I watched tonight’s GOP Candidate debate– and while I enjoyed watching it and thought there were some (somewhat disparate) good points made, I thought that there were a few things that could have made it better. I was originally going for 10 positive things, but I quickly realized that would take me too long.
1. Trump makes everyone around him immediately become 150% more likable. Everyone is quite the convivial personality next to Trump. Shoot, you could put him next to Omar Al-Bashir, and it’d take the ICC a few seconds to decide who to slap handcuffs on first– because Trump is just that annoying and incendiary.
For that reason, I will not honor Trump with more than one positive point in my blog– though him getting booed repeatedly for his obscene comments certainly deserves commendation.
2. The two-hour debate went by far quicker than I anticipated. As I just recently was in the ER for a good 6 hours, I can safely say that the debate seemed to take only half the time I consumed waiting for a harried hospital doctor to see me.
In all seriousness, it was an interesting debate with a scattered performance across the board. I wished that it would have been focused on fewer aspects of policy– the way the topics jumped around, the candidates could do little more than give soundbites on their plans for presidency.
3. Ben Carson is a man of his word– i.e. not a politician. This is exemplified in his apparent inability to speak quickly enough in said soundbites to offer anything but broad statements and pleas to visit his website. I would have loved to see a stronger showing from him this evening, but it didn’t happen. However, I will say this– he didn’t rise to the bait from Trump (or any others), avoided any ad hominem derailings, and stayed decidedly on-topic– but, again, regrettably spoke too slow to speak on much of anything.
4. There was a varied response on how to deal with the current Middle East crisis. Not only that, but there was no talk about placing wide-spread prohibitions of people groups being granted asylum in the US. This is a positive thing because the response needed to squelch ISIS and restore some sort of peace in the Middle East is going to need a very studied hand. There is no easy answer to the myriad problems that are running rampant and unfortunately US involvement is needed. Sitting this one out is not really an option, and while opinions varied on how to become involved, there was consensus that a more proactive approach is needed.
5. None of the Republican presidential candidates currently have an FBI investigation with 100+ agents involved centered around their illegal activities. That in and of itself I’m sorry to say gives us an edge. Democrats, please. I’m pretty ashamed to say that I belong to a country that lauds such politicians who forestall security and their country’s welfare for the personal “idylls” of convenience and arrogant indifference to the obligations of public office. Hillary Clinton: you are a scoundrel– and a really bad liar. I wouldn’t vote for you if it were a toss-up between you and Donald Trump (and that’s saying something).
Six Months Later 