Be sure to Click LIKE at the bottom of this commentary, and share it everywhere!! By Craig Andresen – The National Patriot and Right Side Patriots – Commentary
What transpired in Milwaukee on Wednesday night wasn’t a serious political debate, it was an exercise in futility and I’m about to tell you why in a 10 point recap.
First off, when the criteria to qualify for the debate was how much money a candidate has rasied, the entire premise for the debate is bogus. While poling this far out is suspect at best, a criteria for debate qualification should be weighted on how candidates are faring in straw polls, or what each candidate brings to the table based on statements made to the press or during previous runs for office. Money raised?
That’s the weakest reason to be taken seriously and is therefore bogus in my opinion.
Second – Of the 8 people on that stage, only 4 honestly deserved to be there. Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott and possibly Mike Pence, and I say Pence only because he was the VP for 4 years. Other than those 4, 3 of the last 4 seem to be sucking around for social media likes, and the 4th, Chris Christie comes across as desperately seeking long ago lost relevance.
Third – When you put 8 candidates on a debate stage, there is no way you can possibly go deep on any topic important to the voters. NOTHING of substance can be uttered on the important issues in 30-45 seconds. Rather than substance, all you get are sound bites.
Fourth – Unfortunately, Fox did a lousy job of holding a debate…if it was substance they were hoping to impart on voters. However, since the design was obviously sound bite driven, it was a ratings based debate, not a serious political debate. By allowing the candidates to go at each other on stage, Fox generated an endless amount of sound bites which they have used ad-nauseam for the past 2 days since the “debate.”
Fifth – Ramaswamy dominated the sound bite extravaganza for all the wrong reasons. The guy is 38 years old and has only voted in 2 presidential elections…and he’s proud that he didn’t give enough of a crap to take part in electing our leader until it “was of interest to him.” He came across as a rank armature, not that it matters politically so much, but because he sounded like an 18 year old kid with pie in the sky ideologies who thinks having the whitest teeth is a qualification for the Oval Office. It was obvious that his goal was to talk louder and faster than anybody else so as to garner the most attention even though his strategies seemed to be in conflict with one another throughout.
Sixth – There was a insane competition between Christie and Ramaswamy to see who could possibly be the biggest hypocrite on that stage. At one point, Christie took a swing at Ramaswamy by accusing Ramaswamy of being just as bad as Obama, but when Obama went to New Jersey in the wake of hurricane Sandy, it was Christie who embraced Obama and walked across the tarmac with his arm around Obama like a loving couple strolling on the beach. Then, there was that sound bite moment when Ramaswamy announced that he was the “only person on the stage that wasn’t bought and paid for.”
That was rich coming from the guy who took $90,000 dollars from a Soros family foundation in the form of a grant when he was sitting there, in Yale law school with over $2 MILLION dollars in his bank account.
Seventh – Pence’s pandering to the holier-than-thous for their votes. There was a guy who claims to be all about the Constitution, but obviously puts what he swears his oath on, above what he swears an oath to. Pence claimed that he chose the Constitution on Jan. 6th over any alternative in what can only be described as the most self-righteous moment of last Wednesday’s debate. I’m pretty sure the Constitution does NOT say that regardless of the circumstances, the VP MUST immediately certify election results while challenges TO the election are being made. I’m pretty sure that the Constitution allows for the right and moral obligation to send things back to state electors for further evaluation of investigation should said election be in the process of being challenged.
Pence should NOT be on that stage, and has no business claiming ANY moral high ground.
Eighth – In my onion, there were only 2 legitimate presidential candidates on that stage – Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley, Burgum is in way over his head, Christie is a RINO’s rino, Hutchinson is at best a go-along to get-along republican that lacks a strong enough backbone to take a tough stand to make things happen to save our country, Tim Scott needs more experience and would make a great VP choice until he’s more seasoned, Pence is a Washington establishment puppet and Ramaswamy is a potted plant.
The only real substance from that debate came from DeSantis and Haley, but unfortunately, it was lost in the war of sound bites.
Ninth – Trump won that debate by not even bothering to show up. How can I say that? Because between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Trump’s interview on Twitter with Tucker Carlson garnered nearly 150 million views, and all those Wednesday night sound bites were obsolete by Thursday afternoon when Trump turned himself in in Fulton County Georgia. Not that Trump did much in that interview other than talk about himself, but he sucked the air out of the debate anyway because like him or not, he’s leading the pack in the court of public opinion.
Sad, but nonetheless true is the fact that Trump’s mugshot from Fulton County Georgia will have more of an impact in the run-up to the 2024 GOP election than any sound bite bumper sticker generated from that stage on Wednesday night.
And finally, tenth – I want substance from the next debate, and to get it I have a plan that will never be adopted. Rather than putting 8 or more candidates on a stage based on how much money they have in their campaign coffers, put ALL of the candidates in individual rooms with a TV camera in each room. Come up with 20 questions regarding the issues of substance that voters want to hear about, and ask the exact same question, in the exact same way to each candidate one at a time without allowing any candidate to hear any other candidates answer, and give each candidate 3 minutes to answer each question.
Any candidate that chooses NOT to be a part of it would be represented by an empty chair which would be on camera for 3 minutes of silence after the question is posed.
That would put an end to finger pointing, back and forth bickering, grandstanding and trying to talk over and above another candidate. It would also provide clear policy answers to be provided by each candidate, and provide voters with a clear understanding of where the candidates stand on the issues, how they intend to solve the nation’s woes, and how, if elected they would enhance the standard of living for each and every American citizen.
The last thing American voters need as we head into what is surely THE most important election in our nation’s history, and obviously, THE most bazaar run-up to the primaries in our nation’s history is another debate stage circus the likes of which we witnessed on Wednesday night.
Let the candidates give direct answers to direct questions without the side-show antics so that voters can be informed, and thus choose wisely.
Copyright © 2023 Craig Andresen / thenationalpatriot.com all rights reserved
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For more on the debate, visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Diane Sori’s blog The Patriot Factor to read her latest article An Anything But Debate
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