2015 Republican Debate # 3

Unfortunately, I have to finish getting ready for my awesome trip to South Africa tomorrow so I don't have much time to respond on tonight's debate. One thing I will say is that tonight's debate was the Republican candidate's most substantive debate yet.  The debate focused on the economy and monetary issues- areas where the Republicans are obviously generally stronger.  I believe (read: hope) that after tonight Ben Carson and Donald Trump are going to start losing some team.  John Kasich accused pretty much all of the candidates of living in fairy-tale lands and I liked it, but overall he had a pretty weak performance.  Personally, I love Carly Fiorina, but I don't see much more for her.  I really hope the eventual candidate picks her as a VP because I think with a little political experience she will be a very formidable politician in the future.  Marco Rubio did a great job of finally connecting with middle America and unfortunately Bush was a bit lackluster.  Rand Paul had some great points, but doesn't seem to be gaining much traction.  Chris Christie had some great points about Social Security and the federal government needing to be honest about how it's lied to U.S. citizens regarding it's "entitlements".  Overall, I'm most hopeful about Christie's and Rubio's future prospects.  To me Ted Cruz had some very strong moments,. but he had some overly confrontational moments with the debate moderators which I think are telling regarding his inability to be a compromiser.  A few lower rung candidates need to finally drop out of the race and shake things up a bit so the remaining candidates can really flesh each other out.  All the talk about flattening and simplifying taxes has me excited but only time will tell how far this "talk" goes.  Overall, a pretty darn good debate.  I just wish the previous Republican debates could have been this substantive and they wouldn't be on the weakened footing against Democrats that they've set up for themselves before this point.

1st 2015 Democratic Presidential Debate

12:03 - Finished work obligations and sped through the last few minutes of the debate.  My thoughts- still don't like or trust Hillary.  Have more respect for Bernie Sanders despite his avowed socialist views.  Found him to be the most moderate on things like gun control and foreign policy.  Didn't like some of the candidates calling out the NRA as their favorite enemy.  I am pro-guns, but sometimes think the NRA takes it to far.  Nevertheless, I think talking about meaningful change is all empty words when you call large organizations like this out as your "enemy".  I like Jim Webb, but he's gotta practice a bit more and not get so whiney when they don't give him time.  I also think Anderson Cooper was going after some candidates much harder than others, particularly the less established ones.

21:48 - Aaand a work call- oh great no more watching the debate for me:-/

21:42 - Stuck it to Republicans by saying how they're anti-big government until it comes to abortion.  That's kind of an unfair criticism as they see it as a moral issue.  Why is it ok for climate change to be a "moral issue" but not something as serious as abortion?  I'm not arguing against it here, but merely posing the question.  Maybe we shouldn't be debating the morality of this issues- rather we should focus on better solutions to mitigate problems related to both.  

21:37 - Webb is more for the world dealing with climate change together as a world (particularly China and India)- not just the U.S. absorbing the entire responsibility.  Is not for quickly pushing the U.S. out of fossil fuels.

21:36 - O'Malley wants to order that we are on a 100% green electric grid by 2050.  I like how smooth this guy is, but he is very pie in the sky which most of his ideas so far.

21:25 - Jim Webb states that he'd be more for working through the congressional process rather than overusing executive privilege the way the Obama administration has.

21:22 - Candidates seem to be fairly uniform on Edward Snowden needing to face justice but differ on whether he should be ruled a criminal or face stiff consequences.

21:13 - Sanders will tax the wealthy so much that Social Security will be solvent through 2061- big whoop.  What's the point of a fix that still doesn't fix the problem for a decent length of time?  Social Security is not sustainable and needs a much bigger overhaul than just taxing the heck out of rich people.  Taxes probably do need to be raised, but more needs to be done to make the system solvent and sustainable for at least the next 150 years.  A lot could happen between now and then, but politicians are almost as short sighted as most business executives are these days.

21:12 - Clinton wants to "enhance" the benefits for the lowest income, most in need individuals in the Social Security system.  Deftly avoided using the word "expand" as mentioned by the CNN anchor.  She wants to expand it- no question.

More after the break...

Disarmament Part III: Centrism

One might think Father's day an odd day to create another post in my series that hasn't been commented on since last year.  I saw it as an opportune day as thinking about Father's Day made me realize how grateful I am for both my Step dad and Dad.  Not only that, it also made me think of my Mom and how thankful I am for parents in general.  That being said, my mind made a jump to connecting this to politics.  I was raised most of my life by my Step dad and Mom and while I love them both, they fulfilled very different roles in the parenting relationship.