Ah yes, it's that special time of year. Parents are whispering about what the future might hold. Kid's are running downstairs to their living rooms excitedly. There's a general warmth and buzz in the air.
Of course, I'm talking about the GOP debate!
As the last debate of the year, we're heading back to our favorite group of Republicans for one more three-ring-circus to close out the year.
Or maybe not.
Everyone knows by now that a major concern of the Republican Party is how they are being perceived. Certain "politicians" are making hard for legitimate concerns to be voiced and for real politicians to have speaking time. However, as many people are beginning to think, that could change tonight.
After the past few months being filled with inflammatory comments, from making fun of the disabled, to proposing Muslim's be banned from the U.S, Trump has a big job at the debates tonight. He has to keep showing the manic energy he's promised the United States and possibly prove he's more than just a big mouth. Otherwise, the election may go in a completely new direction (finally). Trump should be showing tonight that he has plans for the United States and can defend his past comments. If not, 2015 may be one of the last times Trump is relevant.
Ted Cruz has a major job tonight as well. While his polling numbers have been impressive, it's up to him tonight to secure a reason why. This is Cruz's chance to become a more competent face for the GOP. As NPR said, Cruz's only danger this debate is "Letting Trump's insults stick” (Taylor). If Cruz can come out of this debate with no major flubs and a strong stance, he’s got a very good shot at the nomination.
We then have the team of Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Chris Christe, Ben Carson, and Jeb Bush. These contenders are not out of the race just yet. Watch for them to be pushing their policies hard. Their job this time around is to not get lost in the shuffle of the stage and keep strong when questions get tough and Trump gets loud.
Finally, watch out for John Kasich and Rand Paul. They’re in the bottom of the polls, and tonight, their only goal is to stay relevant enough to keep out of the B-Team debates. They could be debating very well tonight and making very strong comments. But only if they get the time.
Of course, the Undercard debate could find some surprises, but the likelihood Huckabee, Santorum, Pataki and Graham end up looking like a “‘warm up act’” (Taylor) is high.
How do you think the debate will go?
Do you think there will be any breakouts?
Any disappointments?
Do you think that the race may become more serious or just more insane?
Do you think that the race may become more serious or just more insane?
If you’re responding to this after the debate, who was successful? Were there any surprises from predictions made?
https://www.gop.com/debates/
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/15/459746266/tonights-gop-debate-cruz-on-the-rise-as-terrorism-becomes-central-focus
7 comments:
I feel like this is the debate that will make or break the candidates for the Republican nomination; it has been a while since the last one, and there has been a lot of controversy between the last debate and today. This debate will either perpetuate or put to an end the ways the candidates will be perceived, for better or for worse. Personally, I hope that Kasich makes a strong showing for himself to come back from the polls. Certainly, he is the most rational and moderate of the candidates left, and I believe that he has the potential to take votes from the Democratic side because of his moderation, notably his support for Planned Parenthood. I am really hoping that this debate spells an end to Trump and Carson: joke candidates. Hard hitting questions should strike them where it hurts the most, real facts. As Hillary seems like a increasingly less appealing candidate as a result of her dishonesty and corporate ties and Sanders seems increasingly economically illiterate because of his proposed corporate taxes and investment taxes, I really hope rational conservative candidates become more universally recognized.
Well, Olivia, I'd like to thank you first for the laughs with this post! As for the debate, I'll find it hard to find these folks funny. It seems as though politics have become more of a game of who can be the most outrageously offensive and, frankly, when the future of our nation is on the line, it's hard to find humor in the matter anymore.
That said, I have an idea of what I think tonight's hot topics will be. I think that there will be questions addressing Cruz's sudden pulling ahead in the polls, especially in Iowa. I imagine Trump and Cruz, the two supposed frontrunners, will be butting heads throughout the evening regarding a number of things. Jeb Bush, who was not the worst of the bunch in the last debate (as a matter of fact I found him to seem fairly engaging and presidential, relative to some of the other candidates), will need to seriously wow the country tonight if he wants a chance at getting back on top. Tonight's debate is essential for Jeb, as well as Rubio, both of whom need to "find a path back to relevance" (Miller).
In terms of my personal opinions, I agree with Justin; I would love to see Kasich do well tonight. Given the overall centrist nature of American voters, I think that the people would like him if he got a bit more exposure. It's no secret that the moderators ask far too many questions of, to use Justin's works, "joke candidates". This only reaffirms my earlier point that politics are about entertaining more than they are about serving the country. Well, there's my two cents. I'm off to go watch the debate now!
Source: http://time.com/4149004/what-to-expect-at-tonights-gop-debate/
Obviously, I am commenting after the debate occurred and will mostly be focusing on the winners and losers of the debate. A post has been made about it, but possibly one of the most exciting parts and controversial parts of the debate had nothing to do with Trump, but rather with Cruz's comments that Rubio suggested were classified, which could have Cruz on trial for treason if the allegation is true. That said, the losers of the debate were pretty much as expected.
Though both Justin and Hannah expressed that they would like Kasich to perform well, and they got their wishes, he simply did not do enough to activate voters. His problem (Fiorina has the same one) is that he isn't saying anything new that would excite the public, as he is fairly centrist and has not entangled with any of the other candidates (Trump). Rand Paul had the opposite issue. Though he seemed testy and fired a few jabs at his fellow candidates, nobody engaged, not even Trump, who is normally quick to jump on any and all criticism that he receives and beat it to death. Rubio, too, did not respond to Paul's hits. In general, this made Rand Paul seem needlessly combative and a bit childish, unfortunately. Ben Carson, though he has been doing well enough in the polls (but recently taking hits as Cruz catches him up), failed to prove himself as the knowledgeable, passionate candidate that voters are looking for. He said himself that he needs to prove his knowledge, yet he failed to do so. We are all too focused on the fact that he thought Egyptians used the pyramids to store grain, I guess.
The winners are somewhat surprising, considering that two of them have been caught up in a bit of a spat. Earlier in the week Cruz and Trump exchanged words on twitter, mostly Trump aggressively defending himself by attacking Cruz when he caught wind of the fact that Cruz may have been disparaging him behind closed doors. Cruz, by and large, refused to entertain Trump and in general the pair avoided getting into a fight on stage, which signified a win for them both. Cruz continues to rise in the polls, despite his possible scandal. Trump behaved himself remarkably well, in comparison. According to CNN, he delivered a safe performance. Rubio and Christie also delivered solid performances; viewers noted that Christie clearly "had a message" on stage.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/16/politics/who-won-republican-debate/
After watching the debate, I felt that Chris Christie had a particularly good showing due to his lack of bickering with other candidates. I found that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were fighting the whole time about the nitty-gritty portions of laws that they had previously voted on, which I did not think was very productive. Jeb Bush and Donald Trump were combative towards each other and would not let each other speak, and Rand Paul spent most of the night attacking everyone. I find this especially disappointing because I agreed most with what Jeb had to say; I am also a supporter of Rubio, and hope that he will pull through for the Republicans. I still do not think that Trump is a true representative of the Republican Party with his desire to restrict all Muslims from entering the United States and also his plan for shutting down parts of the internet. I feel that the frontrunners of the polls are not the best candidates, and I am hoping that eventually that these polls are proved wrong. I feel that these debates are so counterproductive and that the candidates are more caught up in each other rather than expressing their own policy, which should be the true purpose of these debates. This is not amusing anymore.
I have to agree with Athena regarding the first statement. Chris Christie really set a good tone during the debate. This became especially prevalent when Ted Cruz and Rubio were going at each other, bringing up past issues that were not pertinent to the material being covered at the debate. Another pair of bickering candidates were Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. Earlier in the week Trump actually bought the domain to jebbush.com, his website. They have had it out for each other for a while. Jeb came out swinging with his first comments being in regard to Trump's flaws. Yet Trump easily retailed with an immature comment saying that Bush wasn't as popular he was and he was just jealous with his lowly 3%. WHAT IS THIS??? MIDDLE SCHOOL?? Bush wasn't the only one to attack Trump. Cruz also went after him. Previously, they haven't generally attacked one another. But as Cruz pushes up in the polls, it seems that this silent vow has been broken, and now Trump is out for blood. Earlier in the week there was actually a twitter battle between the two of them. All and all it seems that once again the debate was more for intertwinement that it was for gaining knowledge about the candidate's policy. Once again, the debate centered around Trump's rude statements and absurd policy. Its hard to really know who you want to vote for when the only thing you see when watching the debate are petty arguments and Trump making more absurd statements.
I disagree with Katie and Athena about Chris Christie having a good showing during the debate. Although he bickered less than other candidates I found him repetitive in his comments about working as United States attorney for New Jersey. however, he was one of the more calm and collected candidates. I found the lack of attack on the part of Cruz to be surprising, expecting him to show signs of hostility towards Trump; however, I believe that he is attempting to maintain a clean image and not anger Trump supporters in the case that he pulls ahead in the primaries and wants to pick up Trump's past supporters. Bush on the other hand was far more aggressive than in past debates but in an unprofessional manner that I found off-putting. The constant fighting between him and Bush was incredibly distracting and did not the pertain to the issues. Bush repeatedly pointed out that Trump is not qualified to be president, but I would have recommended that the let Trump prove this himself instead appearing overly aggressive and trying to undermine the leading Republican candidate. Much of the debate focused on terrorist attacks and what to do concerning security and border control. Kasich commented that the climate summit should have been about ISIS because it is an issue that affects almost every nation (unlike climate change which only affects a select few). What I found most confusing about the debate was the constant complaint of how Obama and Clinton ruined the country. Although you may not agree with their policies, Clinton has not been in office since her term as Secretary of State that ended in 2012. Being angry with the Obama administration is one thing, but calling out a politician who hasn't been an office for years is absurd and irks me.
I disagree with Katie and Athena about Chris Christie having a good showing during the debate. Although he bickered less than other candidates I found him repetitive in his comments about working as United States attorney for New Jersey. however, he was one of the more calm and collected candidates. I found the lack of attack on the part of Cruz to be surprising, expecting him to show signs of hostility towards Trump; however, I believe that he is attempting to maintain a clean image and not anger Trump supporters in the case that he pulls ahead in the primaries and wants to pick up Trump's past supporters. Bush on the other hand was far more aggressive than in past debates but in an unprofessional manner that I found off-putting. The constant fighting between him and Bush was incredibly distracting and did not the pertain to the issues. Bush repeatedly pointed out that Trump is not qualified to be president, but I would have recommended that the let Trump prove this himself instead appearing overly aggressive and trying to undermine the leading Republican candidate. Much of the debate focused on terrorist attacks and what to do concerning security and border control. Kasich commented that the climate summit should have been about ISIS because it is an issue that affects almost every nation (unlike climate change which only affects a select few). What I found most confusing about the debate was the constant complaint of how Obama and Clinton ruined the country. Although you may not agree with their policies, Clinton has not been in office since her term as Secretary of State that ended in 2012. Being angry with the Obama administration is one thing, but calling out a politician who hasn't been an office for years is absurd and irks me.
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