The whole "will you take the pledge?" thing seemed like it was designed to start Trump off in a bad light. Fox is pretty clearly trying to kill him. This will be fun to watch.

Whether or not someone seeking the GOP nomination is a Republican who is willing to pledge support the Republican nominee for President is a central reason for a party existing. It's only putting Trump in a bad light because he said he wasn't willing to agree.

Would they have asked if they didn't expect him to say no?

The RNC has been considering making a pledge to support the eventual nominee a requirement for inclusion in future debates. I think it's a really important question to a lot of Republican voters. I don't think they would have asked if there was any doubt that everyone would agree, but since there was doubt it was a very important thing to ask.

Yea, it was important to ask because they needed to attack Trump.

And also, I think the whole pledge thing is insane. What if a whack job like Trump got the nomination? You'd rather just vote for him since he'd be the Republican candidate than voting for one of these other guys running as a third party candidate?

Gimpy wrote:And also, I think the whole pledge thing is insane. What if a whack job like Trump got the nomination? You'd rather just vote for him since he'd be the Republican candidate than voting for one of these other guys running as a third party candidate?

It seems like Jerz has been pretty clear he wouldn't cast a vote for Trump in any primary. He doesn't need to say whether he'd vote for him in any actual election because that obviously will never happen with or without the Fox freakshow.

But you are raising a very critical issue for the R party: what, really is your reason to exist? You're letting Fox dictate the terms of your candidate slate, and then acting as judge & jury on individuals in that mix. What Fox did with Trump was merely a more visible version of what they did to the kids table candidates.

On the one hand, the questions asked of the people on the stage were in the main pretty good (sorry, God, but that closing question was BS). On the other, the network's high-handed and transparently calculated treatment of several candidates and essential dismissal of the party is jarring.

Gimpy wrote:Yea, it was important to ask because they needed to attack Trump.

To an awful lot of voters out there who have voted in Republican primaries in the past and for Republican presidential candidates in general elections it is important for the potential nominees to pledge to support the nominee of the Republican Party and to rule out third party runs. People who have supported conservative principles for more than the past six weeks, i.e. not Donald Trump, are very interested in not assuring Hillary Clinton is given a free pass to the White House. Demonstrating to Trump that in order to prove himself to actual conservatives who appreciate his anti-Washington message that he needs to rule out helping Hillary is a pretty simple first step that most Republican voters would want to know.

In my opinion, Kasich performed the best tonight. I thought he came across as genuine and well-informed. I'm sure many voters noticed him tonight so his poll numbers should improve.

Conversely, Jeb Bush performed the worst. He never quite looked comfortable and he stumbled over his words a few times including in his closing speech. Not a good night for Jeb. His famous last name is the only thing that will keep him in the race after tonight.

Trump was a disaster. Entertaining but a huge mess.

drsmooth wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:Schumer comes out against the Iran deal - long statement with his many issues with the agreement. I guess the future leader of the Senate Democrats is siding with the Iranian hardliners too now.

he's counted votes & knows the veto is override-proof. So he can oppose it without real consequence. Good.

Schumer's an ass

9/11, noun, verb

https://vine.co/#/v/ewhznEmOF3n

pacino wrote:going after transgender people


#$!&@ huckabee

15,500 transgender persons already serve in the military, just not openly

why does Huckabee hate the military?

my absolute favorite part of the debate was this line:

Trump went on to explain that he changed his stance on abortion in part because a friend of his decided not to have one, and the child is now "a total superstar." "What happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted, and it wasn't aborted," he said. "That child today is a total superstar — a great, great child. And I saw that, and I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life."

TOTAL SUPERSTAR

didnt see much of the main debate due to being a chauffeur to teens

but I do have to say the way Fox treated the "lower" debate was really awful

the stage was poor, empty seats behind the moderators, showing Graham's riser several times and when they introduced the main debate (saw the first 15 minutes) that weird looking Brett dude stated, "One of these people on this stage will be the republican nominee" completely dismissing the 7 others who just debated

jerseyhoya wrote:Trump got a substantive question on Iran. He said nothing. If he got substantive questions about other issues, he'd have said nothing. Because he has nothing substantive to say. Because he's a clown.

A clown who has captured the attention of a good segment of your base, mostly because he said hateful things.

Fox News has been less than useless for a long time - but the attempt to ruffle Donald's hairpiece was admirable.

pacino wrote:

drsmooth wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:Schumer comes out against the Iran deal - long statement with his many issues with the agreement. I guess the future leader of the Senate Democrats is siding with the Iranian hardliners too now.

he's counted votes & knows the veto is override-proof. So he can oppose it without real consequence. Good.

Schumer's an ass

If the senior US Senator from NYC was a can of peas it would have done pretty much the same thing

guess I'm saying I don't disagree with you

Let's be clear--it's unlikely Trump's support is "the base". It's more likely that Trump's support comes from people who are not very involved in politics at all, and probably don't vote in primaries or caucuses at all. They're the kind of people who smugly say things like "all politicians are the same". They don't vote, and thus, they don't really matter. They might go ahead and vote for Trump as a 3rd party candidate if they remember where the polling location is and happen to go by it on their way to get a 30 pack of Bud Light.

I thought Jeb, Rubio, and Kasich did the best. Christie, Cruz & Walker made my skin crawl. Trump is ruining America by merging shit reality TV with politics, but it's admittedly very interesting.

'the base' will back some idot