woman who he would put on the $10 bill (he named his mother cause she was his mother). Cause you know, making a real decision, even a meaningless one takes guts.

#8 Carly Fiorina. (7(tie)/Not ranked)

And heres where we take the heat...given that everyone else seems to thinks she won the debate.

Thing is, I'm not sure why people think that.

Lets look as some of her "winning moments"

Like when she "stood up" to Donald trump

"Moderator: [...]In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?” Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona.

(LAUGHTER)

FIORINA: You know, it’s interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I think she’s got a beautiful face, and I think she’s a beautiful woman."

Translation. Moderator asks Fiorina to call trump out on his bullshit...she declines.

On the one hand it might be the high road....on the other the way she dismisses it suggests its not something she feels the need to talk about anymore, like its in the past. Again this isnt a bad thing per say...but also not exactly a "brave attempt at challenging sexism" and the fact that Trump backs down anyways suggests he knows he massively fucked up and is just lucky she didnt want to hammer him on it.

Then we have her answer to the question about women on money which she basically refused to anwser

"I wouldn’t change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it’s a gesture. I don’t think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses."

Women are half the nation.....weird that there is no physical representation of this in our symbols...like say on our money. Weirder still that there is no real recognition of famous women in our history....if only we had some way to recognize some of the women that helped change our country.

But I guess we dont really need that, because according to Fiorina it should be enough for women to know that they are the majority....even if we wont act like it at all.

So yea, gonna call that one a massive strikeout for womens rights.

Then we get to her other issues.  Like say the very vivid description she gave of the scene in the Planned Parenthood tapes that informed her opinion on the subject....a scene that does not appear to actually exist. Which is much like her positon on drugs....driven by the idea that weed is more dangerous than pot....which isnt true. And kinda like her massively incorrect assessment of the make up of prison population....which is similar to her procedurally wrong explanation of how hard it would be to repeal the 14th amendment.

So yea, turned out every time she opened her mouth....she was wrong on the facts and premises forget any real analysis of her opinions.

So that just leaves her big fight with trump over her tenure as head of HP compared to his running his companies.

And while entertaining, that was basically a pissing contest over who was the smaller failure in business.....not exactly a winning campaign idea "Hey I fuck up big time....but at least its not as big as Trump"

So actually at this point, I have to pull a "CNN" and divide this up into 2 parts after only 4 candidates, as its getting kind of long. Unlike CNN however, the second part should actually be about the same length or shorter, the remaining 7 candidates didn't have as horrible a debate therefore should need less justification for their placements. So yea, with luck part 2 will be up tomorrow or Sunday.