What I thought was hilarious was that Sanders got kicked off his own podium at a recent speech by some hecklers wanting to go on about "Black Lives Matter". I mean come on! Where was security?

What a wonderful dream.......

I liked Rand Paul's interchanges as well during the debate, and agree with you wholemindedly, Zen. Expecting the American public to like it is another story. They are enraptured by Bernie Sanders (~20-30K people) at his weekend speech. We are few in number. WIJG?

Notice I said the President's job. It is a job but there is so much more. I am not excusing Obama because he just totally ignores what he considers to be unimportant and that seems to be border issues. He would rather address climate hoaxes, transgender rights, and fundraisers.

But those were two of my favorite interchanges during the entire debate combined with some of Carson's responses to the panelists 'gotcha' questions. I think both of Paul's confrontations led right into his closing statement that he's 'a different kind of Republican.'

But what struck me was the 24 million viewers looking for a food fight.

I liked that Huckabee at least explained some benefits of The Fair Tax as a replacement for our absurd income tax system. Carson performed well and gained some support as a result of that debate too.

I agree. It's republicans that waste their votes. Not libertarians. At least not if what they are really after is smaller government and more liberty. The republicans have brought us none of that in most of my voting lifetime (and my first time voting was when Reagan was elected for 2nd term).

The lame duck session is an anachronism going back to the time that traveling across the country took that long. Yes, the lame duck session should be abolished.

" Governor Perry, the President's job is more than controlling the border."

Not to a Texan it isn't ;) They are a huge voting bloc and control at least 2/3 of the entire border. Their state is getting ravaged by illegals.

You are correct in that it isn't the issue that will win the Presidency, however.

Agreed. That is why I support an adjustment/amendment to eliminate lame-duck sessions. Every elected position's authority should be terminated the day before the elections.

Agreed. That's the product of having too many candidates and the current sound-bite-heavy programming.

I long for the old days of the classic Lincoln-Douglas style debate. Let's take each issue and hash it out for everyone to see. Let the candidates get 10-15 minutes to stake out their views and support, then five minutes for a rebuttal, and five more for closing arguments. Add in a couple of five minute commercial slots and you've got your hour.

Have the debates last for a week - one topic per evening. Here are the five I would start with:

International diplomacy - how would you go about dealing with rogue states like Iran? Which country right now is the biggest threat to international peace?

Monetary policy - Will you continue to support the Fed's program of inflation and easing?

Employment - What is causing the slow-down in hiring (duh - government regulation!) and what do you plan to do about it?

Government oversight - Describe your view of the current rash of scandals involving power-plays by government bureaucrats from Obamacare to the EPA to the IRS to the Department of Justice to the State Department. Tell us what you would do.

Government spending - Our current debt is set to top $20 trillion by the time our current President leaves office. The CBO has stated that our social spending programs are all bankrupt and that our debt-fueled spending is unsustainable. Please outline your program for dealing with this situation.

I'm sure everyone here could chip in several more.

I don't know about the successful part. Four bankruptcies that decimated his stockholders isn't really what I consider successful. He sells himself well, no question. But the lingering question is when is he going to put out his platform? Or is he going to take from the Obama playbook and whip up a foaming-at-the-mouth mob of voters without actually stating anything?

I thought Fox was unprofessional and was trying to start a fight amongst the candidates. They were particularly unfair to Trump. It was obvious they got orders from Fox or Facebook to take down Trump.

I was an avid fan of Fox, but I will no longer tune into their unfair and unbalanced newscasts.

I lost my positive feeling about Megyn. She, was a hostile questioner, still being too much a Lawyer. Trump came out as the top Junkyard Dog, and Christie as a mixed breed Pitbull trying to tear a chunk of flesh out of Rand Paul. The rest of the pack for that session were in the corner shaking in trepidation.
I the first session Carly rose above the other dullard dogs as a proud Belgian Malinois who is smart and is ready to go on a moments notice.

Floored me with that one.
I may never get up.

Thank GOD your "hot and a Mother of 3" is
NOT running for POTUS; her eyelashes alone
would get in the way! Ironic how your descrip-
tion of her is something you'd MIGHT expect the Donald to say, eh?

It's how a candidate handles himself is what is important.
I was not at all impressed with how he handled himself with Kelly.
Kelly is not the one running for POTUS.

yup that is a good one. and so true..

When Kelly asked Trump when he became a
Republican,he should have asked her when
did she divorce her first husband? Most if not
all of her questions were better suited to the
National Enquirer than to this debate.

Voting GOP has been a losing proposition for liberty for 60 years (arguable exception Reagan 1st term.) Any vote for either GOP or Dems is a vote for more fedgov power and control, and THAT is a wasted vote. If the GOP can't win its not the fault of people who vote based on rational thought against statist liars and looters; its because the GOP ARE liars and looters. The results of GOP control have been arguably worse than Democrat control since, in the past at least, there was some opposition against big government programs and waste created when GOP is not in control. The GOP have shown their real mettle since the last election (again) by not doing anything they promised to be elected.
The sooner people wake up to this GOP con game and revolt against the GOP, the better the chance that a less peaceful revolt won't be required to recover liberty from the ravenous jaws of the GOP and Democrats.

As long as it isn't a presidential candidate debate.

Wouldn't a Clinton/Fiorina debate be AWESOME?! It would last about 2 minutes.
Clinton- It's time for a woman president! Vote for me! (Applause)
Fiorina- I'm a woman, too. What other reasons do you have for people to vote for you?
Clinton- Um... (Crickets chirping)

Well analyzed. The debates went pretty much as I expected. Several who have some fatal flaws in their past (Rubio's immigration position, Huckabee on a number of issues, Fiorina's HP experience) appeared far better than they will look eventually. The herd will be slightly thinned. All candidates (at least in the 2nd debate) got a "gotcha" question, but all of those issues would come up eventually for those candidates. Sooner or later everyone must face his/her contradictions or past in politics.

The field will get whittled down soon enough. The Iowa caucuses are not until January, and the election is 15 months away. That is a LONG time to wait. The longer wait, however, may be the two-month lame duck time for President Zero. He will cram a lot into that time to !?#* the country.