The State of the Race or It’s “Debate” Time

There are going to be ten candidate on the stage at the Republican debate. How much of a debate can it possibly be? How much of an impression is any one candidate going to be able to make that’s not named Donald Trump? How does this advance the democratic process at all? Finally how can this be good for the Republican Party?

Then of course there are the six or seven or eight (I’ve lost count of the number of candidates running) who get to have the kiddies debate which is before the real debate. This is like a bad reality TV show (and I think just about all reality TV is bad).

Certainly the Republican clown car has morphed in the clown bus and I believe the bus is now a double decker.

Going back to the logistics of this. How much time is any one candidate going to have to promote their positions? Doesn’t that mean to make an impression and grab the headlines or lead in the news cycle you have to out Donald Donald Trump? I just don’t see how anyone watching the “debate” is going to learn anything about the candidates. Also who is going to be watching this thing? (I think I’m going to skip it.)

I guess it will get ratings because of the circus like atmosphere that’s been attached to it and the fact the Donald is going to be there. There was a story in the Post the other day about Chris Wallace the moderator of the debate it said:

Enter Trump, who has been trash-talking just about everyone in unusually impolitic terms — disparaging Scott Walker (“Wisconsin is in terrible shape”), insulting Lindsey Graham (“a stiff”. . . “a total lightweight”), mocking Rick Perry (“he put on glasses so people think he’s smart”). (And yes, Wallace has a researcher keeping track of all of these comments.)

“Trump, you know he wants to go after people,” Wallace said. “And you can be sure there will be a moment — whether it’s in my questioning or Bret’s or Megyn’s, where somebody is going to give him a fat juicy ball right in there so he can go after Bush and see how he responds to it. It’s sort of like playing three-dimensional checkers.”

Like I said I think I won’t watch it. These guys have absolutely nothing to say to me. I’m not going to vote for a Republican. That being said, if this was a debate of Democrats, I still wouldn’t watch. I just do not see how this is going to help a voter make up their mind on which candidate to support.

For a candidate to stand out from the crowd it seems to me a they have to say something outrageous. Either that or try to put Trump in his place. Something that most of the other candidates have been reluctant to do. (More on the Trump phenomenon in an upcoming post.)

The Republican Party thought the number of debates last time hurt the eventual Republican nominee. It was decided to have fewer debates. They accomplished that but now they have way too many candidates. I think that hurts them too.