Growltiger is tired of the Republican debates, and she suspects so is everyone else.
The first three debates were slug fests pitting moderators against candidates. The Fox News moderators ripped off the bandages and exposed the fact that Fox News (owned by Rupert Murdoch) is as biased in its own way as the alphabets. Fox's moderators were there to take down Donald Trump whose connection with the Republican primary voters was as unexpected to the Republican Establishment as a draft horse winning the Triple Crown. The CNN debate was a food fight and served no particular purpose. CNBC's debate was the most fun because the moderators made such blatant fools of themselves, and for the first time in recent memory, Republican candidates drew blood against the Democrat media.
In contrast, the Fox Business moderators were sharp, smart, sophisticated and asked good questions. The candidates' responses were as good as can be expected given they were given only one minute to respond to how they'd deal with ISIS, resurrect the economy and deal with illegal immigration. If the applause for the candidates upon introduction was any indication, the audience seemed to have been salted in favor of Establishment candidates. Apparently the thousands who attend Mr. Trump's rallies weren't invited.
Front-running outsiders, Trump and Carson did themselves no harm. As happens following all the debates so far, the pundits came on to inform us that Mr. Trump did not shine and Dr. Carson is a nice guy, the implication being he's not quite up to the job. Look for Dr. Carson to be Cained (as in Herman) should the Establishment manage to take down Mr. Trump. New Establishment darling, Senator Rubio, oiled his way through the debate, giving such detailed responses that one has to wonder if he hadn't been fed the questions beforehand. Senator Cruz, as always, was a thorn in the Establishment's side. Ms. Fiorina gave good, detailed, substantive responses, but with such an off-putting delivery and manner that Growltiger just wanted her to shut up.
The surprises were Ron Paul, John Kasich and Jeb Bush. Senator Paul was surprisingly strong and forceful in his opinion that the United States cannot and should not be responsible for the defense of Europe and the Middle East. One might agree or disagree with Senator Paul's Libertarian-leaning foreign policy, but he came off as knowing what he thinks and is willing to stand by his opinion even while being interrupted by Ms. Fiorina. When Mr. Trump commented that Ms. Fiorina always interrupts other candidates, the audience laughed, then remembered their assignment and booed Mr. Trump.
Governor Kasich and former Governor Bush whether accidentally or on purpose admitted they want amnesty for the 11-20 million people who are in the country illegally. Of course, both had the caveat that they'd build the wall that's been under construction since 1986 when President Reagan gave amnesty to three million illegals. Governor Kasich nearly required the services of neurosurgeon, Dr. Carson, when he railed about the inhumanity of breaking up families by sending them back to the country of which they are citizens. Mr. Trump subtly suggested one way of not breaking up families was to deport them as a family. He also reminded the Messrs. Bush and Kasich that President Eisenhower forcefully removed one million illegals when he was president.
Senator Paul scored a hit on Mr. Trump, reminding the anti-Pacific Trade Deal businessman that China is not a part of the trade agreement. Mr. Trump did not respond. Since the Agreement is over 1,000 pages long, it is doubtful whether either candidate has read it, but one suspects someone in Mr. Trump's organization will, and if Senator Paul is incorrect, Mr. Trump will say so. Growltiger is not about to read a one thousand page document written by the Federal Government, however, she does wonder why China cautiously welcomes the Pacific Trade Deal if said deal is harmful to China.(1)
Republicans generally nominate the "next in line", the Establishment candidate who stepped aside gracefully the cycle before (as Mitt Romney did for John McCain (2008), as John McCain did for George W. Bush (2000) as they all did for Bob Dole (1996) and George H. W. Bush (1992, 1988). One has to go back to 1980 to find a successful non-establishment candidate (Ronald Reagan). With both McCain and Romney having lost to Barack Obama (2008, 2012), the nomination in 2016 up for grabs and every Republican who has ever had hopes of being president has jumped into the fray.
(1)Pacific Trade Deal
