Pre-debate notes
A few thoughts before the GOP debates...
DB will be keeping track of how many times the candidates use the word "surrender" and how often they try to paint people opposed to the war as embracing "defeat."
Who will be the first to invoke the repulsive memory of Jeane Kirkpatrick?
Fred Thompson is getting a disproportionate amount of attention today. Chuck Hagel's name has come up. I guess we don't need to wonder how successful Newt Gingrich has been with this: "I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen."
The love affair with Ronald Reagan is bordering on psychotic.
Does anybody expect anything surprising at all tonight? DB is a debate fanatic, but I thought the last Democratic debate was a real snoozer. This one has the potential to be the pure cable NyQuil.
When are the Republicans going to give an older, White man a chance to voice his opinion? (Yes, that's my idea of snark)
UPDATE: Thirty minutes before the debate, Keith Olbermann brings up Newt.
UPDATE II: Thinking about my last point reminds me that one of the more painful parts of any debate in the last six years, to me, was when Dick Cheney answered a Gwen Ifill question about HIV-infection rates in African-American women by saying he wasn't aware it was an epidemic. He then lamented the loss of productivity in parts of Africa. I wonder (but not too much) if there will be any discussion at all about the issues facing women today. Other than their obvious positions on abortion, of course.
UPDATE III: Last pre-debate point. Digby wonders if the questions tonight will be as trivial as during the Democratic debate. I hope not. Not that I think the GOP deserves to be treated with more seriousness. I think they both should be asked difficult and serious questions.
DB will be keeping track of how many times the candidates use the word "surrender" and how often they try to paint people opposed to the war as embracing "defeat."
Who will be the first to invoke the repulsive memory of Jeane Kirkpatrick?
Fred Thompson is getting a disproportionate amount of attention today. Chuck Hagel's name has come up. I guess we don't need to wonder how successful Newt Gingrich has been with this: "I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen."
The love affair with Ronald Reagan is bordering on psychotic.
Does anybody expect anything surprising at all tonight? DB is a debate fanatic, but I thought the last Democratic debate was a real snoozer. This one has the potential to be the pure cable NyQuil.
When are the Republicans going to give an older, White man a chance to voice his opinion? (Yes, that's my idea of snark)
UPDATE: Thirty minutes before the debate, Keith Olbermann brings up Newt.
UPDATE II: Thinking about my last point reminds me that one of the more painful parts of any debate in the last six years, to me, was when Dick Cheney answered a Gwen Ifill question about HIV-infection rates in African-American women by saying he wasn't aware it was an epidemic. He then lamented the loss of productivity in parts of Africa. I wonder (but not too much) if there will be any discussion at all about the issues facing women today. Other than their obvious positions on abortion, of course.
UPDATE III: Last pre-debate point. Digby wonders if the questions tonight will be as trivial as during the Democratic debate. I hope not. Not that I think the GOP deserves to be treated with more seriousness. I think they both should be asked difficult and serious questions.
