Are you watching the Republican Debate? What do you think?

I am a moderate Democrat.
I don’t like anyone currently running for President.

Rubio won the debate. Christie and Cruz did very well. Bush was dull.

Nope. As long as the monkeys are in charge of the circus, I’ll be avoiding it.

I like how Kasich started running ostensibly to call most everyone else out for being crazy. I feel like the camera angles intentionally were engineered to make Graham look short. Trump was crazy, as to be expected. Fiorina kept referencing the rich and powerful as though that’s not a group she belongs to. Cruz did alright. I watched the Den debate too and I feel like both debates were a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Conservative here. I thought the debate went quite well in spite of the snarky demeaning questions. I like Rubio and thought he had the best performance. Carson and Carly both highlighted the problems with big government and the impact of massive regulation. Bush probably died in this debate but he was declining anyway. Cruz was masterful in pointing out the media bias and may get a bump for that but otherwise was merely OK. Rand Paul didn’t do himself any favors and should probably drop out. Huckabee is also likely to fade away. Kasich tried too hard and never made much headway. Trump was….well Trump.

Overall they discussed their respective tax plans but not much else of substance. Mostly it showed how quickly (or slowly) they could think on their feet. There was much less attacking each other even though the moderators did their best to make that happen. The biggest losers were the moderators. Hopefully they will learn from this experience and try to ask questions about real issues in the future but I doubt it.

I tried to watch but it was just to much to stomach. Made me embarrassed for our country.

(Unaffiliated; WA state does not require affiliation, but being anti-idiot and anti-extremist puts me solidly enough against the Republicans that I am often forced to vote Democrat despite being more of a Libertarian.)

Nope, I missed it. Well, not really “missed” so much as “did not watch”; to say I missed it would imply more interest than I have. Right now it’s still more of a circus than anything else, and it’s not a funny one. Wake me up when they get serious; just viable candidates discussing real issues.

@Jaxk “Hopefully they will learn from this experience and try to ask questions about real issues in the future but I doubt it.”

I see absolutely no chance of real issues being asked about in a Republican debate until the “vanity candidates” and circus acts are weeded out and the field narrowed down. Right now, the GOP race still in full-blown “Bread and circuses” mode, and I’m not sure that tossing only 3 or 4 of them out of the clown car would be enough to change that. Especially not while Trump is still in the race.

“Cruz was masterful in pointing out the media bias…”

I’m not sure if winning a battle but losing a war qualifies as “masterful”, though that move definitely qualifies as bold, and voters across the spectrum generally like bold. The trouble with primaries is that generating enough support from the base to get the nomination risks making the general election harder by alienating swing voters.

We’ll just have to wait and see how (or even if) that gambit pays off, but I have a feeling that every gain any of the candidates makes now will cost them later. That goes for both parties, but the dynamic is considerably different with the Democrats where the field is already effectively two.

Meh, it was just like watching the democratic debate only different bullshit.

Well maybe Jeb has some debilitating illness, because he certainly could not be described as “quick on his feet” yesterday. The flat tax proposals were revealing, because there is only one of two conclusions to be drawn from those asserting them. They’re either hopelessly naive/stupid or disingenuous in believing their audience naive/stupid.

Trump and Carson flopped. Rubio scored big.

Carly does well in the debates initially, but her numbers fall over the following days when her answers are fact checked, and she is once again shown to be either a compulsive liar, or completely deluded.

Not seen it but let me guess, lunatics/asylum/greaseballs/pukefest/bullshitters…