The 1st GOP Presidential Debate (US)

[Chase]

This one is one of those threads where you're invited to say what you want - and I'm going to be quiet and not make this a fight.

The 17 Republican presidential hopefuls converged on Quicken Loans Arena last night in Cleveland, Ohio to hold their first debate of the GOP primary race. The debate proved to be a good one if you're leaning right this election cycle and has earned solid praise from some prominent non-Fox (and resultingly non-conservative) media outlets. No real "losers" and Fox did not throw any soft-ball questions, opting to put leading candidates on the hot seat immediately.

Biggest winners in the debate were Carly Fiorinia in the 5PM debate known as the #kidstable, and senators Marco Rubio (FL) and Ted Cruz (TX) in the primetime debate

Biggest to lose was arguably casino owner Donald Trump, who entered the evening with the leading GOP polling. Trump was himself, and even had a few good answers here or there, but was out-debated by the others on the stage and dug himself a hole from the beginning - blaming his previous sexists comments on "political correctness" and attacking MC Megyn Kelly to outright suggesting he would run as an independent if he doesn't win the primary at the start of the debate.

The surprises: Gov. Chris Christie re-established himself as a tough talker, outbattling a particularly brash Rand Paul on the NSA and pecking Mike Huckabee on entitlements. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson represented the black conservative without race baiting and salvaged a shaky first debate with a heartfelt and unique closing statement.

The governors on the main stage used the debate to project their accomplishments and it paid off for Huckabee (AR) Scott Walker (WS) Kasich (OH) and Jeb Bush (FL), although Bush was tight lipped and was unable to avoid the topic of the Iraq War, where he will always be linked to "W".

Liberals gave the clear "W" to Kasich, who is the GOP choice for you if you believe pro-LGBT agenda is to be top priority.

Quote of the Night: "The Republican Party has been blessed with many good Candidates: the Democrats can't even find one." (Rubio)

The Questions all surprisingly were huge. All on stage got the format of "Here's why you suck, why is that false?" And all did well. It was a good night to be a Republican.

[Avatar of Grima]

Well I'm glad somebody understands that Trump isn't right for this. He's being an arrogant prick, and thinks he's self entitled to the white house. Rubio's statement is false, it's not because of "greatness" the Republican party has so many good candidates, it's them being fed up with the Democratic executive branch with a mostly republican house and senate.

TL;DR good for the Republicans, but they are being cocky

Edited August 7, 2015 by xXNasDavXx

[Neo]

"You hugged Obama and would probably do it again"

[Chase]

I understand that Rubio was appealing to the base with that statement.

However, President Obama was not always in total gridlock and the last mid-term elections saw a rise of GOP seats - and subsequently the Dems lost the Senate - which means the Dems will need to spin that rather hard to make that work out in their favor as people legitimately seem to recently vote like Obama underperformed.

Is it being cocky or well substantiated confidence?

[Deleted User]

Before the debate:

1. Rand Paul

2. Ted Cruz

3. Ben Carson

4. Marco Rubio

5. Scott Walker

6. Donald Trump

7. Mike Huckabee

8. Jeb Bush

..... BIG GAP

9. Chris Christie

10. John Kaisch

Bernie Sanders was above Jeb, Christie, and Kaisch.

After the Debate:

1. Marco Rubio

2. Ted Cruz

3. Rand Paul

4. Mike Huckabee

5. Ben Carson

6. Jeb Bush

7. Scott Walker

8. Donald Trump

9. John Kaisch

10. Chris Christie

*Would not get my vote

Marco Rubio - He came across as knowledgeable, he talked about the real issues at hand, and overall he seemed the most fit for being president out of all the candidates up there. He didn't waste time calling others out he gave us his ideas and didn't just think within the box. He stresses education which is something I completely agree on. The only downside in my opinion of what he said is that he doesn't support abortion under the circumstances of rape or danger to the mother's life.

Ted Cruz - This dude has balls man. He's a damn wolf. An assassin. He'd make any democrat have to bring their A game each and every time.

Rand Paul - Not surprisingly to me, Rand Paul got far and away the least time to speak. He had to interrupt often times to get what he did. They gave him the short stick. And while I agree with Paul whole heartedly on the comments he made in the spat between him and Christie, I believe the public is going to favor Chrstie as a whole in that. I think if Rand didn't have an up hill battle before last night, he certainly does now.

Mike Huckabee - As someone who's run multiple times before, I sort of came in with the mindset "we've seen him before, if he was going to amount to anything we would have seen it by now." Well I'll be damned he put on a fairly good show. I can definitely get behind this "fair tax" which taxes consumption rather than revenue. After the debate he explained that by taxing revenue instead of consumption, it actually puts domestic businesses at a big disadvantage to international counterparts and that really hurts a lot of companies. He seemed to know what he was doing up there from start to finish.

Ben Carson - Here's where the drop off starts in my eyes. I liked his answers for the most part, however I think his lack of political experience is ultimately something that can not be ignored. I like his outlook on the economy, but I'm not big on military expansion. I believe our Military needs to be better utilized not more funded.

Jeb Bush - I'll say this, I didn't know the exact state of Florida, but it seems to overall have done well in his hands. I didn't come in with high expectations for him, but he did exceed the ones I had. I'd be comfortable enough with him to vote for him at this point.

Scott Walker - Wasn't too big on what I knew about him coming in, but I wanted to hear what he had to say. He really didn't impress me too much. He used a lot of generic thoughts, ideas, and nothing stood out about him.

Donald Trump - He took away time that could have been used for real candidates for his little publicity stunt. He doesn't -really- want to be president.

John Kaisch - Pretty much the same as Scott Walker but he just seemed even more vanilla.

Chris Christie - I'd vote Bernie Sanders over him, hell maybe even Hillary. This dude's a joke.

[Chase]

Prior to debate.

- Huckabee

- Trump/Bush

- Dr. Carson

- Rubio

Following.

- Huckabee

- Cruz

- Rubio

- Bush

- Dr. Carson

Gov. Huckabee's greatest weakness is that he doesn't have the "it" issue to call -his-. Fabulous speaker, effective leader, and experienced - however the default issue tied to him is not a favorable one - Evangelism.

The Cruz Missle. The Texas boy. Hooooo doggy that guy is born for debates.

Marco Rubio didn't lunge for an offscreen sip of water this time. He's a very relatable guy and looked the most "Presidential" up there.

Jeb Bush may end up being the nominee if Trump falls. Aside from supporting Common Core I actually really like the guy. His views on Immigration are not held by the GOP - and are my own.

Dr. Carson will get better at this. It may not be the year, but he's a neurosurgeon. Could learn -fast-

Bottom 5

- Carly Fiorina - the female Republican was the most effective 5PM debater and gives the field someone to represent women.

- Kasich - This man reminded me of the gospel message - It is still possible to love and respect those we disagree with.

- Chris. Christie. The man needed a performance like he had last night and now he's the man who stays on the short list.

- Scott Walker trended downward, but he and I agree on a lot of issues.

- Trump - as a woman, the Donald upset me personally, but he was true to himself and is still -for now- faring well

The Drop-Out.

Rand Paul may have been slighted on question time- but he came across as exceptionally mean - rolling his eyes as Christie mentioned hugging 9/11 victims' families after the Patriot Act spat, and looked embittered with EVERYONE. A few people think "a different kind of Republican" is needed, but it wasn't reinforced with the "care" Kasich gave or - and in the end - a better in-detail solution than Christie's.

[Shamitako]

...Oh crap, you mean I have to start paying attention to politics already? It's only August D:

Personally I don't know very much yet so I'll refrain from commenting on candidates (outside the fact that I'm not much of a Trump fan :/ ) But from what I've seen so far, this is going to be a very interesting presidential race

[Hiss13]

That was my first time watching the Republian Debate live and I have to say, that was a riot.

That being said, I did not get to see the debate among the smaller candidates who didn't make the cut for primetime.

What to say? My memory fails me somewhat right now and I'm nowhere near an expert in politics so much so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Trump-I have to say something about Trump. The guy can put on a good show. But he pretty much fumbled and failed when given the question about the evidence of Mexico doing things and the question about how well he could run a country if his multiple of his enterprises had fallen into bankruptcy. He dodged the questions so much and never answered them.

Jeb Bush-Well, I think he along with other governors actually did a fairly good job with this debate. However, he did not seem to have the level of enthusiasm as the Trump and I think that kind of overshadowed him despite the fact that he actually gave some good answers like his one about the his statements about the Iraq War.

Christie-On the other hand, Christie put on a good show and even did a great job of pulling Rand Paul's worst. I mean damn. As much as I agree for the most part with Rand Paul on what he said about the the 4th amendment and what not, Christie did a damn good job of making Paul look like a total ass. He was firm and kept a confident attitude while giving straight and direct answers which made him look really good in comparison.

Huckabee-As much as I hate this guy, I will admit that he put a pretty good show and like Jericho, I actually really liked the 'fair tax' idea that he was pushing. Like Christie, he was in control of what he was doing to the end.

Kasich-The nice guy. I liked him as a person from what little I've seen of him. However, from a public speaking standpoint, he was a failure. He really did not stand out too much.

Walker-Okay...I think he was the one who talked about police training but I'm not sure. I often confused him with Rubio and that is not a good sign...He was quite forgettable overall

Carson-He felt like a damn deer in the headlights. He'd probably get better with practice but he lacked the charisma and that honestly made him look really timid in my eyes. I remember saying this after his first answer "He's like a guy on the first day of his speech class."

Ted Cruz-He was overshadowed by the others. The only thing I remember about him was that he said that we need a president that can be truthful...to which I promptly laughed...Aside from that...he surprisingly did not make as much an impression on me as I expected...

Rand Paul-He was aggressive and not in the good way. He interrupted and overall just did not give a good atmosphere.

Marco Rubio-When I was making this post, I had completely forgotten about him when I was making a post and was wondering "Who am I missing?" You can tell how much of an impression he made on me. I don't even remember any of his points.

Overall...I think I graded them more from a public speaking standpoint in the end as opposed to a legit opinion on their points. Perhaps I should look back and actually see what they said...perhaps...

[Shamitako]

*Pops back in*

Also, as a resident of the state of Ohio, I actually really like Kasich. Not really sure I'd want him as president, but I do generally like the man overall

*Goes back to not knowing anything*

[Chase]

I think if we are going to look at a competitive speaking standpoint...

1. Christie - Without goin' Jersey on the others on the stage - Christie wasn't afraid to mix it up and interact with anyone. He was a bulldog that caused Rand Paul to tailspin, blemished Huckabee, and was able to keep his attacks logical.

2. Donald Trump - Trump did NOT shy away from being himself. His faux pas were centered in his responses but he continued to be a showman. You know Trump was in the building because unlike the policy questions he dodged, he was defensive of his personal statements and images in a manner that brought glee to several Republicans alone and spared no one.

3. Ted Cruz - Cruz was fired up and his youth shined in his delivery.

4. John Kasich - The "compassionate conservative" is BACK, BABY. It was very easy to take shots at the Obama Administration and the Clinton camp and maintain a sort of edge in this debate, so where Kasich excelled was being an excellent contrast from the rest of the field.

5. Huckabee. - Mike would have had an EVEN BETTER night if he was able to counter Christie on entitlements as silky smooth and eloquent as the rest of the outing. You can tell he was a Baptist minister and had his own show, as well as been here before.

6. Walker - Walker was the team player of the group - hacking away instead at the left. Over. And Over. And Over. And in such a big field, that's not a bad idea. This approach tries to make all of the GOP candidates electable.

7. Dr. Carson - Surgeons are not supposed to be debaters. Scalpal..... - but just when it seemed the night was doomed for the guy in Trumps non-politician shadow, the good Doctor provided a moving final statement and salvaged the outing.

8. Rubio - the Florida senator won his night on the issues and on punchy occasional lines - but also was fighting a speech impedement.

9. Jeb Bush - Seemed nervous and passive. Had a chance to tango with Donald and perhaps didn't wisely - but didn't resonate well with me.

10. Rand Paul - This night was rough across the board. Christie torpedoed any composure Paul may have had at the start, and he ended up being best known for picking a fight with Trump in which he simply was dismissed.

[Deleted User]

I think if we are going to look at a competitive speaking standpoint...

1. Christie - Without goin' Jersey on the others on the stage - Christie wasn't afraid to mix it up and interact with anyone. He was a bulldog that caused Rand Paul to tailspin, blemished Huckabee, and was able to keep his attacks logical.

2. Donald Trump - Trump did NOT shy away from being himself. His faux pas were centered in his responses but he continued to be a showman. You know Trump was in the building because unlike the policy questions he dodged, he was defensive of his personal statements and images in a manner that brought glee to several Republicans alone and spared no one.

3. Ted Cruz - Cruz was fired up and his youth shined in his delivery.

4. John Kasich - The "compassionate conservative" is BACK, BABY. It was very easy to take shots at the Obama Administration and the Clinton camp and maintain a sort of edge in this debate, so where Kasich excelled was being an excellent contrast from the rest of the field.

5. Huckabee. - Mike would have had an EVEN BETTER night if he was able to counter Christie on entitlements as silky smooth and eloquent as the rest of the outing. You can tell he was a Baptist minister and had his own show, as well as been here before.

6. Walker - Walker was the team player of the group - hacking away instead at the left. Over. And Over. And Over. And in such a big field, that's not a bad idea. This approach tries to make all of the GOP candidates electable.

7. Dr. Carson - Surgeons are not supposed to be debaters. Scalpal..... - but just when it seemed the night was doomed for the guy in Trumps non-politician shadow, the good Doctor provided a moving final statement and salvaged the outing.

8. Rubio - the Florida senator won his night on the issues and on punchy occasional lines - but also was fighting a speech impedement.

9. Jeb Bush - Seemed nervous and passive. Had a chance to tango with Donald and perhaps didn't wisely - but didn't resonate well with me.

10. Rand Paul - This night was rough across the board. Christie torpedoed any composure Paul may have had at the start, and he ended up being best known for picking a fight with Trump in which he simply was dismissed.

Gonna have to disagree with you a lot here.

1. Ted Cruz - You know that fear you have as a small child when your Dad REALLY yells at you? Damn, Ted Cruz knows how to pull something off like that.

2. Mike Huckabee - Well played Mike, well played.

3. Marco Rubio - He didn't come across as hostile or adamant as the two above but he came across very knowledgable, even-keeled, and presidential not letting the heat of the moment get to him in any way. He said things very eloquently most of the time and ultimately was the most persuasive I thought.

4. Chris Christie - I might not agree with much of what he said, but he had the counters speech wise that he needed each time. Still would never vote for the guy.

5. Donald Trump - He came across like...... Donald Trump. He talked big, but ultimately dodged question after question.

6. John Kasich - He was very..... passive, unenthusiastic sounding. He seemed feeble comparatively speaking.

7. Rand Paul - Rand got the short end of the stick, getting considerably less time to talk than all of the other candidates, and a lot of the time he did have he didn't get to speak about anything on his own behalf, it was always on retort to others. He wasn't given a fair shot if you ask me. I agree with him in principle more than any other candidate, but the interruptions weren't good for his public image.

8. Scott Walker - Are you running for Mayor..... or president here man?

9. Ben Carson - He seemed all around nervous.

10. Jeb Bush - Every time he opened his mouth I thought I was listening to Mr. Rogers.

[Hexagoen]

oh god... im gonna have to pay more attention to politics, now that there are actually debates and stuff...

(even though i really don't care about politics... i just wanna know what our potential presidents will do )

[Darvan Korematsu]

I didn't catch all of it, but I have faith that Marco Rubio is gonna be one of the more premier candidates in the upcoming election for next year. I'm by no means a Republican at all except for a mild conservatism at times, but Rubio is a pretty down to Earth politician. He had a pretty good track record in Florida's state Senate, and he's also a pretty powerful guy on Capitol Hill. I think he'll be at least close to the top in the primaries judging from the debate, because he was to the point. Another thing he has is the Hispanic vote, which is actually pretty hefty (I think like 10-15% at least) compared to the other candidates.

In all honesty, I don't really care who's sitting in the White House as long as it isn't sitting on their ass all day doing nothing. (A lot of people are ripping on Obama for his crap, but he's at least trying).

I never really liked debates, because it's a lot of kissing ass, and I don't appreciate that at all.

[laggless01]

As a non-American, I heard about the debate, but when I saw the news in my country used fox news' footage, my attention slipped away. I shouldn't have had such prejudice. I hope you get some strong candidates from both sides.

Edited August 9, 2015 by laggless01