No Runny Eggs

I don’t know whether President Bush and Karl Rove are cynical enough to do this, or whether that is a wise course of action, but Lance Burri seems to think that their trashing of us conservatives is designed to allow the Pubbie nominee to run against the incumbency of the Presidency. Maybe it’s my sleep-deprived mind (I didn’t do alcohol tonight, believe it or not), but it doesn’t sound completely far-fetched.

The fun/looniness starts at 1800 CDT (that’s 6 pm, and as you know, I’m too lazy to type the “pm”, especially when I live-blog). Same place (New Hampshire, the first primary state after a pair of caucuses in Iowa and Nevada it’s only the Dhimms that are caucusing early in Nevada – D’OH!), same channel (CNN), same sponsors (WMUR-TV, Manchester Union Leader) as last time, though I don’t know if the local station will be doing the webcast, or if CNN will be offering the free video again. Once again, William Smith will be in attendance and live-blogging (I’ll have to remember a link to his liveblog when he puts it up).

I haven’t heard any changes in the format, so unless you see different below, we’ll have a couple of New Hampshire pressitutes offering up questions for the first hour and pre-screened locals (will they be the equivalent Pubbie/Indies or the same Dhimm/Indies as Sunday?) offering up questions for the second hour. The candidate chosen to answer the question will have 1 “soft” minute (no buzzers/lights/gongs) to answer, then Wolf Blitzer, the moderator, will at his discretion offer up to 4 minutes for follow-ups.

This time, I will remember to give you the customary live-blog warning that I do a lot of paraphrasing. Though I am a decent typist, I cannot accurately keep up with long quotes. Besides, I haven’t found a viable candidate to back yet (though if I had to choose among the current crop of 10, I would take Duncan Hunter), so I probably will be insulting them (if you doubt I insult Pubbies, read my send-up of the 2nd Pubbie debate)

My conventions, which you may have figured out before, remain unchanged. The questions will be in italics. Direct and near-direct quotes from the candidates will be in quotes. Updates will be in 24-hour-time format. I’ll try to keep checking the comments (both in-thread and in the admin section just in case my anti-spam suite flags them) and will answer them (either in the comments or in the main thread), so feel free. I don’t bite (I prefer the shotgun), I don’t require registration or even cookies to post a comment, and I usually don’t edit them. Just remember to enter the anti-spam word before you hit the “Post” button and we should be golden.

1656 – Time to move this thing to the top of the blog for the next 3 hours. I will be away from the keyboard for about the next half hour enjoying an early dinner so I don’t miss this. Also, at 8 o’clock, I’ll be clicking the up-channel button 4 times to move to Fox News and Fred’s appearance on Hannity and Colmes. I’ll also be covering that one.

1703 – The live threads are starting to come up. Free Republic will have a lively one.

Entry question; What candidate or candidates (if any) will drop out before the August 5 debate in Iowa?

1715 – Speaking of questions, Sean Hackbarth has a few. To answer just his last (Will Tommy Thompson finally find a government program he wants to cut?), nope. The Other Thompson (I’ll probably shorten it to TOT) is a spender, not a cutter.

1729 – Add some more to the liveblog roll (thanks, Jim) – Heading Right (who will be doing a BlogTalkRadio post-debate show), and Iowa Voice. William Smith has not yet put up his live thread, though he’s there in the spin room hoping for chairs.

1741 – Allah is in the house (how many years has that been?) with tonight’s subplots – Marcia! Marcia! Amnesty!, Round 2 of Rudi vs Ronni, the miraculously-vanishing Fred!, and 30 months or less?

1749 – Add Red State (though I can’t get their site to open at the moment).

1754 – Red State is up, and one of Brownback’s web spinners is doing a liveblog. Dunno if I’ll be any fairer than him :-)

1757 – Sister Toldjah is taking a break from the active liveblogging, but she opened up a thread. I wonder if the WaPo is right on their “preview”.

1759 – William Smith and Heading Right are now live.

1800 – And away we go. First things first, TownHall is up and running. Same rules as Sunday (see above).

1802 – Intro time. Tancredo pushes his 10 years, TOT – “I’m the candidate, not the actor”. Rudi – “I agree with the motto of your state, live free or die.” Brownback – Makes fun of S(l)ick Willie’s Hope line. Ronni – “I’m the champion of the Constitution.”

1804 – To Romney – Was it a mistake to invade Iraq? – “If Saddam had complied with the UN Resolutions, we wouldn’t have been there…. We were underprepared…. Unlike Harry Reid, we did not lose in Iraq.” Blitzer pushes – If you know now what you knew then,…. – “It’s a non-sequitor.” Blitzer to Rudy – same question – “Absolutely not a mistake.” Goes onto Iran and smacks down the 10-years-to-nukes line. Blitzer to McCain – Did you read the SNIE – “No, but I attended a lot of briefings…. We did the right thing, but it was mismanaged.” Blitzer to Brownback – same question – “We held hearings on the topic…. I’ve got a 3-state plan, and you’ll have it tomorrow.” Blitzer to Gilmore – Is it responsible for Congress to vote for war without reading that SNIE? – Sidesteps nicely. “Saddam was unstable, but we didn’t anticipate further unstability.”

1810 – To McCain – If the surge doesn’t improve things quickly, what next? – “This strategy needs a chance to succeed…. If we fail and withdraw, they will follow us home, and Iraq will become a base for Al-Qaeda…. I didn’t say that Bosnia and Kosovo was Clinton’s war.” (smack of Hiliary). Blitzer pushes – “Then you have to examine the options…. We MUST SUCCEED and give it a chance to succeed.” To TOT, same question – “Push it on the Maliki government, force the states to vote, split the oil revenues 1/3 to feds, 1/3 to states, 1/3rd to the people.” Same q to Hunter – “This thing depends on one thing; reliable Iraqi forces. As we get them online, rotate our people home.” Paul – How long? – “The sooner the better. Repeats the moonbat line.” Missed the question to Huckabee – “We underestimated the fight in the dog and the determination of them to destroy every last one of us.” Tancredo – “Tell the Iraqis it’s up to you to keep it.”

1816 – To Brownback – Did Bush make the right call to open up dialogue with Iran? – “We need to confront them aggressively, work with the labor movement in Iran….” Same to Hunter – “With 2 conditions; stop the flow of arms to Iraq, and we reserve the right to preempt Iran’s nuke program.” Follow-up to Hunter Would you use tactical nukes to stop Iran’s nukes? – “If there’s no other option, but I think there will be.” Same to Rudy – “I think it can be done with conventional weapons, but you don’t take anything off the table…. This war is not a bumper sticker, this is a real war.” Same to Gilmore (Blitzer slipped and said “Iraq”) – “Dual approach, work both with with the Europeans and direct, but make it clear that Iranian nukes is unacceptable.” To Romney – “You don’t take options off the table. People are testing the US all over. We need to move Islam to moderation with a broad response.”

1822 – There’s a storm about, which Blitzer is blaming for the odd sounds. To Tancredo – What are the consequences of the McShame-Swimmer-Bush Amnesty bill becoming law? – “Serious, serious…. We’re talking about whether we survive…. We’re testing whether we hold together or Balkanize….” Same to Rudy – “There’s no unifying purpose; it’s the typical Washington mess…. It’s quite possible that it will make things worse…. We should have a tamper-proof database of the immigrants.” To Romney – What do you say to McCain for calling you a flip-flopper on immigration? “We’re friends, so I won’t go after him. There’s one big problem; the Z-visa, which lets all the illegals stay here in the line ahead of everybody who followed the rules.” To McShame – “Rudi, you described our legislation.” (right, and I’ve got a bridge to sell you) “This is a national security issue since 9/11.” (so build the fucking wall and militarize it, you dumbfuck). “This isn’t the bill I would’ve written.” (so it’s not full amnesty?) Back to Rudy – “I read all 400 pages, and you just lied, Johnny boy. There is no database.” To Romney – What would you do to the 12 million illegals – “Enforce the law as it exists. Make the Z-visa temporary.”

1830 – To Hunter – Who’s going to do the jobs Americans “won’t” do if we deport? – “Bravo Sierra; when the illegals were forced out of a factory in Iowa, the next day, a whole heap of Americans lined up the next day to apply…. This administration has the case of the slows on the fence, but if they build the wall, McShame-Swimmer-Bush might fly.” Brownback – Do you like the new paths? – “No, but I would let them in at the back of the line…. We did enforcement-only in the ’90s when we had 7 million illegals, and we have 12 million now” (because nobody enforced it from Slick Willie to Bush). So you support this? “If we put the illegals to the back of the line, yes.” Same to TOT – “Fix the border first, and no amnesty. This is amnesty.” To Paul – Is there a need for a fence along Canada? – “No. I wanted the enforcement more than the fence. Why wouldn’t the illegals bring their families because of the welfare state.” Wolf to the group – Speak up if English should not be the official language. McShame does, bringing up the Indians, but says that his amnesty bill has an English requirement.

1837 – Hey Gilmore, are we about to call the top dogs Rudi McRomneyson? – “Fredo’s a good guy…. They’ll (along with Newt) have to stand on their views.” Tommy, should another Thompson show up? – “I’d like as many Thompsons in the race as possible.” (even Brother Eddie?) God has a sense of humor as lightning blots out Rudi’s answer to a question on whether he as a Catholic should be sanctioned by the church for his views on abortion. Romney, are you just a Johnny-come-lately on abortion? – Goes through his current conservative creds well beyond abortion.

1842 – Huckabee, are you a Creationist? – “I’m surprised you’d even bring up this question. I’m not asking to expand the 8th-grade science ciriculum. I believe there is a God who created this, but I don’t know how long it took.” (Mike, it took 6 days). Blitzer pushes on both 6 days and 6,000 years (note to Blitzer, I can’t time it between the creation and the fall of Adam and Eve). Blitzer to Brownback – Where do you stand on evolution? – “I can’t believe you asked that. There is a God, and I don’t know how he did it.” (by his word). To McCain – Do you believe Creationism should be taught side-by-side? – “It’s up to the boards, but they should be exposed to all theories.” To Romney – Explain your Mormonism – “The freedoms of man were derived from inalieanble rights given by God.” To Paul – What is your view on Church v State? – “Bring it to the local level.” (good answer; the 1st Amendment applies solely to Congress and by extension the rest of the federal government, not state/local governments)

1849 – Rudy, is there Gorebal Warming? – “Yes, and it’s caused by man.” (Bravo Sierra) “We need an Apollo project to bring us to energy independence.” (how convenient, the mic cut out again). To Romney – Is the GOP too cozy to Big Oil? – “Rudy’s right on energy independence. We need companies to reinvest in refineries.” (make it easier to make them reinvest by easing restrictions on refineries). “Russia also got rich.” To McShame – You have a problem with the Big Oil profits? – “Yes, and we need to invest in nuclear. Gorebal Warming is a national security issue.” (Bravo Sierra part deux). To Ronnie – Does Big Oil need gubmint subsidies in time of huge profits? – “I’m opposed to subsidies, not profits. No more blood for oil.” To Gilmore – “Profits good, nuclear power good, Gorebal Warming bad, Kyoto bad because it subsidizes Russia and doesn’t include Red China and India.”

1855 – Is it time to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and allow open gays to serve openly in the military? – To Paul – “DADT is a decent policy, because we get our rights from God. If we understood the rights, it would be a problem.” To Brownback – “It’s covered by the Uniform Code of Conduct.” To Rudy – Was it right to oust the linguists that outed themselves? (Where’s the stories? I don’t recall seeing anything on CNN’s site) – “You don’t make changes like this in the middle of a war.” To Romney – Do you still support open gays? – “No. It’s not time to do social engineering, and we’ve got more-important fish to fry.” To McCain – “I’m proud of every one of our military. There just isn’t enough of them, so it’s a mistake to reopen this.” Silence when Blitzer asks if anybodey supports open gays.

1900 – How would you use W? – TOT – “I wouldn’t send him to the UN…. I’d send him to youth because he believes in public service like the rest of his family.” To Brownback – “I’d use him like his dad.”

1901 – Add Mary Katherine Ham and Ace to the live/open blogging.

1902 – To Tancredo, same question – “I’m disappointed in Bush for abandoning conservative principles, so I’d tell him to take a hike.” Huckabee, what happened to the GOP – “We lost credibility. We deserved as a party to get beat over Katrina, corruption and mishandling of Iraq and border.” To Hunter – Would it be appropriate to pardon Libby? – “You’d have to look at the transcripts, and I’d pardon the border agents who were crucified for shooting a drug smuggler.” To the group – Would you pardon Libby? – Right-to-left – (Paul) No, (Gilmore) no, (Hunter) not without seeing the transcripts, (McCain) not without the transcript, (Rudy) probably because the prosecutor overstepped, (Romney) probably for the same reason and I didn’t pardon anybody as governor, (Brownback) yes, (TOT) probably, (Tancredo) yes.

1908 – BREAK!!! Missed Huckabee’s answer to the Libby pardon, but the FReepers say yes.

1913 – We’re back for registered and “likely” Pubbies (let’s see how many public employees are here). Question 1 from sister Sheehan (who lost her brother 8 days before he was to be rotated home) – How would you bring the troops back home? To Hunter – “My son joined up right after 9/11 and did several tours. Freedom in the Middle East is in our interest, so we’ll rotate our troops out as Iraqis stand up.” To Brownback – “It’s not about leaving and being defeated, so I’m pushing the 3-state solution.” To McCain – “We’ve mismanaged this war for a long time, but we now have a strategy that can succeed so your brother’s sacrifice will not be in vain.”

1918 – Another woman – How are we going to get the Iraqis set up so we don’t lose? (how did she slip past the CNN censors?) – To Ronnie – “We’ve already lost, so we shouldn’t patrol anymore.” To Rudy – “Your husband’s service and the first questioner’s brother’s sacrifice is one reason why we’re safe. We created the responsibility to nation-build when we overthrew Saddam, which we did very successfully. We didn’t quite get that nation-building right. Are we going to report it if Petraeus comes back with good news?”

1922 – Broad attorney – Is conservatism and conservation compatible? – Gilmore – “Yes.” Should conservatives do more to protect the environment? – “Look at Teddy Roosevelt. Make it profitable to conserve.

1925 – Town “moderator” – Why are drugs cheaper overseas and what would you do to fix it? (It’s those foreign gubmints shoving the full cost of R&D on the US, gubmint asshat) – To Rudy – “Make it privatized with a $1500 tax credit and expanded health savings accounts…. Socialized medicine will ruin medicine in the US.” To Hunter – What should we do to reduce prices of drugs? – “80% of new drugs are produced in the US, then they recover R&D costs solely in the US. The rest of the world leeches off of us because they can’t afford R&D. Free up insurance across state lines.”

1928 – Anon blogger (probably a Kossite) – Would you support Canada”Care”? – To TOT – “Thank that Kossack for the question. We need to make health care prevention-based, and educate about risk factors. Manage diseases. Electronic records and e-prescribing.” To Romney – What about mandatory health insurance? – “I’m proud of what I did, because we kept it out of Washington and out of Boston without the massive tax increases the Rats all want.”

1932 – An educrat – What is the most-pressing moral issue and how would you deal with it? – Huckabee – “I’m happy to get the moral questions instead of the immoral ones. The value of every single life, whether in the womb or graying. We differ from the jihadis, who celebrate death.” To Rudy – “Gifts that came from God. Our challenge is to share our values, especially respect for life, with the Middle East much like Reagan did with freedom to Eastern Europe.” To Ronnie – “Peace.” (join Dennis the Menace) “We haven’t even taken pre-emptive nuclear strikes off the table against Iran.” (did your memory start in 1997, dumbfuck? How about the embassy hostages? Beruit? Khobar?) To Brownback – “Pro-life is at our core, so we can’t nominate Rudi.” Blitzer pushes, Would you support Rudi? “I don’t think we’ll nominate him, but I’ll support him. It would be a mistake to nominate him though.”

1939 – Direct from another RAT plant to Romney Why do you do bilingual communications? – “I’m not anti-immigrant, and I’ll reach out any way I can to those here legally. I don’t want a special pathway for the illegals.” Runs well over and off the rails. To Tancredo – Would you do Spanish? – “No. Bilingual countries don’t work. McShame would codify printing all gubmint documents in boku different languages.” Respond, McShame – “Mucho gracias. The illegals are just the latest wave of migrants.”

1943 – Self-employed engineer – I blame 2006 on Booosh, so differentiate yourself. To McCain – “Spending, spending, spending, spending, spending, which led to corruption. Stop earmarking. I’ll veto every bill that has pork in it.” Call to limit to 10-15 seconds – What was Bush’s biggest mistake? To Rudy – “I’d establish accountability programs.” To Romney – “Vision.” To Brownback – “Spending, and I want to cure all cancers in 10 years.” To TOT – “Washington changed us. Health care, wind down the war, be conservatives because those addicted to big gubmint will elect the pro spenders.” Tancredo – “Bush lost his conservativism.” Paul – “I’d act like a RAT and cut and run from the GWOT to spend on domestic issues.” Gilmore – “Immigration.” Hunter – “Pubbies have to reunite with the American family.” Romney – “Cut taxes and regulation.”

1949 – A part-time pastry chef – What does it mean to be an American? Tancredo – “Cut your ties to the past. It’s time to stop almost all immigration so we can assimilate those who already came here until we don’t have to press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish.” Do you agree with Tancredo? – To Huckabee – “No, because we have a need for skilled immigrants.” Same to Rudy – “Very uncomfortable with it. Answers the original question with Lincoln’s definition – ‘It’s how much do you believe in freedom and the rule of law?'” To McCain – “America is a land of opportunity. Supposedly, we’ll be working on the border for 18 months before the rest of my, the Swimmer’s and Bush’s amnesty plan goes into effect.”

1954 – RINO legislator – How do you appeal to us lieberals? – Gilmore – “When I ran for governor, I was told I couldn’t appeal to you with conservative values. I was told wrong.” To Hunter – Shouldn’t the national GOP follow Ahnold’s RATification of the Californica GOP? – “NO!” and takes out all 3 members of Rudi McRomney. Response from Romney – Trots out how Reagan carried Taxachusetts. From Rudi – “Nominate me.” (no thanks) “Be on the offense against Islamic terrorism and bigger taxes.” (still won’t make me vote for you). From McShame – “Protect the family and fight against radical Islamic extremism. It will be a long fight, but we will prevail.”

1959 – We’re over. Next debate on July 23rd (was that the Pubbies or the Rats?).

2000 – Transition to Fred! – “I’d rather be here with you, Shawn, rather than in NH debating…. I’ve never lusted for the job, but I’ve become convinced I should run.”

2002 – What are the differences between you and the announced candidates? – “We ought to think about the day after Iraq. The people haven’t been told about our enemy, and our enemy has had a several-hundred year plan…. Tax code is hopelessly out of date…. Our entitlement programs are going to bankrupt us unless we do something different.”

2004 – Where are you now? “Part of my testing the waters is a site called imwithfred.com.” When are you announcing? “I haven’t decided yet.”

2006 – Expound on the civilization v Islam thoughts – “We need to get the rest of the world to recognize that Islam is trying the divide-and-conquer route.” Was Iraq the right move? “What if we didn’t go after Saddam defied the UN 17 times and corrupting the Oil-For-Food program? Saddam would still be doing what he did in the 1980s and 1990s. Look at what Iran is doing now. Deposing him was a good thing.”

2008 – Where do we go from here? – “Wait to see what Petraeus says in September. Also, listen to the parents of the troops there. The troops are full of hope and optimism, so I’m full of hope and optimism. We should be disgusted over Reid’s call of defeat…. Hiliary wants to be President more than anything else in the world.” Commercial break.

Quick review of the debate while I wait for Fred! to go back on Hannity (less Colmes) – Comparing the questions asked Sunday to those asked Tuesday, it was a shameful performance by the Communist News Network. They did to the Pubbies precisely what the ScaredyRATs thought that Fox would do to them.

Now, how did I miss Michelle Malkin’s liveblog? She’s doing the double-dip as well.

2013 – We’re back, and and on Iran. “Iran might fall if we gave it a bit of a shove. There’s a lot of unrest there. They’re trying the Krazy Kim North Korean model.” If it’s clear they’re close to getting nukes, would you take pre-emptive action? “Yes.”

2015 – On to Libby – “It was a travesty of justice. They knew shortly after they started there was no crime on the ‘leaking’ of Plame’s status because she wasn’t recently covert, then they found out it was Armitage. They kept digging for 2 years until they found some inconsistent statements from Libby in a case full of inconsistent statements from the gubmint witnesses, and then the judge went way beyond the recommended sentence.” Would you pardon him? “Yes.”

2021 – Sum up the RATs – “They’re wrong. It’s moral bankruptcy to not acknowledge the war on radical Islam.” Explain your 3 conservative failings. First, the abortion box in 1994 – “It’s not my voting record. Abortion should go back to the states.” McShame-Slimeroad – “Part was right, part wasn’t. The part that was right was to kill soft money, and I was responsible for doubling and indexing the hard-money limits. The part that doesn’t and shouldn’t work is the 60-day gag order.” Impeachment – “I followed what I thought the Founding Fathers considered impeachement, so I split my vote.”

2025 – “It’s a badge of honor to get attacked by some of these bozos.” (direct quote). Top 5 priorities in first 100 days “Explain the war on radical Islam, reform the tax code, reform the welfare, get back to basic Constitutional values.” WE’RE OUT OF HERE!

Second-tier candidates, out of the pool! Fred! is jumping in at least as far as a few of you turkeys.

One more live-blog – John Hawkins at Right Wing News (thanks, Brian from Iowa Voice). He is a Hunter consultant, so there is a bit of a pro-Hunter spin to his stuff (that’s okay; if Fred! wasn’t jumping him, I’d take Hunter).