Posted on 02/14/2016 5:54:28 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Charles Krauthammer analyzes the Saturday night Republican presidential debate moderated by CBS News. Krauthammer said if the previous debates had been World War I or II, then this debate was a thermonuclear war. The syndicated columnist said Trump debated like "a man who was not sitting on the lead" because the candidate engaged with every top candidate.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: If the previous Republican debates have been World War I or II this is is thermonuclear. I have is not seen as many personal attacks or high temperature attacks as we saw in this debate. I am not sure that you can judge the debate on who won or lost on the actual sound bites of who won this exchange or, that that, it was the tone. I think that if you counted up the number of times that the word 'lie' and 'liar' was employed, it would exceed the number of times it has been used in all previous debates.In the end, I thought that Trump was a man who was not sitting on the lead, that's for sure. He was engaged personally with everybody at a very bitter level... with Bush, he was throwing around insults, including the family, and getting incoming as well from all sides. So he didn't sit on the lead. I think he took a risk in being as open and often contemptuous as he was, but I don't think it's going to shake his support. The question is, will it limit his support?
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Ping
Kraphammer hates Trump. Everything he says needs to be viewed in that context.
And Krauthammer knows that’s exactly what the debate was set up to be, complete with a nasty, uncontrolled and clearly biased against Trump audience. The only surprising thing is that Trump gave them a royal thrashing just like he has always promised anyone who attacks him.
Analyze that, Krauthammer!
Yes, and it will get uglier and uglier the closer the establishment comes to losing their grip on power. The country club superficial niceties usually seen from this crowd will give way to more and more extreme behaviors and attacks as they try to hold onto power.
Most people are so upset about what Obama has done to this country, they want a person like Trump to change things ASAP.
Charles who? Oh that jerk at Faux News - okay that explains it.
That video clip was from Fox, not real clear politics.
Krauthammer doesn’t venture far away from Fox because he’s virtually an employee at Fox.
Good to see a candiate continue to fight hard, although they are well in the lead.
Too often a candidate would try to play "prevent defense" to protect their lead - don't say anything controversial, rideout the clock, etc...just like what happens in the NFL.
And as usual the NLF team that switches to the prevent defense loses...Trump needs to stay on offense.
Where’s Krauthammer’s condemnation of the GOPe filling the auditorium with plants primed to boo Trump and Cruz every time they tried to answer a question and to cheer Rubio and Jeb! every time they grunted or squeaked a syllable?
Nowhere? I guess that tells us all we need to know about Kraut’s “commentary”.
The GOP is not interested in fighters, it seems. Only people who appear to be fighters, and because they are fatally compromised, capitulate.
Exactly as planned by the GOPe.
We’ll see at the voting booth if it mattered. I’m turning off the news until election results are in for the S.C. primary.
I can’t look anymore. Not at debates, not at commercials, not at sound bites from stump speeches.
Dittos
At one point, he visited the Senate to obtain consent for a Treaty, IIRC.
After his advisor had explained the matter...the Senate said...whoa....we haven't even seen this....and that's sure not going to happen today.
Washington was infuriated. He said..."then why am I here"....and stomped out along with his advisor.
Pretty ugly last evening. Right smack dab in the middle...Trump. The boy just doesn’t know how to stay out of the mud.
I was surprised, I thought that Trump would take it easy, and just ride the lead. I thought that Jeb’s “my dad is the greatest, my mom is the strongest, and my brother is this or that” was rather comical at best, and pathetic at worst. Trump was right, Bush 2 got us mired in Iraq when there was absolutely no reason for it, except the grudge Bush 1 felt towards Hussein. Trump was also right when he said that the Iraq war destabilized the Middle East and allowed for Iranian expansion.
Trump will be able to hammer Hillary the same way, plus hammer her on the “Arab spring,” the killing of Kaddafi including Benghazi, the mess in Syria, all of which she oversaw from her perch at the State Department. None of the others will do that.
Helicon - interesting statistics. Thanks for posting. I was so depressed by the debate last night; audience thought they were at a boxing match, I thought - very rowdy and inappropriate. I hated the way folks were jabbing at each other. It was like they were all in Destroy the Party mode; who needs Democrats when you have members of your same party out with machetes? Good grief.
The RNC yesterday:
Sent out fake dishonest fundraising letters using Trumps name;
Refused to allow average citizens access to the debate audience, giving the seats instead to donors of chosen candidates and party hacks.
So I’m supposed to be dismayed by Trumps anger and dismissal of them??
The GOP is a filthy dirty party. The Bushes have been at the top of it for decades.
I hope Trump continues to take a wrecking ball to the entire party of pigs.
And then the same to the Democrats in the general.
My DIL suggested that Trump was going after the Democrat vote last night by bashing Bush/ the Iraq War. I had not considered that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.