Nine Republican presidential candidates are debating in Orlando tonight at an event sponsored by Google, Fox News and the Florida Republican Party. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson will be on stage along with the eight candidates who participated in two debates earlier this month. I don’t know what they’ll tell us tonight that we didn’t hear at the Reagan Library or at the CNN/Tea Party Express debate, but I’ll update this post later with highlights.
Meanwhile, use this thread for any comments about tonight’s debate or the presidential campaign in general. Representative Thad McCotter, who has been excluded from all televised debates so far, announced today that he’s out of the race. He will back former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Few people besides former Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants will notice McCotter’s absence.
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My thoughts
Bachmann had to do more in this debate to stand out. Perry seems to think he’s got this thing in the bag because he was sloppy with his answers at best.
Romney’s defense of the basic core of some form of Social Security program is interesting. Does the GOP really think that if they didn’t have to pay SS tax that they would be able to retire in an easier fashion? Most people I know would have spent that money on a boat or whatever and would have gone broke.
I would have liked to hear Gary Johnson’s answer on the vaccine question. I don’t agree with Gary on much, but I would hope he would give a calm answer. Gary Johnson and calm people like him should be carrying the Goldwater model, it comes without all the wild conspiracies that you might hear from Ron/Rand Paul.
Huntsman did fairly well, he needs to get more specific on the economic questions. He’s got a decent tax plan in comparison to the extremely regressive FAIR tax crowd and 23 percent income tax is still fairly progressive in my book.
moderateiadem Thu 22 Sep 11:46 PM