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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Fox News Republican candidate debates
« on: August 06, 2015, 10:37:19 PM »
The Republican candidate debates are on tonight. They have been divided into two groups for two separate debates: one for the top 10 candidates as determined by current poll rankings and one for the remaining 7. The latter has just finished.

I kept score using Fox News's app and it seems that Carly Fiorina was my favourite out of the 7. She seemed a bit more conservative than I'd like, but she argued her points well and came across as very competent and level-headed. Shortly behind her came George Pataki - he came across as more moderate, but also not as well prepared. The others pretty much blew it, with (unsurprisingly) Santorum fucking it up the most.

The "prime-time" debate will start in just over 2 hours. It'll probably be much more interesting, what with Trump shouting over everyone. Tune in and enjoy some Republican... republicanism?
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Online Rushy

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2015, 01:51:07 AM »
Donald Trump actively denounced the Iraq War and endorsed a single payer healthcare system on stage. A very... interesting move.

<Rushy> how in the world is trump leading this debate
<Rushy> by 51%
<Rushy> the way he answers questions makes me cringe
<Rushy> at least politicians can gracefully dodge questions, he just ignores the question and starts ranting about how many hundreds of deals his company has made
« Last Edit: August 07, 2015, 02:25:18 AM by Rushy »

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2015, 03:05:12 AM »
Trump was hilarious. He dodged every single question.

I dunno, I'd say at this point Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio would have my support. They're pretty much exactly the kind of moderate Republicans I've been talking about. (Or, well, that's how they came across in the debate.)

I'm gonna hope for Bush, Rubio, Fiorina or Pataki to win. I think Bush has the best chance at beating Clinton, so let's say I'm #TeamBush2016.
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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2015, 03:05:57 AM »
Also, the Trump vs Paul cock fights were amazing. For a moment there I thought they'd get physical.

Also, I participated in Fox News's candidate scoring thingy. Here are my results for both debates:




10/10 would all-nighter again
« Last Edit: August 07, 2015, 03:09:55 AM by SexWarrior »
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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2015, 03:53:33 AM »
Oh joy. I'm so geared up for a Bush vs. Clinton race. We don't pick between candidates now, just dynasties.

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Offline Tom Bishop

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2015, 05:10:51 AM »
According to the instant reaction polls on Drudge Report, Trump won the debate by a large margin. Tomorrow proper polls by the mainstream outlets will be constructed and reported.

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2015, 05:44:43 AM »
Trump is winning by a landslide.

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Offline Tom Bishop

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2015, 08:20:53 AM »
As I see it, Trump has the Republican kingmakers in checkmate. It's game over for who will be the Republican nominee. Nominate Trump or he will go third party and get Clinton for 4-8 years.

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2015, 09:53:19 AM »
As I see it, Trump has the Republican kingmakers in checkmate. It's game over for who will be the Republican nominee. Nominate Trump or he will go third party and get Clinton for 4-8 years.
Yeah, that was a dick move.

To the uninitiated: the first question of the debate was for any candidate who is NOT ready to pledge that he'll accept the result of the primaries and support whichever candidate wins instead of running as independent to raise their hand. Trump was the only one to do so, giving a barely-coherent answer about how he'll happily pledge if he wins, but not otherwise.

Oh joy. I'm so geared up for a Bush vs. Clinton race. We don't pick between candidates now, just dynasties.
I mean, that was pretty much always the case anyway.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2015, 10:04:47 AM by SexWarrior »
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Offline Hoppy

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2015, 04:54:59 PM »
God is real.

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Online Rushy

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #10 on: August 07, 2015, 05:13:18 PM »
Hundreds and hundreds of deals

Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2015, 09:05:44 AM »
I like how more choices means less. Good old first past the post.

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Offline Tau

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2015, 05:57:09 PM »
I like how more choices means less. Good old first past the post.

Agreed. This republican primary is a great example of why plurality voting is completely ridiculous. It seems like right now it's basically Trump taking the crazy or uninformed vote while the rest of the candidates duke it out for what's left. At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.
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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2015, 06:01:46 PM »
Agreed. This republican primary is a great example of why plurality voting is completely ridiculous. It seems like right now it's basically Trump taking the crazy or uninformed vote while the rest of the candidates duke it out for what's left. At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.
The primaries are there precisely to prevent pluralities. Getting rid of them would cause America to start experiencing those.
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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2015, 06:03:42 PM »
At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.

I feel the same way, but on education reform; especially funding.  Property taxes are ruining everything.  I think I could tolerate virtually any other platform so long as the number one campaign promise was to completely nationalize primary and secondary public education.
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Offline Tau

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #15 on: August 11, 2015, 06:23:28 PM »
At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.

I feel the same way, but on education reform; especially funding.  Property taxes are ruining everything.  I think I could tolerate virtually any other platform so long as the number one campaign promise was to completely nationalize primary and secondary public education.

That's valid, but the way I see it voting reform is a systematic change that is necessary before meaningful change in other areas is possible. All the education in the world won't keep an oligarchy democratic, and we're well on the way to becoming a glorified oligarchy. I think that above all other issues (and don't get me wrong, as we're all aware I'm a raving fanatic bleeding heart liberal on all sorts of issues) we need to end gerrymandering, gut the political parties, and change the way all elected officials are elected.

I mean, look at this election. It's idiotic. The half of the country that has primaries after Super Tuesday barely has any say in the primary. The Republican candidates are all trying to be one step more conservative than the others, while still not being so conservative that they can't become moderates in the General Election, while Trump is calling them out on it with his clownish extremism. It's looking like the General will be between the third Bush and second Clinton and every candidate except for Trump and Sanders (neither of whom have more than a tiny chance of winning) have been bought and paid for by special interest groups.
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Offline Hoppy

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #16 on: August 12, 2015, 02:06:54 AM »
Romney is winning by a landslide, I saw it on Fox News :D
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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2015, 02:24:34 PM »
Quote
At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't that up to the parties themselves? If the Republicans wanted to decide their primary candidate by members-only STV, are there any laws which would stop them?

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Offline Tau

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Re: Fox News Republican candidate debates
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2015, 06:47:46 PM »
Quote
At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't that up to the parties themselves? If the Republicans wanted to decide their primary candidate by members-only STV, are there any laws which would stop them?

Well, the whole system is weird. It's more complicated that just the parties controlling everything, and there's a lot the government can do to change it. The Republican Party could change their primary system, but the federal or state governments could also change the system so that primaries are more regulated and official, or (preferably, from my standpoint) so that primaries are unnecessary. I'm also talking about more than just the primaries. Get rid of the Electoral College, set up the General Election as Alternative Voting, set up Congress with STV, etc. I think the whole system needs a revamp.

Agreed. This republican primary is a great example of why plurality voting is completely ridiculous. It seems like right now it's basically Trump taking the crazy or uninformed vote while the rest of the candidates duke it out for what's left. At this point, I'd vote for any candidate who pledged to change the voting structure even if I disagreed with them on every other issue.
The primaries are there precisely to prevent pluralities. Getting rid of them would cause America to start experiencing those.

Not if we used the alternative vote to elect presidents. Plurality, or first past the post, voting is a huge problem is American politics. It enforces a two-party standard and gives the parties far too much power, and it encourages extremism etc. And besides that, the primary system isn't even effective at preventing pluralities. Just ask Ross Perot.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2015, 06:49:36 PM by Tausami »
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