Posted on 10/21/2007 11:38:01 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
I am going to post just a small review of my night with 23 Republicans at the Fox News Orlando Republican Presidential Debate.
Luntz was angry early on before camera's went live when he polled the group to make sure everyone there was undecided. A 21 yr old guy raised his hand and said he was supporting Ron Paul. Luntz absolutely lost it on this kid and said "Why in the hell did you not put that on your questionaire that was e-mailed to you? Why does it not shock me that a Ron Paul supporter would pull this kind of crap?"
"If someone else shows up you are being replaced and out of here...this room is for undecided."
I was originally placed in the second row towards the end of the row next to a man named Fred Hawkins Jr. who is running for Osceola County Commissioner. Luntz asked us a bunch of questions with a camera crew and producers in tow behind him and I was the first to answer. I was the first person to use the word "socialism" and it spread like wild fire.
I said the concept of America voting a socialist like Hillary Clinton as President should be motivation enough for Republicans to get their act together. I reminded Luntz of the Hillary quote saying "This is the same woman who is quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle saying "We will have to take things away for the common good." Luntz had this smirk on his face and he knew I handed him gold.
After 3 segments it was time to go live. By the time you saw what you did at home we had already gone through 3 rounds of questions and I was lighting up the joint with what I call the biggest crisis this campaign.
What do any of these men who are running for President plan on doing to combat the extreme hatred of anyone who is a Republican by the mainstream media and how bad the liberal blogs, Soros, and just about everyone who has some sort of journalistic power slimes Republicans on a daily basis. Who is going to have the spine to stand up to it and how do they plan on doing it when the Bush Administration has been knocked out time and time again with no fight.
WHO IS GOING TO PREVENT THE PERCEPTION THAT REPUBLICANS ARE NOT WAR MONGERING NAZI'S WHO ARE OUT FOR OIL COMPANIES AND THE RICH?
Luntz definitely told us through his polling and research that as of today Hillary Clinton will win in a landslide. He was putting all of his money on her. I said you are going to go broke. He said Republicans are too disorganized and the focus group proved that.
I said not it does not. I said if you want to see motivation and organization? Put Hillary Clinton against any Republican and you will see Republicans vote like you have never seen before, the alternative is too grave. Whether we can stand it or not Republicans will do everything in their power to elect anyone else but Clinton.
You saw my exchange later on saying we have long memories and do not want to live through that hell again.
The Ron Paul comment I made was simple and sweet and every single person except the Ron Paul supporter all said "perfect" with regards to that remark.
Luntz walks over and says "you are good...you are going down to the front row...keep talking."
We taped about 70 mins worth of discussion. More clips will be aired at 6:20 AM on Fox and Friends First and then 8:20 AM on Fox and Friends. Then more clips from the debate will be aired on tomorrow's Hannity and Colmes as well from 9-10.
I am sure this is when you will see how hardcore it got in there.
I called out the room at the end of it all..when I saw how many people put their hands up that Rudy was the only one who could beat Hillary I said "I am really saddened to see how many people think he is their answer. That is very telling that the fire that was there earlier tonight for all of us agreeing that we want a true Conservative is gone already and that makes me sick as a true Conservative."
To me the top winners tonight were Romney, Huckabee, Thompson, and blech...I hate to say this but Rudy. His night was not that bad but he certainly is not my top choice for President.
I called for a thining of the herd. Paul, Tancredo, and Hunter need to go. They virtually played zero in the room. It was sad because I really like Tom and Duncan and said that if a Republican wins the White House in 2008 they should all be given cabinet posts ASAP.
Except Paul...which who by the end of the night lost his one supporter...the 21 yr old guy who didn't raise his hand when asked if anyone supported him.
Finally...Luntz. A nice guy but can be insulting. When he compared a moderate conservative to a major serious conservative he wanted a show of hands...then he added "When I say major serious conservative I mean you can hear the German Nazi marching bands and get excited", I then said to him "There it is..exactly what I was talking about." Luntz said "Relax I was only joking." I said "I know you were and it is that kind of talk that I am absolutely disgusted by and sick of...sick of it Frank...enough is enough with the nazi conservative comparisons people have got to speak up for conservatives...true conservatives."
That in a short capsule is it. Met some really nice people and we had a discussion at the end of everything and went our own ways.
I thank Luntz for letting me say whatever I wanted to on camera and speak up for Conservatives and letting me call Ron Paul out on global television.
Why is this? Its simple. Duncan has not got a huge election coffer to spend on media advertising, and he would surely beat ANY Democrat , once he has gotten genuine exposure. His movement is grass roots.
I do not think Duncan's race is over, it will begin soon in earnest at the grass roots.I have supported him from the beginning, and will support him to the extent of writing his name in on any primary in which I vote, if he does not appear on the ballot. History demands it.
Meanwhile we are placated as Republicans with men of lesser character and ability, who have money, and media recognition.In many ways we are fools for allowing that, and the nation may suffer greatly for it.
I do not care for McCain at all but that was a nice touch.
However I got a bigger kick out of Thompsons comment on Kennedy, My husband and I both almost lost it on that one.
I was not trying to give a presentation of what Thompson believes. I was trying to point out how biased toward Giuliani that report was at 6:20 on Fox yesterday morning.
In it they highlighted this attack of Giuliani against Thompson.
Thompson is one of my 2 favorites, so I wouldn't go out of my way to disagree with him. A federalist approach on that issue is fine.
I'm one of those rare conservatives who isn't particularly incensed over lawsuits. There's a place for them as long as they involve an assessment of actual, total damages inflicted on someone. If you injure Payton Manning in a drunk driving accident, and he can never throw again, then you should pay more than just the cost of setting a broken arm.
And if someone's kid becomes sick from chewing lead paint smeared on their Dora the Explora dolly, then there's a case to be made that either the manufacturer or distributer knowingly endangered an entire age group, and they should be penalized....and financial penalties are one way to do that....and they should have to pay full, actual costs.
Now, I'm not sure why they should pay the "fed." But, then again, traffic fines go to the community that's been impacted by the speeding.
I'm also not sure of an equitable formula for determining the penalty, but it should be enough to make that company never want to do it again.
Excuse it if you want to, I don't. It's too clintonesque.
Bush, the “nightmare” that he has been, is the best argument we have that the “lesser of two evils” is the RIGHT choice.
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Excellent points which I have saved for future arguments with “purists.”
My worst fear about our present field of candidates is that a three- or four-way split will allow a weaker candidate to prevail. I am praying that our primary process will somehow avoid this result.
As an example of what I foresee, in Maryland’s last election, a beloved pol with 50 years in one office after another was perceived as vulnerable by another competent pol for the office of state comptroller. Our Dem primary gives us the winner of the general election. A third candidate got into the race = a flaming socialist who is a DC lobbyist in his day job. He won with about 34% of the vote.
The aging beloved (conservative dem) pol should have retired gracefully, but.....
“Perhaps you don’t mind low level theft or fraud, many of us do feel that it is wrong at any level and that Rooty exudes that sort of “untouchable” attitude that breeds criminal activity.
Excuse it if you want to, I don’t. It’s too clintonesque.”
Again, you are making assumptions incorrectly based on your prejudice. I didn’t state that I don’t mind low level theft or fraud but merely cite it based on the citations listed as below the level of importance to attach to the Executive.
Do you attach every petty act of “low level theft or fraud” to the Executive of your State, similar in scope to the size of the NYC budget?
If you wish to make that “connection” why not tie it to the US federal executive? With that kind of logic President Bush is responsible for all corruption including where local governments have taxpayer funded luncheons.
Again, I would suggest that an attack on Rudy be based on his record and his positions with the key being HIS, not the actions of other petty government officials.
Spare us the reference to the Clintons to who deserves it: the Clintons.
And you keep pushing these criminals off as low level petty workers instead of those with close ties to Rudi. It shows a lack of judgement on his part and deserves a connection to the clintons.
Sounded unprofessional and showed poor sportsmanship...
If they weren’t supposed to have made a choice by then, that’s cool.
But to jump out of the box and start calling names like that....just didn’t look good on national T.V.
...but ... that’s just me..
First off there is no professional code in a focus group. Second you are encouraged by Frank Luntz to “be aggressive...go back and forth and be passionate about what you believe in, no ho-hum talks to a camera.” I went in with something to say about the process and what I wanted to hear from these men.
I could care less how I came off to people who are obviously going to disagree with me. I notice you just signed up 3 days ago onto FR so I am willing to bet you are probably a Ron Paulie Troll in disguise since they all seem to sign up in bunches.
It was a passionate focus group and had the Fox News producers and Luntz’s group aired a lot of the conversations that went on in that room you would find a lot of other people shared the same passion.
Think I am making that up? Notice I was moved from the second row in the first segment down to the front row in the second segment.
Luntz wanted the formula to be about passion.
He got it.
...still calling names I see....
Real Nice!!
But “Whom” I choose to vote for....right now it’s anyone but Fast-Freddie....is my business...
Don’t really care if you agree or not...nor do I care which chair you got to sit in...
Well since you are in the mood to post Hillary #’s...please tell us what the Ron Paul #’s were in that poll. Because we certainly have enough of them on this thread.
So why bother logging on to a new forum and start pointing out your issues with someone who has been a member for 8 yrs if you don’t care.
You do care and that is why you posted directly to me.
I don’t “keep pushing...criminals of” as you suggest. What I’m saying is there is a great amount of people who work in government. The Executive can’t be help responsible for all their petty crimes.
Unless one can show how Rudy profited for the petty criminal actions, I hardly view it as akin to the Clintons.
When the Clintons klan do bad things, there’s always the Clintons at the top getting something out of it. Always.
So your analogy remains begging, sorry.
I thought the whole reason we called him slick willy is because nothing seemed to stick to him. He always seemed to be on the fringe, yet no one could pin any criminal activity on him.
I happen to view Rudi the same way - too much going on around him yet he seems to sidestep it all.
I just don't buy that he has so much corruption around those closest to him yet he's blissfully unaware. And no, I have no proof, just my opinion.
I respect your opinion, I just don’t share your conclusions. A perfect example of the Clintons is the pardon scandal, the Travelgate scandal and the much less known Riday scandal to Asia where they even shut down competing mining development in the US to stop competition with their “friends” abroad.
That’s just a note, not a complete recitation. Who has that much time?
My favorite clinton info regards all the deaths associated with folks around them... no way to pin it on them but no way it is coincidental.
“Illegal immigrants already living among us who commit crimes must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and incarcerated or deported.”
“... who commit crimes ...” ??
They’ve already committed crimes and do so every day they are here, working under false SS#s and cheating the American taxpayers by having us pay for their kids to go to school, free medical care, free school lunch programs, foodstamps, etc.
The fact that Huckabee obviously doesn’t consider those as “crimes” is one strike against him. His second strike is the whiff of class warfare pandering you get from him. Minor in Sunday’s debate but blatant in the Oct 9th debate.
Ah, okay, I see what you were doing. I didn’t “get” that the parenthetical was a direct repeat of the poor info given on that 6:20 broadcast. Sorry. My bad.
I do like your take on the proper place of a well-founded tort case. There really IS a need, but the difficulty arises in determining how to delineate between a case seeking reasonable damages, and a case that is abusive of the system. I can feature that cases commonly arise that could be made to sound like they were abusive, but, if all the facts were known, truly wouldn’t be.
I hope you like the new psychiatrist Hillary chooses for you.
I probably could have been a bit more clear about that parenthetical comment. I should have put a “/sarcasm” after it. :>)
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