ABC/Facebook NH Republican and Democratic Debate Thread

[Sam Spade]

I sincerely hope (for Obama supporters) that George Stephopoulous will not be asking any questions.

[Sam Spade]

I'm not really convinced anyone on this forum or on this stage tonight really understands health care, so I'm going to get something to eat right now.  

[Sam Spade]

Romney looks scared for some reason or another.  Actually, I understand why.  He's getting massacred so far, and McCain doesn't have to do anything.

Even though he actually understands the health care issue better than any other candidate on the stage, sadly.  And better than most on this forum.

[Sam Spade]

I said earlier that the other candidates don't like Romney.  Tonight is destruction derby.

[Sam Spade]

We've had like four answers so far and I still haven't heard one single decent reason why not to vote for Obama.  They're giving good reasons why Republicans shouldn't vote for Obama, but somehow I don't think they were going to do so anyway.

Hint:  They're not going after your vote.  It would be like Obama going after the Mike Naso crowd.  Why waste money and time?

[Sam Spade]

Excellent debate - I liked the format.  Best so far this year, primarily because candidates were forced to become more specific and clarify their arguments.

I hope that the Democratic debate is as good, if not better.  This is actually an excellent way of doing things and the smaller candidate pool really helped.

[Sam Spade]

Richardson is an idiot.  Obama - fairly good answer, actually.  Though it does sound a lot like Bush.

[Sam Spade]

It's kind of sad that of this group, Hillary understands the health care issue the best.  Oh well...

[Sam Spade]

I don't know whether anyone's caught onto this tonight, but the Clinton message actually sounds like what George Bush did against McCain in SC in 2000.  

After McCain won on a message of reform in NH, Bush's change in message was to be the "reformer with results" in SC.

The advantage to Bush was that he had 2 1/2 weeks in-between NH and SC to give this message.

[Sam Spade]

I don't know whether anyone's caught onto this tonight, but the Clinton message actually sounds like what George Bush did against McCain in SC in 2000.  

After McCain won on a message of reform in NH, Bush's change in message was to be the "reformer with results" in SC.

The advantage to Bush was that he had 2 1/2 weeks in-between NH and SC to give this message.

She won't win South Carolina. I don't care what she says from here on out. However, interesting note was that I was listening to a black talk radio and they still didn't believe America was ready for a black President, and went on to say Hillary would still win.

Wasn't commenting on the South Carolina primary, just on the message, which has been adopted in between IA and NH.

[Sam Spade]

Unfortunately, I had to go and eat, but the key thing to watch (which I don't know if anyone is doing) is the WMUR after-reaction to the debate.  That could shape things.

Overall, I thought Edwards won the debate, but not by much.  Obama played like the frontrunner, which quite frankly I don't think he should do.  His performance wasn't great.  I can't tell whether the Hillary anger will hurt her or not.  May depend on how much it's played.

[Sam Spade]

lol, Dick Morris says Mitt won the debate...

[Sam Spade]

I have to say that, especially on the Republican side, this debate was a trillion times better than all the past one's combined.  Even Paul seemed relevant.

I also should say that Huckabee impressed me.  I'm now only leading towards "no, I would not vote for him" instead of "Hell, no...."

The best part was the gang rape of Romney though.

I actually thought Ron Paul was a bit off his game today.  Much like Giuliani trying to connect everything to 9/11, Ron Paul should not try to connect everything to the War in Iraq or neo-cons.  It gets cumbersome after a while.

I think everyone loved the gang rape of Romney - I can't say I feel any different.  

Lest that challenge my objectivity in viewing these things (which I'm sure some might), Mitt is really the only one who gets it on health care (except for Hillary, but in a different way) and shines on that issue especially.

[Sam Spade]

Mitt Romney's responses to the endless personal assaults on him were as close to flawless as a politician can get.  He held his own and clearly portrayed his plans for his presidency.  He displayed well his positions without desperately grasping at typical knee-jerk attacks like those his rivals launched.  The only people that will leave the debate hating Mitt Romney are those that had already decided they hated him.  Romney clearly won the debate by honestly laying out his qualifications, plans, and positions unlike any of the other candidates.

Let me see if I can explain using an analogy:

Mitt Romney is the Richie Rich of the Republican primary.  He's perfect in every way.  He gets the good women.  He gets the high test scores.  Whenever, he does something bad, he always gets bailed out.  Nothing he does ever turns out wrong.

No one likes Richie Rich.  In their heart of hearts, every time he succeeds, it's a failure for them.  Most of them want to teach him a lesson, but they're afraid they'll get caught.

So, one day, in a dark alley somewhere, five kids meet Richie Rich.  He approaches them, "How are you all doing?  You know what, today I just got the letter that I got accepted Harvard.  What do you guys think of that?"  We all know what happens next.  We saw it tonight.

And the next day, when all the other kids in the school hear what happened to Richie Rich, they mutter under their breath or high-five with their friends, "I sure am glad that sonovabitch get what he deserved".

And there you have it.  We're all the school kids around the school yard.  You're Richie Rich's friend.  We're cool with you, but you need to understand why he got what was coming to him.    Cheers.

[Sam Spade]

So it really boils down to the other candidates being envious of Romney's good fortune and do-no-wrong record that he largley brought upon himself.  There is a deep disdain for the fact that Romney hasn't made any huge mistakes and knows how to do the job he is running for.  They are all clearly threatened by Romney's being leaps and bounds ahead of them in terms of experience, charisma, and all around success.  It's a sad day when people let their worst qualities overwhelm their thoughts and not only assault one person, but in turn overwhelm that person by unfairly ganging up on him.  The other candidates are grasping for anything they can find wrong with Romney because they know if they all ran honest and strictly self-promoting campaigns, they would be slaughtered.

The standard response to that would be "Boo-fcuking-hoo", but I'm not the one to engage in such remarks.

[Sam Spade]

No one likes Richie Rich.

I do.  I like Irona the robot maid more, though.

rofl

[Sam Spade]

Why do you think that is?  (Legitimate question, I value your objective opinion.)

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me every single time he opened his mouth he just had this tone of voice that sounded like "I'm better and smarter than you are and I know best."  Annoyed the hell out of me.

Actually, he's been that way for the past 6 months.

[Sam Spade]

Mitt Romney's responses to the endless personal assaults on him were as close to flawless as a politician can get.  He held his own and clearly portrayed his plans for his presidency.  He displayed well his positions without desperately grasping at typical knee-jerk attacks like those his rivals launched.  The only people that will leave the debate hating Mitt Romney are those that had already decided they hated him.  Romney clearly won the debate by honestly laying out his qualifications, plans, and positions unlike any of the other candidates.

Let me see if I can explain using an analogy:

Mitt Romney is the Richie Rich of the Republican primary.  He's perfect in every way.  He gets the good women.  He gets the high test scores.  Whenever, he does something bad, he always gets bailed out.  Nothing he does ever turns out wrong.

No one likes Richie Rich.  In their heart of hearts, every time he succeeds, it's a failure for them.  Most of them want to teach him a lesson, but they're afraid they'll get caught.

So, one day, in a dark alley somewhere, five kids meet Richie Rich.  He approaches them, "How are you all doing?  You know what, today I just got the letter that I got accepted Harvard.  What do you guys think of that?"  We all know what happens next.  We saw it tonight.

And the next day, when all the other kids in the school hear what happened to Richie Rich, they mutter under their breath or high-five with their friends, "I sure am glad that sonovabitch get what he deserved".

And there you have it.  We're all the school kids around the school yard.  You're Richie Rich's friend.  We're cool with you, but you need to understand why he got what was coming to him.    Cheers.

so what you're saying is mitt romney is like richie rich. richie rich was a terrible movie and thus mitt romney is a terrible candidate?

lol.  I never saw the movie - I was referring to the old comic books - once again showing my age.