[tomder55]

Or is there another reason why ABC did this hit piece on the eve of the first debate ?

'Wanting to be famous': How Vivek Ramaswamy sought podcast stardom prior to White House run - ABC News (go.com)

Ramaswamy pitched himself as a candidate who could make serious waves in the Republican primary at the meeting. When met with some skepticism, Ramaswamy argued that his candidacy could also dissuade Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from entering the race, according to a source who was on the call. In the lead-up to his announcement, Ramaswamy would tell several other conservative activists that he believed that if he ran, it could stop DeSantis from running or impact his viability as a candidate if he did enter the race, sources said.


Ah yes ;those unnamed sources .

Vivek wanted name recognition He wanted to be famous.
Vivek wanted to launch a podcast after his deal with Daily Wire went south.
Vivek wants to derail DeSantis so he can be Trump's VP or have another job in a Trump administration.

Here's what I think

ABC wants to stir the hornet's nest. ABC wants and infight among the Repub contenders to weaken them . The ultimate goal is the have the Dem candidate run against an indicted Trump who has to divide his time between running for President and staying out of jail.

Vivek has been rising up in the polls so he becomes the latest threat to take down. What better way to slay 2 dragons by instigating a fight between Vivek and DeSantis?

[tomder55]

you can tell that the rest of the field is worried about Vivek. Pence and Halley think it is a good idea to shout him down .

Vivek demonstrates how to raise your hand DeSantis raised his hands like he has a wrist injury. The rest are part of the war party ;not much different than Clueless Joe.




His best answer of the night

True privilege is not based on the color of your skin. It’s being raised in a stable family with two parents with a focus on education and a faith in God. That’s the ultimate “privilege.” As President, it’ll be my job to make sure we help every kid in this country be able to enjoy that same privilege, too.

[tomder55]

I did not hear one question about the most important and least covered story of the day. That being the BRICS meeting where they are seriously considering ending the dollar as the world reserve currency.

[jlisenbe]

I thought they all missed the opportunity on Ukrainian funding to point out that we DON'T HAVE THE MONEY! All in all, other that AH and the ND guy, I would be good with any of them relative to who we have now. The debates will be better once the field gets narrowed down.

I was surprised at the attention focused on VR. It probably gave him instant credibility.

Pence did not come across well other than the time when the all pretty much supported him for his actions on 1/6. His proposal for a national ban on abortion after fifteen weeks (when the unborn child is thought to be able to feel pain) was really weak. Is it OK to kill someone now as long as the person does not feel pain? What??

Haley, Scott, and DeSantis all seemed to be quite competent as did Christie.

[tomder55]

That dude from ND with the torn Achilles tendon sounded good Probably because he was doped up with pain killers. He got the abortion issue right (Dobbs decision gave it to the states )

Nikki ridiculed Vivek about foreign policy experience and then defended Quid's policies. But she was right in calling out Trump and the Repubs for reckless spending . Her 'I am woman hear me roar ' act was over the top.

Scott was too subdued . He needed to be more aggressive to be heard .

Christie is two faced. He is in 'get Trump' mode because he thinks Trump dissed him.

If there was a winner it was either Vivek or DeSantis . They both survived the many barbs thrown at them Barbs ? It was more like monkeys throwing feces.


The moderators were a joke ;the format is a joke .You are right that the field needs to be narrowed down . They have to act like jack asses to get attention .But even so ;the idea that someone can give a 1 minute answer to questions that take more than a minute to ask is unfair to the candidates .



It was not right that Larry Elder was excluded after he satisfied the so called criteria. The issues he speaks about are just as important as the rest . Sad to say ; it would be fair to charge the RNC with allowing 1 token Black candidate from the establishment to represent diversity .

I thought they all missed the opportunity on Ukrainian funding to point out that we DON'T HAVE THE MONEY!

Yes Vivek came closest saying the money is better spent on the border.

He was also the only one to say that the climate change issue is largely a hoax He was also the only one who called for wholesale dismantle of the Leviathan.

Pence simultaneously attacked Trump and took credit for the accomplishments.

[jlisenbe]

VR's best response was his reference to the current cultural darkness resting over much of America. Pence's sunshine response about our current problems being merely a failure of leadership was far removed from reality. Might add that VR's point about fatherless families was a good one as well. The incessant drumbeat about how the feds can fix education in America was ridiculous as well as their promises to end the crime wave. There is only so much the feds can/should do and no surplus money at all to fund new initiatives. There were no really innovative ideas put forward from anyone other than VR and a few that wanted to do away with the Dept. of Ed.

[tomder55]

I just finished watching it again. Vivek looked like a happy warrior even as he took one arrow after another . He is a rookie (Pence) ;ChatGPS (Christie) ,a foreign policy amateur who would throw Israel and Taiwan under the bus after he sells out Ukraine(Nikki's bizzarro accusation considering that he made it a point of saying that Ukraine has us taking our eyes off of the real threat ...China).

DeSantis who I thought did well ;still looked like a sour puss in comparison. He also fell into the bad habit of spouting his resume like Pence and Christie did too often. If you have to regurgitate your resume then it means it did not have an impact. DeSantis did a great job in Fla and everyone knows it . The question is what next ?

Vivek was the only one that had fresh ideas. The rest could've been from the Bush era GOP or in some cases the Ike era.

Vivek p*ssed them all off by saying they were bought and sold "Supe Pac puppets " He hit the mark when he said more people have died from climate policy than climate change .

He is fresh with bold ideas He calls them MAGA 2.0 . He had a pre-debate workout and did not bust his leg doing it.

Vivek Ramaswamy on X: "Three hours of solid debate prep this morning. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/luY1k3m0wN" / X (twitter.com)

[jlisenbe]

He hit the mark when he said more people have died from climate policy than climate change .

Yeah. I thought that was a good line as well, but his reference to CC being a "hoax" was over the top. A hoax would imply many thousands of climate scientists working together to put forward a narrative they know to be wrong. That's extreme, but it is certainly being over sold and used by the political class (our greatest enemy) for their own purposes just like Covid was.

[Wondergirl]

What surprised me was that there were no name tags or place cards showing the name of each person debating. It would have very helpful to anyone who was noting questions and responses on a chart (and keeping score) for later discussion and review. (And I'm betting many Republicans couldn't name all the debaters.)

[jlisenbe]

Republicans would generally know them. Even at that, they were all introduced at the beginning and their names were spoken repeatedly by the mods, so I don't see how that could have been an issue. The only one new to me was the ND gov. Christie, VR, DeSantis, Scott, Haley, and Pence would all be well known by sight. The Ark. gov I know about since they are a neighbor to us, but he doesn't really seem to have genuine national recognition.

The part that interests me a lot is whether or not Trump helped himself by staying out. I tend to think it was something of a negative, but then he is not a good debater so he might have decided to minimize the negatives.

[tomder55]

Trump could not be there . He was getting his mug shot in GA today.

[Wondergirl]

Trump could not be there . He was getting his mug shot in GA today.

Hasn't happened yet.

(He cudda been to both events -- and back to Bedminster for supper.)

[tomder55]

Trump mugshot released in Georgia elections case: Live updates (cnbc.com)

[Wondergirl]

What's he trying to look like?

[jlisenbe]

Oh the hypocrisy of the liberal dems bringing charges against Trump when we have a sitting pres who is guilty of far more serious offenses. And especially when it is now clear that federal agencies colluded to give Biden an advantage in the 20 election.

[Wondergirl]

At least Biden doesn't lie about his weight. Hmm, wonder what else Trump lies about.

[tomder55]

it is insane that a local Yokel prosecutor can charge him . He is already charged federally . What happened to the supremacy clause? Will he now be charged in Arizona and every other state where he disputed the results ? What nonsense !

[jlisenbe]

At least Biden doesn't lie about his weight.

So he lied about being in on a influence peddling scheme with his son, but you take comfort in thinking he doesn't lie about his weight??? Well...OK then.

The charges being filed against Trump by these liberal dem prosecutors are ridiculous.

[tomder55]

To help out with the candidates not generally recognized ; the one on one leg was North Dakota Guv. Doug Burgam

Before becoming Guv he created Great Plains software and sold it to Microsoft for over $1 billion He then won the ND Guv election in a landslide.

The other one was former 3 times elected Arkansas Guv Asa Hutchinson

Before he was Guv he served 3 terms in the House of Reps ; and was appointed by GWBush to head the DEA and later to lead to the Border and Transportation Security Directorate of the new DHS .

He is a graduate of Greenville SC's Bob Jones University .

[jlisenbe]

It was sad, to me at least, to see that virtually no one took a really principled stand for the lives of the unborn. I think it was Burgum who pointed to the tenth amendment as a prohibition against the feds having an abortion standard for the entire nation. Completely absent from the conversation was the fifth amendment which states that no person shall be deprived of, "life, liberty, or property" without due process of law. They all loudly proclaimed their commitment to life, but that was about as far as it went other than proposing a 15 week ban which would allow the vast majority of abortions to continue.

It all makes Trump a little more attractive to me.