I'm feeling a bit under the weather so I don't know how much I will cover the next GOP debate tonight. It's on Fox News at 8:00 pm central time, so I should at least be able to watch some of it. I will probably miss at least a little bit of it though due to other commitments. Given how under the weather I am feeling today, I am not sure how much of it I will miss. I am hoping I feel better soon, but that is the reason posting has been a bit sporadic this week.
I do plan to live tweet the debate, but expect a lower output then you would be used to if you have followed me through the previous debates. As always, my twitter account can be found here. I do hope to have a reaction post up on Friday morning. There is no chance of me writing one up tonight, even if I wasn't feeling a bit under the weather.
I am not looking forward to this debate. At all. After the last debacle I am expecting chaos and a lot of infighting. Rubio and Cruz are likely to hit Donald Trump hard, and I expect him to return the favor. With Ben Carson out, only Kasich is likely to stay on topic and actually talk about the issues. Even though at this point, what issues are they even really going to talk about? The voters should be familiar with everyone at this point right? I don't think anyone is going to out themselves as a secret satanist or throw the middle finger at the American Flag (except maybe Rubio). The whole debate seems hopeless and will probably just hurt the chances of everyone involved. The target at this point should be Hillary Clinton...
I'm not convinced that Fox News is going to be "fair and balanced" either. Megyn Kelly is obviously biased against Trump, and the network itself has said it was "done" with Marco Rubio. That seems like some very obvious conflicts of interests, so I am fully expecting the moderators to hit both Trump and Rubio pretty hard. Even though I am not a fan of Marco Rubio, not anymore, I do think all the candidates deserve a fair shake.
No matter what happens, I don't see any killing blows made tonight. Everyone that is left has a good reason to stay in the race for quite some time. Rubio and Kasich are waiting to contest their home states, Cruz has won four states and Trump has the delegate and state lead. Whatever happens, I don't see any of those facts changing, so even if someone has a terrible night, nobody will likely drop out.
In the past I have ended these short little posts with questions I would like to ask the candidates. I'm not going to do that this time. Instead I am going to rank who I think the candidates should be, from the best to the worst, and not just in the Republican Party. This isn't an endorsement of anyone, not yet at least. We are still far away from November and a lot could happen between now and then. I reserve the right to change my mind. But it should give you a hint at how I am thinking of the candidates.
1. Donald Trump (as a Republican)
2. Donald Trump (as an Independent after a brokered convention)
3. John Kasich (in a non brokered race)
4. Ben Carson (if he is still running)
5. Ted Cruz (in a non-brokered race)
6. Gary Johnson
7. Marco Rubio (in a non-brokered race)
8. John Kasich (in a brokered race)
9. Bernie Sanders (independent or as the Democratic nominee).
10. Ted Cruz (in a brokered race)
11. 11th hour out of nowhere candidate, like Mitt Romney (in a brokered race)
12. Marco Rubio (in a brokered race)
13. Satan
14. Cthulhu
666. Hillary Clinton
7,125,000,000. Michael Bloomberg (yes, he is literally the last person on earth I would vote for. I would vote for whoever is reading this over him. Even if you are a serial killer. The man is pure evil)
If Jim Webb starts to make waves somehow, I would put him between Ted Cruz and Gary Johnson. Man's a war hero, even if I disagree with him on policy.
As I was writing that I am amazed at how much Rubio has fallen in my eyes. A few months ago he was my third choice after Rand Paul and Donald Trump, but now I'd go Libertarian before I would vote for him. The cracks started to appear at the debates. He abandoned his nice guy persona and sticking to policy and went knee deep into mudslinging. Which could have been fine if he had been any good at it and if he had picked better targets. Attacking the front runner made him seem weak, and I am not a fan of his plans to force a brokered convention. That would kill the party, and Rubio seems to be salivating at the chance to do so. I just can't see myself voting for him now.
Kasich is a surprise second choice since I never really liked him all that much. We don't agree much on policy, but unlike the other guys behind Trump (excluding Carson, which I only included because he hasn't officially left yet) he has stuck to policy and hasn't been attacking Trump in the juvenile and annoying way that Rubio and Cruz have been. They have spared over policy a bit lately, but that's about it. If he decides to pull any convention tricks though, he will lose me as a potential voter. He needs to win outright before I will support him.
Cruz has just been too sleazy for me to support, even though I agree with him a bit more then I do with Donald Trump on policy. After what he did in Iowa, I am not a fan. I also hated that he and Trump lost their "bromance". Before that happened, I thought they were both united against the press and the establishment, but that relationship fell apart, and Cruz started to fight dirty. I still would vote for him if he was the candidate, but I have a lot more reservations about him now. And if he tries to brokered convention nonsense I will be voting for the best standing third party candidate.
As for Donald Trump, he wasn't my first choice when this race started and we have some major policy differences. But I also like a lot of what he is saying. More then that though, I want him to win because the people he is up against, the media and establishment clowns like Marco Rubio, Bill Kristal, and Glen Beck are willing to hand this country over to Hillary Clinton just to stop him. The plans for a brokered convention are just stupid and it would rip the party, and even the country, completely apart. If these idiots want to hand the race over to the Republicans most hated adversary, Hillary Clinton, then the Republican party deserves to be burnt to the ground. Plus, I think Trump is the most likely candidate to beat Hillary Clinton. I'm not endorsing him, and I still have all kinds of reservations about him as a candidate, but neither party is giving me any other choice. As the kids like to say... deal with it.
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