Did anyone else watch the Republican presidential candidate debate? Anyone have thoughts? Who do you like? Did the debate change your opinions on anyone?
Who (of the candidates) would you most prefer to see leading the country? I'm curious to hear from people who view themselves as Democrats too (and not just saying who you think would be easiest to beat!)
38 votes
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
I watched part of it after seeing some funny FB statuses. I had to turn it on to see what everyone was talking about. I caught like the last 30 minutes of it since I thought it was in one of the main networks and didn't realize that I had to turn on Fox News.
I don't know if I can answer the poll. Maybe if I saw it from the beginning.
grapefruit / 4770 posts
I'm a democrat, and I watched it. Now that I'm a working individual and a parent, I'm actually more interested in what candidates stand for, instead of voting based on party. Plus, I think Hilary is a bit out of touch with the middle class based on some of her recent interviews about their "struggle." So, I'm a free agent so to speak lol. There were a few candidates I'm interested in. Christie, Rubio, and I want to read up more on Dr. Carson. I missed the earlier debate, but I heard there were some standout candidates there as well. I didn't really like what any candidate had to say about the education questions concerning common core.
honeydew / 7235 posts
I would call myself a democrat but watched, wanted to see what these guys were about. Still processing, but found Christie, Rubio and Kasich to standout from the others. Who knows, so many of them and so much time to go.
pear / 1812 posts
None of them? They seemed focused on the buzzword topics but not so much on the things I really care about. It felt like they were trying to get the best takaway quote vs the best view on policy for this country.
grapefruit / 4079 posts
@hellobeeboston: I'm a teacher in Ohio (and a republican) and Kasich is very hated in education. This is not my research, just what people have said but that he doesn't believe in public education. Again, I'll research him more if he makes it that far.
honeydew / 7235 posts
@ladybee: oh wow. Not cool. Last night was the first exposure I had to him. I mostly just responded positively to his comments on accepting same sex marriage for others even though it wasn't his belief.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
I didn't agree with much that was said but I guess if one of them had to be president Jeb Bush and Kasich seemed slightly more centric. But there's lots I dont like about what they say too.
grapefruit / 4079 posts
@hellobeeboston: I try not to talk politics at work because republicans are hated, and well, I'm a republican lol
Eta: like I said, I haven't done any of my own research. It's all been talk in the lounge.
nectarine / 2262 posts
I am definitely NOT a Republican but I watched. Overall I thought it was pretty ridiculous, but you're not going to have a "debate" with 10 people. Mostly people trying to get their jabs and talking points in.
I thought Jeb, who supposedly the GOP wants to be the nominee, looked like a deer in headlights. I don't know if he is normally not that polished but he seemed rattled and not a good speaker/debater. I know a lot of people like Carson but he also seemed very poorly spoken and very uneasy in the spotlight.
I thought Rubio and Kasich were probably the best-spoken of the night (politics aside). Kasich certainly "seems" the most moderate and I have some respect for him defending his Medicaid expansion decision. Rubio is obviously trying to pander to the far right (i.e., ban abortion with NO exception for rape/incest/life of mother). IMO Kasich is unelectable because he's too moderate for the far-right base; I don't think Rubio has the star power yet so I think they are both out.
Rand Paul is off the reservation (my overall impression was yelling; this guy does nothing but yell); I think the GOP knows that Huckabee and Cruz are also unelectable for some of their sound bites and positions that would kill them both in a general election. Christie is viewed way too negatively and I don't think would have much traction in a general election.
Trump is hysterical to me but I know that serious Republicans must be in a panic because this guy is going to cost them the general election.
Honestly, trying to look at it in an unbiased way (which is difficult given my political leanings), it seems to me like the GOP is in big trouble for the general election with any of the Republican candidates who could actually win the primary.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
I am a Democrat but pretty much all of my friends are Republicans, some of them quite skilled at articulating their reasoning. That being said, I would never support Christie, Walker, or Kasich, based on how they handled public education in their states and treat educators (@ladybee, I'm pretty interested in ed reform and I'd agree with your coworkers on Kasich.) Too bad, bc Kasich had some good point on other topics and Christie knows how to be pragmatic.
Eta: like @MrsADS said, "you're not going to have a "debate" with 10 people. Mostly people trying to get their jabs and talking points in."
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@MrsADS: yeah Carson is not well spoken at all but he's not a politician and has never held any public office. Can't understand why people think he's qualified to run the country...
grapefruit / 4703 posts
@travellingbee: ditto to Trump. Sounded so silly when they went down the list "Governor _____", "Senator ____", "Businessman Donald Trump". I was hoping they'd introduce him as "TV Personality Donald Trump".
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@Shutterbug: yes, he is equally unqualified resume wise and even more unqualified temperament and personality wise.
pear / 1998 posts
I lean pretty far left, but I watched with my husband who is not too interested in politics and my republican (but really more libertarian) friend. We paused and discussed (argued 
) a lot.
My thoughts:
Donald Trump - Everyone I know thinks he's a joke, but he basically threatened "Vote for me as the republican or I will run third party and ruin your chances." You can tell that Fox was out for him.
Jeb Bush: Kind of boring, stuck to his record in Florida and spun it positively. Lots of canned responses and fluff (but that is what you expect in a debate from anyone (democrat or republican).
Scott Walker: Ugh, he is my governor so I have tons and tons of issues with him, but I won't go into it all. He seemed to have the worst delivery - he stumbled through his responses and you could tell that he had them completely memorized because most didn't directly relate to the question asked. He's not good at going off-script. I could go on and on about him. My republican friend said he would never vote for him.
Marco Rubio: I thought he did the best. My friend liked his response about immigration and common core. I think he did a good job of not getting involved in any of the arguing between candidates, but being visible enough to not get forgotten.
Mike Huckabee: I don't remember specifics, but I remember feeling annoyed/disgusted with most of his responses.
Rand Paul: Had a good closing statement, but I thought the audience wasn't feeling most of his responses. Got too involved with Trump.
Ted Cruz: So condescending. I hate his delivery, he sounds so smug.
Ben Carson: Seemed like a genuine person, but was out of his league. The most nervous by far. I thought his tithing tax code thing was a really strange way to describe a flat tax.
Chris Christie: Fine. His history in New Jersey isn't great and I don't think he did a great job defending it.
John Kasich: Seemed the most "adult". I think he might be the vice-pres candidate.
I thought it was weird that each question was targeted to each candidate. More like an interview with each candidate than an actual debate. Some of the questions were a little more aggressive that I initially gave Fox credit for. Although, I thought they were really soft on the social issues questions.
grapefruit / 4079 posts
@DesertDreams88: I figured since they get so heated, they had grounds for their opinions. I had heard that he doesn't want public education and is passionate about charter schools. I know as a teacher I'm treated pretty crappy by the community as well so I'd like someone in charge that supports us and education.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I didn't get to watch but I'd like to read a transcript today if I can find one.
grapefruit / 4545 posts
I have not watched but as @Mrs. Pickle: said I will read transcripts today. I find debates to be silly - they dont provide much value to me.
pomegranate / 3643 posts
I didn't get to watch because we don't get Fox. Also it's on at 7 which is right during bedtime, which sucks because I love watching the debates!!
From the bits I caught, I like Kasich. He has been willing to stand up to Republicans on Medicaid Expansion and I admire that a lot. Not just because medex is an issue I'm passionate about but because he seems willing to form his own thoughts/be bipartisan.
pomelo / 5257 posts
I didn't watch because I can't handle secondhand embarrassment 
This goes for debates on both sides of the aisle -- I feel like they always end up awkward and uncomfortable and no one comes off well to me. I'd rather just read about candidates' positions. Apparently I was the only one not watching, though, because my Facebook feed was blowing up! As a former New Jersey resident, I can say I have not been impressed at all with Christie. I don't think he has the decorum that a president should have. He is much too hot-tempered and vindictive. Look up videos of him yelling at teachers. Not impressive.
grapefruit / 4355 posts
Admittedly, I tend to hate politics and politicians in general and consider myself more Libertarian than Republican. But DH (who is pretty "free agent" in his voting) wanted to watch so I watched with him.
@TemperanceBrennan: @dc yoga bee: I was intrigued by a lot of what I heard from Marco Rubio - definitely made me want to find out more about him.
Wasn't impressed with Jeb Bush although I know many Republicans want him. Trump was just as I expected. I like the idea of a successful businessman in office (instead of a lifelong politician), but Trump isn't the one for the job. I though Christie had some good moments but I don't like him overall.
apricot / 347 posts
I didn't get to watch it. We don't have cable. 
Anyone know where I can watch it online?
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
@Mrs. Peanut: I watched part of it live on my phone and it appears they have the video of it.
http://digg.com/video/gop-debate-livestream
I'm a democrat and used to live in Pennsylvania and I've heard and read some bad things about Christie. But from the parts that I saw, he did seem to not look as bad as I thought he would be.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@TemperanceBrennan: re: social issues questions, I watched a little Fox News this week (I watch fox cnn and msnbc more cnn than anything at the moment) and remember them talking about a survey of republican voters and which issues are most important to them, and social issues were generally toward the bottom. That could be why, I don't know for sure.
kiwi / 706 posts
Im a Republican and I found the whole thing very annoying! I don't necessarily love canned politically correct answers but if you want to be president then you need to have a certain amount of professionalism and respect. Just using that as a benchmark you could cut out at least half of those people.
I am much more moderate than some (as is most of the country right - social studies politics 101?) so the crazy tea partyish "FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT MEGYN" type answers really drive me nuts. And Trump is wasting everyone's time. Please go away. Haha.
I wish I'd watched the other one too since people have been saying so many good things about Carly F. Did anyone see her debate / have an impression?
nectarine / 2465 posts
I liked what Dr Carson had to say, I think he's really intelligent with some good ideas. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a good stage presence and doesn't have the experience.
papaya / 10560 posts
I have been a Big Ben Carson fan just as an incredible person since I read Gifted Hands several years ago. I am pretty sure he will not win, which is a bummer, but I think he would make a good VP. Cruz/Carson maybe on the republican ticket?
papaya / 10343 posts
I watched the last half of it. I'm a democrat but I haven't followed the candidates much so far so I just wanted to see what people were about. I guess my biggest surprise was that there was so much focused on religion. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised considering it is the republican primary but I thought with gay marriage sorted they'd back off the religion a bit. Like Rubio saying he wouldn't support an incest/rape exception to an abortion ban (and the question being phrased as though if he DID support it he was murdering babies). Obviously I'm biased because I'm pro-choice but I find it so hard to look past the bible thumping to any other issue with all of the republicans (and the moderators throwing those questions at them-- because I honestly wonder if all of them are that hardcore or they just "have to be" to be contenders).
Trump is obviously scary. I'm from Ohio so obviously I despise Kasich because he's been outright awful for us. In terms of who I'd be most okay with... I honestly don't know. I guess I don't expect to agree with economic or foreign policy mostly so I was hoping to find more common ground on social issues because that is where I have common ground with my republican friends (who are all republican for financial beliefs).
Also I could've gotten drunk just taking a drink every time someone said Ronald Reagan...
grapefruit / 4671 posts
They were terrible and honestly have me pretty worried at this point.
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