Talk Elections

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Gingrich, Romney, Paul & Santorum will debate.

Can you sticky this please ?

Since it's on CNN, I can watch a debate again on my TV and will wake up at 2am to see it ... :P

8pm? Yes!

I do hope Gingrich doesn't make a complete ass of himself.

Seriously, Gingrich better not screw this up.

And Santorum better not spend all his time attacking Gingrich. We already know Paul will, because he's basically just Romney's sidekick in these things at this point.

Yeah, Paul is Romney's Flava Flav. Notice that he's started wearing a giant nugget of gold on a chain around his neck and saying things like "yeaaah boyeee" after Romney speaks.

Guess who's who:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ose0R85rY4&feature=related

That 24 second video pretty much sums up the entire GOP campaign thus far.

Here's the extended version featuring a resurgent Newt Gingrich and conniving Sarah Palin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r94AJzJZZaU&feature=related

got some of Long Island's own Blue Point Toasted Lager for the debate, how bout yall?

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/764/2318

Guinness. Romney needs to crush Gingrich tonight, with Paul tag teaming him, and hope that Santorum follows suit.

speaking of crushing, there's no crushing Guinness.  I've disliked the stuff since I choked one down on August 8 2007.

Too bad Rick Perry won't be there to make us laugh, but I guess there's still a chance it can be funny (which is the only reason I'm following the GOP race).

Is this being streamed?

should be here http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/cvptve/cvpstream1

ehh I just got prompted for my provider login..  I have one but the masses may not

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/cvplive/cvpstream1 (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/cvplive/cvpstream1) is working for me.

4 podiums!

Ronnie's out.

Romney got the most tepid response after being introduced.

Oh god damnit not more of this anthem bullsh**t

What did Santorum just do?

Have some pride, man.

Its actually really good. Usually its over dramatic and sucks. This is the way it should be sung!

Okay. We get it. You love America.

NOW SOMEONE BITE MITT'S HEAD OFF!

A really good impression of Rick Perry.

AMERICA F*** YEAH

Wow, the anthem. I love this jingoistic nationalism.

Screw you King! GO RAVENS!

Seven kids? Jesus Rick.

Santorum makes the first subtle jab... (THank you, Iowa!!)

Alot more time for everyone :)

Mitt: And ten wives!

Santorum: I won Iowa.
Romney: I've been married consistently.
Gingrich: I'm a Southerner
Paul: I'm a veteran.

Romney's opening remarks: "I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!  I'm a family man!"

Did Paul just have a stroke? I have to admit that was very bad/

OH sh**t HERE IT COMES...

Gingy's pissed.

Edit: Yay, first fight of the night! Go Newty.

Gingrich is going to kill this thing.

Here we go!

Wow, that was great by Newt. I am appalled as well.

Haha I love this

NEWT HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK.

Newt is a dickhole.

Good old CNN...I start watching 10 minutes late and it just started.

Also, 1 minute in and newts already attacking the media!

Newt owned the hell out of the moderator, I agree with him!

Not as despicable as cheating on a wife who has cancer, but whatevsky.

F, Gingy is going to kill the CNN dude.

Newt, YOU ING GO MAN!

This is amazing. Newt's going to win in a landslide. Sorry folks.

My God, Newt.

Newt looks nervous

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Gingrich won the debate. It's over already. Wow.

The Republican Party is no longer the party of values if it nominates Newt Gingrich. Either his second ex-wife lied, or he said he wanted an "open marriage." He is not denying the latter. CNN ought to do their job and say, "did your second ex-wife lie? Are you accusing her of lying?"

For the GOP crowd, Newt is probably owning like never before with the faux anger stuff.

I do not think Newt could have handled that better.

Newt !

:)

He's won the debate and the primary. Go ahead and end it now.

Good one, Romney! Nice to see them all defend Newt.

Politico going on the attack again: it's official, Newts back

Ten minutes in, this is already the best debate in the season.

Good man, Paul. I have very little in common with him politically, but I find him very decent.

Santorum is on the receiving end of things a lot...;)

John King better get out of there before the crowd lynches him.

Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts?

Paul needs to STFU about malinvestment. Also, Gingrich owned. :)

Hey; they didn't lynch Cain, so Kings safe ;)

Ron Paul is boring. Shut up and go screw a goat, old senile man.

Santorum sort of tried to level a backhanded attack on the ex-wife issue but it was too timid to even register.

Paul defended Newt, don't see that too often.

Romney gave a very good answer on the Gingrich thing.  Of course, Gingrich handled it well for the base of the Republicans, but that was smart by Mitt.

I wonder if "get to the real issues" was Mitt's scripted response or if he audibled to that after Grinch killed it.

Holy cow, Gingrich just had an excellently specific answer.

Romney Vs. Obama is about Obama and talking about real issues.

Gingrich Vs. Obama is about Gingrich and his graveyard of skeletons.

If people want to talk about real issues and get real issues fixed, Romney's the one.

Romney's right-wing platitudes of the night: "open up markets", "crony capitalism", "labor stooges"

Here is the difference between Romney and Gingrich: Gingrich gets asked about his scandal and he goes all in to the crowd's pleasure.  Romney gets it and he bores them to tears with a non-sequitur

Trust me, Obama can make the election about Romney just as much as Romney can make it about Obama.

We get it, Obama's a commie. Next platitude.

"free enterprise!"

why didn't Bain stuff come out in 2008?

Romney (wisely) wasn't running on Bain in 2008.

'I think Adam Smith was right'

Nobody knows who he is in Dixie, Moneybags.

still I'd figure somebody would have oppo'd him on it

CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM.

Go  yourself, Mitt.

Has Mitt Romney weighed in on Motherhood or Apple Pie yet?

"Capitalism and freedom make America strong!"

thx mitt

They didn't need it.

Yeah, Romney gets crushed in the Rustbelt in November.

of course Adam Smith is far more complicated than the neolib patron st. version, but, neither here nor there!  I try to shut the critic in me off when I watch these football games.

Only two rounds of questions in, but it's quite obvious with Bachmann and Perry gone, Romney is the least intelligent candidate on the stage.

you think McCain knew for certain he'd beat Romney in Florida?  let's come on now.

Romney is doing MUCH better than earlier in the week... he still sounds like a broken Reagan doll, but this crowd should like it.

I get the sense that someone back and RomneyCoLabs^TM analyzed the Sarah Palin Phenomenon and decided the key to popularity with conservatives is "More patriotic platitudes Mitt!"

Is it just me, or is Santorum the unbecessary candidate?

That's the winning message for Santorum right there.

Santorum thinks he can win over Democrats :P

Santorum reminds me of Montebourg with this re-industrialization bullsh**t.

Seriously. The only thing that masks that is the fact that he doesn't have a silly accent.

Wow, Santorum doesn't get being poor at all.

Santorum just gave Paul an excellent look. :)

Um... I guess the GI Bill doesn't exist in Paultardia...

thought Paul was going to work inflation problems in the post-War into his point there somehow.  but as it turns out it would have cut against the current of what he was trying to say.

Of course it doesn't. :P

Your almost as bad as Phil :P

Rick Santorum: Big Government Conservative?

In Paultardia, there exists no government programs which jack up the administrators to a level 15 times as high as the highest-paid faculty, so no one is faced with the harsh reality of having to pay 60 thousand dollars a year for an education that would cost 5 thousand dollars a year without government meddling.  

Frothy bitches about Obamas spending, and yet he opposes any cuts made by him too.

He's a Big Government Democrat with socially conservative views.

Notice how Mitt never says Massachusetts, he says "in our state"

It's called "Reagan Conservative."

WTF... I'm sure Santorum had a point... but it was deeply confused.

Because bloating the military gets us out of debt, right, Mitt?

I like Newt's Sam Eagle face.

ROMNEY IS SO RICH HE CONFUSES THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WITH BILLIONS.

Neocon logic at work!

Romney platitude watch: "let's do it at the state level" x 3, "federal government tentacles", "federal govt thinks it knows how to do everything"

Also I guess Mitt forgot that most of those defense cuts were passed as part of the debt ceiling bill?

Tentacles?

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Ah, Mitt. It's ok to balance the budget on the poors, but definitely not the military, eh? :P

EDIT: Love how Newt thinks tax cuts apply in every economic scenario.

I feel like Paul is going to rip Gingrich for draft deferments soon...

But Newt knows.

It's ok, we'll bloat the military, cut taxes and make sure the job creators feel safe and secure in keeping as much of their money as possible... and the economy will right itself!!! Huzzah!!!

I can't believe I agree with Newt, but I do! The GI bill is part of the military, which is a Federal level issue.

BREAKING: MITT WANTS TO COMPLETELY REPEAL ROMNEYCARE

Newt's playing to his base, the Liefs.

sh**t John King just made me make the connection that a Romney victory may mean I can't stay on my dad's health care plan through age 26.

Ah, some vintage Mitt lies.

"He's wrong, we're right, that's why we're gonna win."

Classy.

Typical elitist attitude of a 1%er.

The Grinch is on fire tonight. God damn.

One of Newt's tells: "Frankly,..."

He's not gonna be frank, to say the least, when he says that.

NO SANTORUM, DON'T ATTACK NEWT, JUST FOCUS ON ROMNEY

South Carolinians clap quite a bit.  Just about every response is followed by an applause.

If I ever have to give a stand-up routine, I hope it's in South Carolina.

I think Gingrich is going to win South Carolina. By the time Super Tuesday is over with, he's going to wish he had just stayed down instead of getting back up.

LOL, Santorum is gonna take the GOP down with him.

NO SANTORUM NO.

Footsie?

Go Rick! :D

Santorum attacked everyone but Paul? Thats differant.

Damn Frothy. What an effing moron.

IF ROMNEYCARE IS NOT GOVERNMENT INSURANCE THEN NEITHER IS OBAMACARE YOU LYING IDIOT

Mitt Romney now gets to explain why what he just said about Obamacare was ridiculous and ridden with lies.

Romney sounds like he's saying his own plan sucked...

Romney mentioned he has compassion

he just lost the nominatino

twice mitt has tried to put himself on the side of Medicare

LOL, Rick is shaking his head at Mitten's liiiieeess.

I really hate Mitt Romney's squinty angry grin.

Another flip-flop.

Is there literally any one person on the forum who supports Santorum?

Oh... that Mitt laugh.

Santorums arrogant laugh, Bachmanns cackle, and Pauls silent giggles are worse.

Phil and I at least.

End Medicaid at the federal level?

A year ago everyone was saying that Romneycare would sink him and be the one big issue, and yet it has really only been on a low boil so far.

Why has it taken this long for things to get heated.

Quite a few.

Two...Keystone Phil, and RealisticIdealist.

hahah, Newt and his love of archaic debate formats.

Wow... Gingrich really is a pompous wind-bag...

Now it's time for the Newt sales pitch.

Frothy you f-ing moron. ATTACK MONEYBAGS.

JUMP IN WITH A JOKE ABOUT BEING IGNORED RON PAUL!!!1

This is an awesome debate. LOL.

Newt, Rick, make up!

LOL @ Pauls "Thank You". I thought the same thing :)

Paul tells the truth (repealing Obamacare is not going to happen in reality) and crowd goes silent

This is breaking news?

If he wins SC you'll hear none of the "home field advantage" garbage you heard with Romney in NH.  Suddenly no one will realize that he's a politician from a neighboring state.  

But, yeah, I'm still gonna be surprised if he wins.  Even in SC they recognize pomposity and wind.

Haha. I really like Paul on healthcare. Paul for HHS!

Ron Paul's the best.

"There was nobody out in the street suffering with no medical care, back in the early 60s"

Uhh....

God, why couldn't Bachmann, Perry, and Huntsman have dropped out a month ago?

There were no poors in the 1960's?

I like how Paul actually tends to tell the truth in these things.

Can we repeal Obamacare? Meh, probably not.

So he can ravage it from the inside ;)

Nice tease by John King.

Surely... as a Doctor, Paul should be making commentary about the expense of prescriptions... yes, the Bush plan was largely ineffective... but the answer to EVERYTHING is not "liberty".

Paul, this is the South Carolina GOP. They love teh wars there.

GINGRICH RELEASES TAX RETURNS?!?! Am I watching a daytime talkshow or a presidential debate?



THIS IS AWESOMMMEEE

Paul's plan is to basically wait until out of control inflation destroys the economy and then start things again from scratch.

Yeah, Mitt. What are you hiding?

Creative destruction, yo.

These people have literally no connection with reality.

Santorum's attacks were weak this time, but naturally Romney still fell into it.

Thats why he is so obsessed with gold!  Paul is really running to be the first post-Apocalypse President.

Needs more Romney-bashing and Newt-surges

The problem with the CNN debate is that there are no crazy old men telling us why Mitt Romney is actually not doing terribly and ignoring Ron Paul, while some bimbo moderator acts like she understands what's happening during the commercial breaks.

Gotta say, Santorum is a great debater. Exciting to see him get time to shine.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEWTS RESPONSE>>>> AHHHHH

Santorum is the best on his own feet of the 3.

Yeah, Santorum would never say something embarrassing as President

No, you're by far the most flamboyant.

ATTACK NEWT, FROTHY! YEAH

Newt beat Frothy by 16 votes in NH....So he got his facts wrong there.

Santorum: "I'm boring, elect me."

There's the Reagan mention.

1928? Gee... What happened in 1929?

Santorum wtf are you doing.

SANTORUM NOOOOO DON'T ATTACK GINGRICH YOU STUPID

Wrong. Check the certified results. Thanks for your ignorance though.

I thought Santorum was ahead on the final count?

OK people, drinking game.

Every time Gingrich says 'Reagan' take a shot... see how long it takes to black out.

Plus those 16m jobs and the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc came about with a massive deficit...



Wow... Santorum

I kinda thought so too.  I'm not sure why these guys are so hard on him.  Groupthink in action.

SANTORUM WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU

NEWT HAS NO COURAGE BECAUSE OF SOMETHING HE DIDNT HAVE THE GUTS TO DO 20 YEARS AGO

Newt by Santorum: E'tu Bruti!

was a key part of Hillary's strategy in 08.

Forget Lincoln-Douglas or Nixon-Kennedy debates, "Santorum-Romney-Newt-Paul" is going to be the new standard.  So awesome.

Oh my!  Splintering on the right!

You know, Mittens is standing off to the side with that smug grin, probably thinking "Excellent..."

LOL, Mitt gets Ron Paul's practice wrong. 

MITT, WTF. BAIN CAPITAL=/=GRASSROOTS

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html

Sorry I dont frequently check the NH Secretary of States office and piss my pants over how awesome my candidate is.

Mittens lived in the real streets of America. Lol.

"A man who lived on the real streets of America" - lmfao

ROMNEY HAS LIVED IN THE REAL STREETS OF AMERICA GUYS

Romney just said Paul hasn't spent his life in Washington. LO-freaking-L.

Romney's "Real Streets of America:"

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Poor Mittens looks so lost.

Romney from da' Streetz

Awww I love the bitterness when your kind is wrong.

Romney just blew a kiss to Paul. It's so obvious what's going on here now. Gross.

"the free people of america pursuing their dreams make America strong."

FUKC YOU SO MUCH MITT ROMNEY.

Ooooh Reagan-based Gingrich smack-down...

Hey, open marriages are now part of the Republican platform.

Page 123 of the Reagan diary. If you care.

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DA REAL STREETS

Let's play a game!

It's called, "Demonstrate Your Connection With Reality!"

It's very simple.  Provide a contemporary article from the early 60s by a reputable news organization, detailing the epidemic of people suffering on the streets with no medical care.

Doze is some mean streetz.

You know, if it wasn't for Santorum's protectionist streak I could definitely overlook his SoCon stuff and vote for him.

Also, nice Romney zinger.

AWESOME NEWT. TAKE CREDIT FOR ROMNEY'S SUCCESS.

Romney: "HAHAHAHAHA PAUL IS POOR."

Romney laughed hard at Paul's "you'd think I'm poor" comment: the first time I've felt a Romney reaction to be totally his own

He's trying to embarrass Gingrich... it's amusing...

"Reagan didn't take you seriously..." "I don't owe you for my success..."

We gotta wait until April, Mitt?  No fair. :(

Romney: if you want to see my tax returns, you are a Obama Socialist.

Are you autistic? I can think of no other explanation as to why you take things that literally.

HELL YEA PAUL. YOU'RE THE EVERYMAN IN THIS RACE.

"when I'm the nominee..."

Not "if I'm the nominee" but "when I'm the nominee..."

Put some stank on it, Mitt!

lol @ Ron Paul saying he doesn't want to be embarrassed if he releases his tax returns

Moneybags ain't gonna show the tax returns.

My taxes are carefully managed. roflmao.

"WHY WON'T YOU RELEASE YOUR RETURNS?"

"BECAUSE I WANT TO WIN"

EPIC GAFFEE

LAME DEFENSE, MITT.

"My dog ate my tax returns."

Santorum: My taxes are on my computer. LOL.

Mitt just got booed.

Romney just got owned by his dad.

God this taxes thing is killing Romney

Wow, Mittens got booed.

MITT ROMNEY HAS BETRAYED HIS FATHER'S MEMORY

Oh G-d, Mitt. Maybe? That's... bad. That could be very bad.

INVOKE THE FATHER, SHAME THE SON.

Mitt has a good moment with Newt, and then this...

^^^ Terrible, terrible answer.

Mitt Romney cannot win this election. Jesus Christ, he's horrible.

Whats the heckling about?All Mitt has is porn on his.

Noooooo, I want to see Mittens talk about his taxes.

The worst response by not-Rick Perry in US Debate history??!?!?!??!

Um... did Romney say he didn't inherit from his Dad?

He's setting himself up for a huge fall on that issue.

Nope, though I'd have to say Mint's poor judgment continues if I were.  In any event, since you have clearly established a much firmer foothold on reality than whichever candidate said that (not watching), you obviouslly can provide evidence of such a newsworthy problem.

So basically the trick to beating Romney in a debate is to just keep asking about his taxes over and over again.

"Oops" is getting competition from the Moneybags.

LOL, Republicans think divisiveness is dangerous. How rich.

Mitt basically just insulted the audience. Christ, he's clueless.

Apple isn't using China to make ipads because of taxes Rick

What did he say?

"Maybe."

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Seriously, that might be my favorite new Mittgaffe.

SHAME ON YOU FOR BEING SUCCESSFUL, MITT. GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY. I DESERVE IT, NOT YOU. ARRRGGHHH 1%er ARRRRGHHH

http://glennrowe.net/BaronCohen/AutismSpectrumQuotient/AutismSpectrumQuotient.aspx

Where does the 2.5 times greater thing come from?

Paul takes a page from Newt's book, attacking "the way the question was asked."

If Romney keeps this up, he'll be in single digits behind Gingrich, Santorum and Paul by the time Super Tuesday rolls around.


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Hahahahahahahahahaha. God, you're quickly becoming my favorite poster.

I love you, Mittens. You're my favourite slimy capitalist :)

Paul reminds me of Ross Perot. Frickin' nuts, and then sometimes he makes so much sense.

If Ron Paul was 10 years younger and could learn to not ramble on and just answer the question, he could win easily.

Opposing unions is incredibly un-libertarian.

Politco is getting frothed up over his boyfriend flailing. Oh god. Here comes a dozen repetitive spam posts about Romney godhood and Gingrich evil-ness

Rick, Rick, Rick...

Standing up for corporate subsidies is not something that would help you in the general (not that you would ever make it...)

Also, Paul is making more sense tonight than Frothy..and then he said right-to-work. Ugh, they both suck.

lol.

Audience booing SOPA, awesome.

Newt opposes SOPA? Thats surprising.

Really looking forward to Romney's answer on this one.

Nice, Newt is anti-SOPA/PIPA.

Waaaaiiiitttt....

Aren't all of these Republicans about getting the Federal Government out of the economy... but they're going to impose a national right to work Act?

So it's fine for Washington to impose their own views on the economy if it's to protect the job creators and gut collective bargaining rights?... gotcha.

Finally, GOP Primary audiences booing stuff that deserves booing.

NEWT FAVORS FREEDOM! DOWN WITH SOPA!

EDIT: Mitt is playing both sides again. Awesome.

As someone in socal, I just want to say FU Newt. Hollywood entertainment provides one of the greatest economic and cultural exports of the country and is something that cant be outsourced.

I dont support SOPA, but that kind of anti-Hollywood pandering is the worst.

NEWT!!!!

and MITT!!!!

I was talking about Romney-SOPA with a friend tonight. Interesting.

Romney decided to be anti-SOPA tonight because Newt got cheered for it...

God Bless Ron Paul

Ironic comment from Frothy.

I think they were booing Time Warner.

Everyone has had to wait in their house for someone to arrive sometime between 9am and 2pm...and not show up

Santorum's answer is predictably the worst.

Rick Santorum: "The Internet is not a free zone"

Other countries can't make movies about how the American military and American corporations are evil and are destroying the world? Sure they can. They might even be better at it.

Santorum once again jumps away from the mainstream on the wrong issue.

Santorum: Authoritarian.

Santorum, you fascist.

screw you Rick Santorum.

Almost more offensive than his man-on-dog comment.

Oh.... please

Uh, he came out against SOPA. What more do you guys want?

You kinda need to understand Frothy. His name is now a sexual neologism

The CNN debate lineup is basically Most to Least Fascist.

Rick has the best answer, as usual. The dumbs here, like usual, don't believe in common sense (copyrights).

Yeah...the internet pretty much screwed him over for life.

Mitt should take a few lessons from Newt how to answer a question in a debate that you're not prepared for, because the SOPA question was a great example of that.

Not calling for restricting freedom on the internet.

Santorum: I oppose SOPA, but I support internet censorship.

So Santorum wants MORE GOVERNMENT REGULATION on the internet?

The only thing that makes Santorum a Republican is he wants low taxes.

Otherwise he wants the government way upside your grill. In your bedroom, your family, your computer, etc.

Santorum is on the wrong side of the majority in this country? Most of the country opposes copyright law? And he's disgusting despite opposing SOPA? Wow.

Less then 40 minutes left and nothing that will overshadow Newt's opening answer.

And Ron Paul's is predictably the best.

These people are unreasonable.

Actually took the time to take that, and scored 11.  Of course, I probably was semi-consciously gaming my answers somewhat to score lower, but then again that just shows that I'm self-aware and therefore not autistic.  Sorry!  Find some other non-sequitur.


It would be, if unions were actually free associations of collectively bargaining employees.  As they are, they're just petition-organizers who demand that companies be made centrally-planned as well as fundraising/GOTV entities for the Democratic Party.

He basically implied that SOPA doesn't go far enough.

I thought you were economically left-wing. Why are you supporting Santorum?

It could be, but I don't think so.  He is reluctant because he's rich. We all know this.  It is not news.  He didn't create those tax-shelter laws, but he'd be a fool not to exploit them.  You would, if you were in his size-13 shoes, and so would I.

As far as Daddy is concerned, we all inherit from Daddy.  I got my good looks from Daddy.  And my charming manner.  And the fact that I drink too much.  Didn't get no funds from Daddy, though, because he was poor.  Now, if I'm asked about what I inherited from Daddy, what do I say?  I say "nothing."  Mostly because I wouldn't remember, on the spot, that I probably inherited lots of things from Daddy.  This is the way it is.  Mitt probably inherited his good looks from Daddy, and his cockiness, and, unlike my Daddy, his Daddy might have had a few dollars in the bank.  That doesn't mean his Daddy was better than my Daddy, just had a different set of attributes to bequeath.  What are we, French?  Do we suddenly guillotine our rich people?  No, we're Yankees.  We don't have any aristocracy, and therefore we don't need to make a pretense of the need to revolt against it.  Let's stop pretending that we don't know that Mitt Romney is rich.  Of course he's rich.  FDR was rich.  Bush was rich.  Kennedy was rich.  We had lots of rich guys run for office, and most of 'em would say that they're self-made men.  They might have inherited a million or two from Daddy, but that million or two is chump change for them.  Most of the money in his bank account he earned.  Yes, he should pay a much higher percentage of it to the federal government--and no, I"m not a Libertarian, so my attitude should come as no surprise--but that's a matter for the congress to decide.  Don't hold the laws against Mitt.  He's just living within them, not writing them.

The question that is going to be on everybody's mind after Newt's opening answer, "what other skeletons does this guy have?"

They're also going to wonder if he has an "open marriage" right now when you consider that Gingrich was the Speaker that went after Clinton over Lewinsky. Apparently Gingrich was just envious of Clinton?

Ron Paul put it best: "Serial hypocrisy"

Uh no, he in fact literally said it went "too far"....

In general, the copyright laws in the US are pretty much stronger now than they've ever been in world history.  And way too overbroad in protecting old copyrights.  If anything, we need better protection of new copyrights (but not prior restraint-type laws) and less protection of old ones.

Of course, SOPA doesn't really deal with much of that.

Santorum is the least economically right-wing.

in this context they'd be talking about federal recognition of unions for bargaining purposes

Big happy family moment against Obama.

Why did CNN cut to a guy angling to get a handjob?

Santorum reminds the audience that he lost his last race and that he has no money.

is that Fred Thompson in the audience?

What would you do different question, Romney nailed it, taking the fight to Obama.

whoa, SS and I agree on a policy issue.

Fred Thompson cameo!

God, what a terrible question by a racist. She was aching to call them 'illegals'.

The camera just showed Fred Thompson briefly!

Why is Santorum even anti-SOPA? Because it's unpopular? Because the rest of his answer indicated that it should have his full support.

Pretty sad for you that it took an hour and half to hit post on the "Romney nailed this answer" reply.

Whoa, Newt is a bit more sensible than most Republicans on immigration. That's..surprising?

Get in line for the fruit-picking jobs and we'll talk...

Um... I clearly missed the official government documents that are in Spanish...

Plus, Gingrich, a Former speaker of the House... is being so harsh about people he once had considerable control over, Federal Bureaucrats...

Romney is going to do so, so, so, so, so poorly among Latinos with answers like that.

Romney listed everything he's NOT going to do, but no plan as usual.

So Romney and Gingrich actually agree on immigration?

So yeah...how bout that 40% Hispanic vote for Bush? :P

Santorum: still angry and whiny. Just now its a quarter of the entire debate.

Starting around 2020, if the GOP keeps this up, they're pretty much going to be shut out of winning national elections.

It appears the left finally won an issue: immigration.  GOP is slowing moving toward the center on it.

a little.  It's the one issue where I agree with Newt more than the others.  

Most Republicans have bought into the hard anti-everybody except us dogma, which is really weird, because those of us over 40 remember when anti-Mexican equated to a solidly leftist/progressive attitude.  Pro=union and all that.  The GOP was always forgiving when it came to hiring illegal immigrants to clean the golf course, under the table of course.  But in the past couple of decades the Republicans have co-opted that issue from the Democrats.  At the worst possible moment, given the current demographic trends!

Anyway, I'm not a libertarian, but I'm with the libertarian on these types of issues:  people should be able to come and go as they please.  Borders are for police states.  No major candidate in either of the two major parties actually adopts my position, but Newt's is a little closer than most of the others.  Not that I'd ever trust the bastard, and I hope he crawls back into whatever hole he crawled out of, but he's a little gentler on this issue than the others so I have to credit him here.

Used to be musician, well aware of what's going on in the issue, and my experience says that is what needs to be done.  I'm sure we agree in other areas too - don't let my opinion on certain issues fool you - I have my logic for everything I believe.  :)

Santorum: Compassionate Conservative.

have you read Notes from Underground?

Santorum is disgusting.

If this were an election for student government president, Romney would win 75-80% of the vote.

Stop the presses: Ron Paul just said something was the job of the federal government.

Ann Romney is lead cheerleader?

But he did tie it together with "bringing our troops home."

Santorum is the overacher head of the debate team. Gingrich is a cranky nerd from the school newspaper. Paul is the class clown.

Need to buy time... attack John King!

I'm confused...

Just started watching - can an unbiased person please tell me who's probably the biggest winners and losers thus far?

You're not going to believe any of us because Romney is barely beating John King for 4th best.

LOL, snarky answer from Newt.

CNN is going to be ripping Gingrich the next couple of days, and if he wins in South Carolina they're not going to spin it nicely for Gingrich.

It's honestly been pretty much a wash, I think. Everyone is just attacking everyone. Romney's answer on his tax returns was terrible again, so he's probably doing the worst I guess. But I don't think there'll be a big effect.

Does Gingrich care? His fans watch Fox.

Mitt's character isn't often questioned? Uh, what? For real?

The Grinch won the debate in the opening minutes.

Romney: "I rarely have to answer questions about my integrity or character."

!!!!!

Newt tore John King's head off in the fist 2 minutes. Not much since then. Santorum's had a good night.

Santorum - generally strong answers, pretty aggressive
Romney - had a couple of strong moments, but then he got really tripped on the tax issue
Gingirch - less aggressive, more pompous, still relatively strong
Paul - useless.

Everyone's doing well, Gingrich got the best soundbite but I'd say Santorum has been doing consistently well. Paul has been hit or miss, rambling a bit more than usual. Romney is doing worse then average but better then last debate.

My rankings so far:

First Quarter (8-8:30 ET)
1. Gingrich
2. Santorum
3. Paul
4. Romney

Second Quarter (8:30-9 ET)
1. Santorum
2. Gingrich
3. Romney
4. Paul

Third Quarter (9-9:30 ET)
1. Gingrich
2. Paul
3. Romney
4. Santorum

We'll see how it closes.

THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE DOUBTING PEOPLE'S VIEWS. EVERYONE STOP ASKING MITT ROMNEY UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS.

That little whisper thing didn't work.

"This is not the time to be questioning someone's integrity."

Yeah, Mitt. We're only vetting you for President of the United States.

LOL.

Tmthforu94, it's better with only 4 actually.  I thought I'd miss Perry, but this is just as entertaining.  Santorum actually looks reasonably now that he has some time.  Ron Paul is Ron Paul.  Mitt has said some things that may or may not crush him--I"m banking on the average SC voter being better informed than most here are thinking--and Newt has actually said a thing or two that has made him look a bit gentle, if you can believe that.  Maybe it's good coaching.  

Mostly, it's just a lot of clapping by residents of South Carolina.  They're very much into clapping.

Thank you.

From what I've seen, this is more a debate against CNN.

I actually feel like Santorum is going to benefit the most from this. He was wise to always go after Romney and Gingrich at the same time. He needed that.

Mitt lecturing Santorum on abortion. Awesome.

GO PAUL!

The Paulites revolt!

Good for including Paul :) The Hecklers were actually right for once!

Ignoring Ron Paul, still.  Lol.

The crowd got pissed about King ignoring Paul. Heh.

Ron Paul was doctoring before the Age of Abortion.

Are those just Paul supporters, or does the real crowd really want to hear more from Paul?

Paul, how do you propose we correct the 'morality of the people'?

Ron Paul basically bashes his supporters - LOL.

PAUL CALLS NATION MORALLY BANKRUPT
ROMNEY EDUCATES SANTORUM ON ABORTION


WHAT PLANET ARE WE ON?!?!?!?!??!?!

PAUL IS A BABY KILLER!!!

The Declaration of Independence isn't a legal document...

DID RON PAUL JUST CRITICIZE DRUG AND PORNOGRAPHY USE?!??!

He has betrayed the rEVOLution.

OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE OVERLY SENSITIVE

Paul just gave the soundbite of the night.

Santorum is OVERLY sensitive! :P

Why did Santorum think that was about him, anyway? Santorum was doing such a good job of ignoring Paul all night.

Ron Paul was doctoring before the Age of Anesthetics.

Paul, this is one of the many reasons why I could just never support you.

HAHAHA. Paul just owned Santorum!

"You're being overly sensitive!"

Man, how can anybody not vote for Ron Paul?  Seriously.

An old lady just made a "heh, interesting" face at Paul's answer.  This might have been the best answer of Ron Paul's political life.

Because he attacked the argument Santorum was using against Romney?

Santorum must have his obligatory fight with Paul at least once in every debate. ;)

Ron Paul just demonstrated that Rick Santorum has ever quality we've ever hated in Keystone Phil.

Paul lectures someone else on sensitivity while his supporters are shrieking when he doesn't get to answer an issue they don't even care about. You can't make it up!

I was thinking the same thing the second "overly sensitive" rolled off his tongue.

?!

Dude, WTF?

Ron Paul is Ron Paul.  Tonight he is no different than any other night.

What's your beef with Ron Paul?

Yep, overly sensitive. That's me. Proven by the fact that I've been here for how long as basically the lone Santorum supporter, right?

That clip will get some play. Paul basically just defanged Santorum.

My beef is that, despite how I think he's more sane than any of the other candidates currently running (within reason), I disagree with him on many issues.  Abortion is one of them.

LOL, just paused the tv and had a good laugh at that. Surprised Gingrich didn't interject, being a historian and all.

Phil, I sincerely hope you do a good job of getting out the vote on Saturday. You should be very proud of your boy. I still disagree with Santorum on many issues, but I have gained a great deal of respect for him lately for sticking this out and coming this far. I thought he was a joke, but now I can understand why you appreciate him so finely and how he managed to win multiple races in Pennsylvania. He was obviously just unlucky to be running for re-election in 2006. Oh, and at this point he is the only viable alternative to Romney, IMHO.

Phil, you're making the case with posts like these.

Probably we all are.  Ah, it's down to 4, and by now we're all stereotypes of the supporters of our favorite candidates, I suppose.

Newt Gingrich: I'd like to thank CNN.

LOL

Newt: I want to thank CNN for being a strawman for me to attack the media

South Carolina is known for their respect for liberty? WHAT?!?!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segregation_in_the_United_States

Who are you to talk about radicals, Newt?

R ::) MNEY

Obama's a "Saul Alinsky radical?" Way to be original, Newt.

Newt keeps talking about a series of lincoln douglas debates with Obama as a selling point.

Of course he knows that those will never happen. The parties have already agreed on the presidential debates

lol at the use of Saul Alinsky by Newt Gingrich

America is already an entitlement society, Mittens. You're just now realizing this?

Heh.  Mittens thinks he's Reagan, now.

Gotta say, that was the most passionate I've seen Mitt in quite a while.

So, essentially, you're telling me to not defend myself with facts. Otherwise, I'm sensitive. Sorry, I disagree.

I never thought I'd remove Assad from my sig.  Thanks, bro.

Romney: A
Gingrich: A
Santorum: C+
Paul: C-

Is Santorum calling himself the next Reagan?

Didn't Rick also LOSE an election, once he became Frothy?

They have all tried to anoint themselves as the next Reagan

Dear God...

Gingrich: A
Santorum: A
Paul: B
Romney: C

Santorum:A
Newt:A-
Mittens: B+
Ron Paul: Ron Paul

Except Paul. He is kinda notorious for pointing out (correctly) Reagan's big government deficit spending ways.

Santorum A
Romney A
Gingrich A-
Paul B+

Paul has done it too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGt1O1wycQ
“America must decide who to trust: Al Gore Texas cheerleader, or the one who stood with Reagan.” 

I'm not exactly sure what your position is on abortion, we'll probably have to discuss that in another thread.  I'm not an obstetrician, so my position is probably different than Ron Paul's, but I"m in favor of safe and legal abortion, and in that respect I'm probably in the mainstream of US voters.  Moreover, I've been there.  I've been a 19-year-old with a pregnant girlfriend, being scared and worried, and hoping that she won't decide to actually have the baby.  Wanting to blurt out "Oh, sh**t, you're not actually going to have the baby, are you?" but also being man enough to keep my mouth shut because it's her decision.  By law!  And, frankly, by reason and by ethical and historical moral conditioning.  I've had to cough up half the money for the procedure, in a time when coughing up half of 400 dollars wasn't easy.  I've walked past those irritating protesters with their rosaries and their placards with giant pictures of aborted babies--as offensive as they are, as taxpaying citizens they had every much right to occupy that sidewalk as we had to walk upon it toward the door of the clinic--abortion is not a political issue.  It's a personal issue.  And it's one that pregnant individuals must make without interference of their government.  I don't want a state like China, where a pregnant woman can be forced to abort a child, and I don't want a state like Ireland, where a pregnant woman must leave the country to have a legal abortion.  Luckily, I don't live in China or Ireland.  I live in the USA, where we have a constitution that allows each person, via his legislature, to make laws.  This is where Ron Paul stands.  And this is where I stand.

Ron Paul wants you to be in charge of your future.  He doesn't want others in charge of your future.  Yes, this human fetal abortion is tricky, because it is one issue in which one human must necessarily be somewhat in charge of the issue of another.  But that is between two people connected by an umbilical chord.  There is no bond in nature as strong as that between a mammal and its mother, and no god or government can come between it.  I think Ron Paul fundamentally understands this.  Do you?

Well, "we'll see" if it lasts.

I'm sorry, that must have been really hard for you and your girlfriend.

I agree that Ron Paul holds that fundamental position, and I actually agree with Ron Paul on that.

He certainly does not.  I know that Ron Paul hasn't referred to outlawing abortion nationwide, or going to the extremes like Santorum wants to do, but as someone who doesn't believe that a fetus has the same rights as a person, I don't believe that states should be allowed to decide on things like this.  It should be legal at a federal level.  The reason for that is because, like you said, no government can come between something like that.  If we roll the abortion issue back to the states, then a woman's freedom would vary by where she lives and, contrary to what Paul says he wants, government will be able to control your future - only, at a state level.  And I respect states' rights and all that, for the most part, but I don't think they should be allowed to get involved with personal issues like these.

Just watching the highlight, Newt's momentum was stopped, by Santorum.

A default Romney win.

Well, that confirms it.  Romney's finished.

I tend to agree that Santorum is going to eat into Gingrich's numbers. He had his best debate ever. Romney did enough to keep his 30%. It'll probably go 30-25-25-20, or something like that.

I hope she would choose to have the child. I have two younger sisters who were pregnant last year though not married. I personally believe, and this is up to you, Choosing life for that child would be so much a blessing, not without challenges, for both families. My sisters did.

Won't be the narrative though. The media wants a race, so between Marrianne, the Polls out tonight, Gingrich's outburst, and taxes there will be little to no mention of Santorum for those who didn't watch.

I think you missed the point.  Gingrich didn't win tonight, though he didn't do badly.  Santorum is the one that stopped Gingrich; it is that Gingrich says weird stuff and he's not dependable.  That does not give anybody a reason to vote for Santorum, but it gives a good reason not to vote for Gingrich.

Yeah, but what about the Bradley Effect?

Don't worry, Santorum took care of Gingrich nicely.

What debate were you watching?

Haha, okay...

()

Why didn't Paul say that he delivered 4000 babies and tell that abortion story from his ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkAsLPrnJGc) ?

Would have been better IMO than talking about something random and then getting attacked by Santorum.

You're about eight hours late on that one, pal. The insurgency is slipping...

And that's a commendable sentiment.  I assume Ron Paul shares it.  I don't want to argue this any more, and I don't usually post in the abortion threads because people who feel passionately about it one way or the other are generally not to be convinced otherwise, which is fine.  I wouldn't put abortion in my top ten most important issues anyway.  I generally don't find myself moved to vote for or a against a candidate based on his attitude about human fetal abortion, but I realize that there are some for whom this is an important issue.  There are those who think that terminating a pregnancy is so immoral that it should be outlawed in all cases, and they base that on deeply-held moral convictions, so I can't really fault them for that.  In contrast, there are those who think that the right to terminate a pregnancy for any reason and at any time is fundamental, and they base that on deeply-held moral convictions, so I can't really fault them for that.  But I can't figure out why no one who is moved by this issue wouldn't respect Ron Paul's position.  It seems reasonable, moral, and based on the same precepts of American democracy as outlined in the Constitution as all his other positions are based.  Yet, the hardcore anti-abortion crowd and the hardcore pro-abortion crowd both hate him for his position.  It's mystifying.