Posted on 07/21/2015 12:10:53 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Six candidates will miss out on the first primetime debate. Is that really such a terrible thing?
We’re about two weeks out from the first GOP presidential debates and oh god this is so exciting. We here at Salon Dot Com consider it our first priority to inform the American consumer, and right now we’d urge you to stock up on popcorn *today* before the nation’s entire stock dries up.
There will be two debates on August 6 in Cleveland: a grown-ups’ table and a kids’ table. The top ten candidates in an average of the five most recent national polls will debate on Fox during primetime; everyone outside the top ten will hash it out earlier in the day.
As of now, the fields break down like so: sitting at the grown-ups table would be Donald Trump (lol), Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, and Rick Perry; the LOSERS confab would feature John Kasich, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, George Pataki, and Lindsey Graham.
The institution of debate caps set off an intense process for candidates to build name-recognition by either performing dumb stunts or just going on Fox News all the time instead of working traditional retail politics in Iowa or New Hampshire. And yet the makeup of the two debate pools has remained mostly consistent over the past month or so — a lot of which might have to do with Donald Trump soaking up so much of the oxygen in political media and freezing the sorting process elsewhere.
The belief out there now is that we should expect candidates along the margin to perform even more bizarre attention-grabbing stunts over the next two weeks in order to secure placement in the main event. That’s correct...
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
The kid’s table will use all their time attacking Trump since he won’t be there to slap them down.
Both debates will be fun to watch—The big ten will have all the fireworks—with most piling on Trump. The second one will be fun as well with thesmall fry going after one another for a VP slot. Pop the Popcorn—they will be fun.
Not Carly; she’ll be touting her unique qualifications and attacking Hillary.
George Pataki shouldn’t even be at the kids’ table
He should be in the back washing the dishes.
Grown-ups: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, and Rick Perry
-Walker and Cruz are far and away the two best choices on either list.
-I’m not fond of Trump, but he hasn’t quite disqualified himself in the way that Jeb Bush, Rubio, and Christie have.
-Huckabee has trouble appealing outside his core voters.
-Rand Paul is nowhere near as nutty as his father, but I’d have to look carefully into his positions before supporting him (although I trust him far more than I trust insiders like Jeb, Christie, and Rubio).
-Carson is probably not ready for the media to turn on him, as they will if he gets the nomination.
-And Perry just doesn’t speak well enough under pressure - he’s too hesitant, he’s too nervous, and ... um ... I forgot his third problem.
Kids: John Kasich, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, George Pataki, and Lindsey Graham.
-Graham is the most obvious RINO on this list. He’s a big government liberal, and I’ll treat him just like Jeb/Christie/Rubio. If Graham gets the nomination, I’m voting third party.
-I’m not thrilled with Carly, since I wasn’t happy with her work at HP.
-Pataki is a gun grabber and an enemy of the state who should openly admit that he is a democrat.
-Kasich is acceptable but not perfect, and he seems weak on the campaign trail.
-Santorum is excellent on the key issues but weak on the campaign trail. I’d like to see him prove me wrong.
-I like Jindal on the issues but think he’d be a better candidate in 4 or 8 years, perhaps as president after President Cruz finishes his 8 years.
Note: I can tolerate a lot of disagreement with my positions. As Reagan said, somebody who agrees with you 80% of the time is an 80% friend not a 20% enemy. However, those who support Amnesty, gun grabbing, or Obamacare pose an existential threat to America’s immediate survival, and they are my 100% enemies.
I prefer to sit at the kids table during family gatherings—It’s a lot more fun.
The Kid’s Table might be a more serious debate because Trump won’t be there. There might be more serious discussion, and the “winners” will probably move up to the grown up’s table for the next debate.
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