If I’m back home in time to do some live-blogging of the debate, which starts at 7 pm on Fox News Channel, sothis is where I will do it. Otherwise, The usual suspects (namely, Allahpundit, Free Republic and Matt Lewis, though I expect RedState to have it up as well should have it, along with Fred’s campaign in bilingual (DAMMIT!). Unlike the first, which featured nothing but 2nd- and 3rd-tier candidates and the introduction to Campaign 2008 of Alan Keyes, the 8 surviving “big” names will be the only ones invited to this pool.
As usual, I paraphrase a lot, even if it’s in quotes, the questions are in italics, my own comments are in parentheses, and the times are Central Daylight in 24-hour format (I won’t have time to keep on putting in “p.m.”). Also, as usual, I’ll probably insult every candidate before the end, some more than others. So, with 19 minutes before we go live to Florida, that’s that.
Actually, that’s not quite that; The Real Sporer is live-blogging as well, and the Vodkapundit will be drunk-blogging (he wasn’t real clear whether it would be at his place or at Pajamas Media). That reminds me; get the first beer out of the fridge.
18:45 – Hopefully Pixy Mixa fixed the commenting problems at Ace of Spades, because Ace has joined the party. Guess nothing is going to get done tomorrow morning as we’ll all be drunk.
18:51 – It’s Pajamas Media for Stephen Green. First gulp of Maximum Ice down. Meanwhile, the Spanish version of the Thompson Team take is now live.
18:57 – Supposedly, Fox News is streaming it. I can’t get it to work. Meanwhile, the Paul-nuts are busy itching their texting fingers.
19:00 – We go live to Brit Hume, the man the DhimmiRATs are most-afraid of. Joining him are Chris Wallace, Wendell Golner and Campaign Carl.
19:01 – Up come the Gang of 8 – Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Duncan Hunter. Brit lays down the ground rules, complete with the lights and the “ding-ding” (when I use that, that means they ran over).
19:03 – We start with Wallace to Rudy – Who is more conservative, you or Fred? – Rudi starts off with the lies, claiming he ran the most-conservative gubmint in the US in the last 50-60 years (that rumbling you hear from California is Reagan turning over in his grave). “You can always find one exception or two….” DING-DING! (I can think of more than 1 or 2)
To Mitt – Same question – I’m a uniter, not a divider. Mitt finally hits on Hiliary, and takes a swipe or two at Rudi. (oh, Mitt, you governed much like her as well, or doesn’t CubaCare Taxachusetts Edition count?)
To Thompson – SMACK upside Mitt’s head – “I didn’t know there was any room to the left of Ted Kennedy.” “I compiled a 100% pro-life voting record.” Oh, and Rudi supports fed funding of abortion, sanctuary cities and Mario Cuomo. DING-DING.
Rudi, retort – He voted against tort reform. DING-DING.
Back to Fred – I support state rights, and Rudi fought to keep sanctuary cities.
Back to Rudi – We reported everybody who committed a crime, but didn’t report anybody in school. Oh, and Fred doesn’t have executive experience.
19:10 – To McCain – Who’s more conservative, you or Mitt? – I’m running on my 25-year record (which is mostly liberal). I’m prepared because I led the largest squadron in the Navy, and not for profit.
To Mitt – Retort – “I respect McCain and his service.” I fought against Teddy in 1994, and fought against the Taxachusetts ‘Rats. I’m a uniter, not a divider.
Back to McCain – Defend hitting Mitt on his lawyers remark – When it’s time to piss or get off the pit, that’s the wrong time to call in the lawyers.
Back to Mitt – I’m backing off the lawyer comment if it’s an immediate security threat. The question was, ‘What role does Congress have?’ I won’t go off half-cocked, and another smack at Hiliary as Bush did go to Congress.
19:15 – To Paul-nut – Defend your support for gay marriage. – Pulls the TOT/McCain defense. Get gubmint out of marriage because it’s a religious. Trust the courts to read the dictionary and respect the states (have another toke, Paul). DING-DING
To Romney – Why do you support a traditional-only marriage amendment when your main opponents and Paul-nut don’t? – It’s because my state got fucked by those Lawgivers-In-Black. DING-DING
To Rudi – Defend your opposition – We don’t need an amendment until more states go down the Taxachusetts road (if memory serves, New Jersey and Hawaii already have, and Californica is on that road). DING-DING It’s not just a religious institution, it’s a civil institution, Paul-nut you dumbass.
To Huckabee – Can somebody like Rudi personally “oppose” abortion while publicly supporting it? – “I’m not interested in fighting these guys, I’m interested in fighting for the American people.” Most of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence were clergymen, and “I still believe in that” (refering to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness).
To Thompson – Defend your lawer’s defense of abortion – It was just professional, and I forgot about it.
To McCain – Are you mending fences with the evangelicals or are you a maverick – “I don’t change and I haven’t changed.” I won’t pander, and I’m proud to have engaged in reconciliation, even with the Vietnamese. “I believe in reconciliation, and I believe they’re an important part of the party…. I hope the (entire party) will support the nominee of the party.”
To Tancredo – Are the rest of the guys “hyphenated”? – “It’s not a sin to discuss (differences).” Touts his ACU and National Right-to-Life ratings. DING-DING. “Everybody runs to the right in the primary, but moves to the left, and that’s why people are so cynical>”
To Hunter (oh, he’s here) – “You’ve been dividing the party the last 10 minutes, Carl.” Contrasts the Bay of Pigs with El Salvador.
19:27 – Golner up now on health care. To McCain (missed the q) – “It’s an important issue.” If you don’t believe me, go to England. We want to move the tax incentives from the employer to the individual.
19:29 – To Paul-nut – Is charity the way we should provide health care to the poor? – Nobody is happy with HMOs except the HMOs. We need Dhimmitude, not freedom. (can someone please gong Paul-nut out of politics) DING-DING (thank you)
19:31 – E-mail Q from Kendrick from California – Why is CubaCare Taxachusetts good for Taxachusetts but CubaCare not good for the entire country? – “It’s different from HiliaryCare” because the gubmint isn’t running it (what’s the difference if it’s mandatory?)
19:33 – To Hunter – It’s the mandates that makes CubaCare Taxachusetts the equivalent to HiliaryCare.
19:34 – Romney – It’s the Rats’ fault. DING-DING I’m proud.
19:35 – To Huckabee – “We have a health care maze…and crisis.” Channels The Other Thompson and Suzie T (for those out-of-staters tuning in, that is “We’re going to make you healthy whether you want to or not”).
19:36 – To Tancredo – Your entire health care plan is anti-illegal-immigrant. What about the 50 million who don’t have health insurance? (ignoring that many of those 50 million are illegal aliens) – Hammers the original CubaCare and Michael Moore. What’s the Constitutional right of the feds to get involved? (none I can see) If there is any, let’s expand HSAs. DING-DING. Let’s get the feds out.
19:38 – To Thompson – Is No Child Left Behind a mistake? – Some states have taught to the test. “I like testing, but tests have to mean something.” We need to recognize the role of the federal government, currently 8% (Constitutionally, it is 0%). DING-DING. “We need more fathers to stay and raise their kids.”
19:40 – To Rudi – You met your match with the schools. You alienated the teachers, so how are you going to win back public school teachers? – Choice, and to hell with the tradesmen who masquerade as public school teachers. The problem with NCLB is the enforcer; it should be the parents. DING-DING. “It’s (education) the single biggest civil rights issue for the 21st Century”.
19:42 – BREAK!
Thanks for the traffic, ST. Meanwhile, while RedState hasn’t popped up on my feed reader, Team Thompson’s English live-blog has, as well as a corrected link to Matt Lewis’ TownHall live-blog.
19:45 – Chris Wallace asks how are the gang of 8 will beat Hitlery, while pointing out all of them are losing to her in the polls. First on the firing line, Romney, who’s 12 points behind – Is she fit to be CinC? – The Chinese tiger is rising, and somebody who never spent a day in private business isn’t the right person. I’ve done it, she hasn’t run anything, even in gubmint. DING-DING. Another 30 seconds to answer the question? – HELL NO!
19:48 – To Rudi, who’s 4 points behind – Is there any real difference between you and Hitlery? – “Are you kidding?” There’s 2 things we agree on, we’re both Yankees fans, though she discovered them in Chicago, and (missed the other one) caught it thanks to Ian, America can’t afford all her ideas. Takeaway line, which I did catch – “America can’t afford you.” But, but, but you’re down in all the key battleground states. – Well, Ketchup Boy was up in the polls in those same states. DING-DING!
19:50 – To McCain, who’s 3 points behind – Is continuing the Iraq War a winning strategy? – I’d rather lose a campaign than lose a war. I’ll hammer fairly on spending. Brings up the Hitlery/Upchuck Schumer $1 million Woodstock museum. Allahpundit and Ian had better have that monologue , and Ian does. I’ll win because she’s a liberal Democrat, and I’m a reliable conservative.” (well, half is right).
19:53 – To Huckabee – Was it a mistake for the front-runners to skip the minority debates? – Yes. “There’s nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being President.” DING-DING
19:54 – To Thompson, who’s down 12 – “Hillary is a good applause line.” Lists the heap of spending all the ‘Rats would fund on the backs of the rich, who are defined by the ‘Rats as everybody who works. “If we stick to our basic principles, we’ll win in November.” DING-DING.
19:56 – To Paul-nut – Since you and Hiliary are of the same mind on the War, how are you two different? – I’m the one that wants O-W-T OWT!
19:58 – Brit to Thompson – Expound on your touching the third rails of SocSecurity and Medicare. – “We’re bankrupt in the next generation…. It’s unsustainable…. Can you comprehend that not being discussed on the campaign trail?”
20:00 – To Rudi – That will open Thompson up to the “cut” charge. Will you be as bold? – Let’s start with private accounts. Medicare and Medicaid are going belly-up first, so let’s privatize them as well, as well as more people buying their own health insurance so the prices drop. Those not covered are not the poorest because they’re covered by Medicare, they’re buying stuff like TVs and cell phones.
20:02 – To Romney – Same question – Nope. I won’t open myself to the “cut” charge, at least to the poor (keep on redistributing, Bill Jr.). Brit – You saw what happened to the last guy who said he was a uniter, not a divider. – But, but, but I’m DIFFERENT (Bravo Sierra; the national DhimmiRATs will never find common ground with Pubbies.).
20:05 – Same question to Huckabee – Let’s call it personalization because of WorldCom. Points out the actuary tables were set up for people retiring at 65 and dying at 67.
20:06 – Same to Paul – We need to take care of those who are too old to get out, and let those younger out. Deal with the dollar (how do you propose to do that with the $oro$es and Red Chinese of the world manipulating the currency, Paul-nut?). Accept Dhimmitude (stock answer; I’m surprised he didn’t say “gold standard” in there as well).
20:07 – Same to McCain – Convince the populace with charts. It has to be bipartisan (which means it will never get done, as SocSecurity is the original 20th-Century Rat plan to create a one-party system).
20:09 – To the forgotten man, Hunter – Hammer Red China.
20:10 – To the other forgotten man, Tancredo – I agree with everything, especially with structural changes. Killing discretionary spending won’t fix it. There’s a plan to make it worse; give it to illegal aliens, who are also responsible for much of the health care problem.
20:11 – BREAK PART DEUX! I need a refill.
RedState shows up late with an open thread, and Jawa Ragnar joins the live-blogging. Meanwhile, Ian comes through with the three-way catfight over who is more conservative.
20:14 – And we’re back. Campaign Carl to McCain – It looks like the Soviet Union is back, and was Bush naiive dealing with Vladimir Putin – “I saw three letters: K-G-B.” Russia doesn’t have the territory or the capabilities to reignite the Cold War, but he wants to get them back. I don’t give a flying rip if Pootie-Poot doesn’t like US missile defense in Czechoslovakia (er, is it the Czech Republic or Slovakia) or Poland.
20:17 – To Hunter – Putin gave us an opening to put Aegis in the Black Sea (as if that’s going to float). We have to keep missile defense strong.
20:18 – To Rudi – Should we work with Mother Russia on missile defense? – It’s a good time to expand NATO well beyond the North Atlantic (say, don’t we have close working relationships with Japan and Australia?). Ronald Reagan quote time – “The answer is a very strong military no other country would consider challenging.” DING-DING. Increasing military spending would send that message to the Soviet Unio…er, Russia and Red China.
20:20 – To Thompson – Shouldn’t Turkey be allowed to go into Iraq? – Let’s hope it doesn’t go to that. Turkey is a friend who has the right to defend itself, and the PKK is a terror group. We should be able to work it out diplomatically DING-DING, but Plastic Pelosi fucked it up.
20:21 – To Tancredo – No shit she fucked it up to fuck up Iraq. Pelosi is not a good Speaker and a worse SecState.
20:22 – To Huckabee – Let’s arm the friendly Kurds to fight the bad Kurds, and make it clear to the Turks there’s no good to be gained by going in.
20:23 – To Paul – It’s all our fault (BULL FUCKING SHIT, YOU DUMB FUCK! The Kurds and the Turks have been at each others’ throats for centuries. Guess the Paul-nuts are NOT in the audience, as Paul-nut got boos.)
20:24 – To Romney – “We got the peace dividend, but not the peace…. The UN is failing in its mission to protect the world and prevent genocide.” DING-DING We also need a strong economy and a strong education system.
20:25 – Golner trying to invoke Reagan with Paul-nut – Have you left the party or have they? (er, Golner, Paul-nut is a literal definition of a RINO as he’s a Libertarian). – We have lost our way. (Hey dumbfuck, how many attacks on American cities have happened since 9/11/2001, which, BTW, you also blame on us).
20:27 – To Rudy (missed the Q) – “A nuclear-armed Iran is more dangerous.” If Iran and its Soviet partner thought we would use any means necessary to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons, sanctions would probably work. DING-DING. Contrasts Peanut Farmer’s and Reagan’s methods of dealing with Iran.
20:29 – Golner brings up the “lazy” question to Thompson – I’m a country boy who was an assistant US Attorney at 26, went to DC at 30, elected to the Senate twice in a state S(l)ick Willie carried twice, much more I missed. “If I could do all that and be lazy, I’d recommend that to everybody.” Brit ends, but not before Thompson gets in his big and young family.
20:31 – AND WE’RE CLEAR!
Revisions/extensions (10:05 pm 10/21/2007 and prior, and now 6:20 am 10/22/2007) – First, I added links to a few videos over at Ian Schwartz’s place. While I was doing that and bemoaning the fact that I have neither a TV tuner on either computer nor video editing software, Stan at Free Constitution found posted the full five- ten-part YouTube version. Thanks, Ian and Stan.
