# Republican presidential debate tonight 01/28/16 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 28, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508 "2016-01-28T17:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/41 "2016-01-29T04:01:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Hmmm . . . > > OK, new rule: **Sip** every time you hear “Trump.” 10 sips per shot. > > No, that ain’t really gonna help much, is it? I went dooown to St. James InFIRMareeee To SEEEEE my old LAAAAdy theeeere . . . _hic_ Actually, it wasn’t that bad, they got the Trump thing out of the way in the first 15 minutes and spent the rest of the time discussing . . . well . . . policy issues . . . sort of . . . for certain GOP values of that concept. . . . But she’ll never find another sweet man like meeeeeeee . . . [calls Erurope] ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/42 "2016-01-29T04:07:09Z")
Anyone got a link to the video? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/43 "2016-01-29T04:12:55Z")
What was Ben Carson’s point in reciting the Preamble to the Constitution (and I wasn’t listening all that closely, but didn’t he mess it up at one point?) He dropped the mic like it meant something. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/44 "2016-01-29T04:16:13Z")
[I was right, he did mess it up.](http://www.politico.com/blogs/live-from-des-moines/2016/01/ben-carson-misquotes-constitution-218389?cmpid=sf) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/45 "2016-01-29T04:16:53Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > What was Ben Carson’s point in reciting the Preamble to the Constitution (and I wasn’t listening all that closely, but didn’t he mess it up at one point?) He dropped the mic like it meant something. It’s the constitution, dude. 'Neff said!! This is the guy whose opening remarks a few weeks ago was to ask for a moment of silence for the folks killed in San Bernadino. He thinks he’s being profound. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/46 "2016-01-29T04:17:03Z")
Nevermind, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivpb_dMjVN4) is it. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/47 "2016-01-29T04:21:24Z")
Bizarrely enough, Carson secularized the preamble. I have been pretty consistent about Rubio. He never really impresses me even when pundits say he has a good night. But tonight the Luntz focus group was especially mystifying, because all the pundits of every ideological stripe I saw on Twitter were saying it was a bad night for him–but then the focus group had 4-5 people saying they supported Rubio coming into the debate and it was like a dozen or more after the debate, because they were so impressed by him. Where did that come from? Either it is a weird outlier group, or Republican primary voters are just more mystifying than I had ever conceived. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/48 "2016-01-29T04:28:24Z")
I only saw the 2nd half but it seemed like Paul and Christie did the best. Rubio does pretty well, but he needs to dial the anxiousness back a few clicks. He talks too fast. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/49 "2016-01-29T04:45:21Z")
I noticed that Rubio described ISIS as “apocalyptic” to justify “re-building” America’s military. He accused Obama of not keeping America safe, but under his leadership, with this re-built military, ISIS will be defeated. Obama just isn’t end-times enough? 😕 Gee whiz, the trouble with ISIS is not that our military is too small. We are bombing them every day, but you can’t always tell who is and isn’t a fighter. Obama cares about limiting collateral damage- pubbies often sound like they don’t. Then again, in other places, like Pakistan, Obama seems to have blown up _too much_ stuff via drones (I read that something like 80%+ of drone casualties are civilians), but I never hear anyone attack him on this actually vulnerable point. I think this trend of “build up the military!” is the GOP’s latest excuse to inflate the debt so that someday it becomes so large we are forced to abandon Social Security and/or Medicare. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/50 "2016-01-29T04:53:47Z")
They kept talking about how ISIS is the biggest Islamic threat in history. I think that might be a surprise to the countries that were forcibly converted to Islam in the 7th century onwards. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/51 "2016-01-29T05:07:45Z")
And Rubio is claiming Obama diminished our military because we don’t have as many ships as 100 years ago, or as many planes as 25 years ago. Has he noticed the difference in naval technology between 1915 and 2015 (like [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littoral_combat_ship), deployed under Obama)? Or the [F-35](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II) program (which I disagree with while admitting they do blow shit up)? Maybe Obama did not launch those programs, but he certainly didn’t stop them either. In many ways our military is more cutting edge than ever. Rubio is pandering to the ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/52 "2016-01-29T05:10:45Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Rubio is pandering to the ignorant. Are you implying that some of the people on that stage tonight were _not_ pandering to the ignorant? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/53 "2016-01-29T05:27:34Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Are you implying that some of the people on that stage tonight were _not_ pandering to the ignorant? :dubious: Lol hey man, don’t disrupt my Beginner’s Mind! ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/54 "2016-01-29T05:28:58Z")
What if a candidate is just as ignorant as his audience? Is catering to their basest desires still considered pandering? Because if the answer is No, then they all deserve the benefit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/55 "2016-01-29T05:48:31Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > And Rubio is claiming Obama diminished our military because we don’t have as many ships as 100 years ago, or as many planes as 25 years ago. > > Has he noticed the difference in naval technology between 1915 and 2015 (like [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littoral_combat_ship), deployed under Obama)? Or the [F-35](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II) program (which I disagree with while admitting they do blow shit up)? Maybe Obama did not launch those programs, but he certainly didn’t stop them either. In many ways our military is more cutting edge than ever. > > Rubio is pandering to the ignorant. He talks about how Obama has been a “disaster” for the country, and that might play well with Republican Primary voters, but it’s a losing proposition in the general election. He’d be shredded to pieces by Hillary or Bernie in a debate where he tried to pass that off as a fact. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/56 "2016-01-29T05:51:29Z")
I noticed that several times the moderators scolded the candidates for making inaccurate and/or untruthful assertions; good job mods! ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/57 "2016-01-29T06:14:51Z")
Paul seemed to tell it straight wrt racial injustice in the criminal justice system. I don’t want a president Paul, but nice job, gold star. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/58 "2016-01-29T06:29:09Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I have been pretty consistent about Rubio. He never really impresses me even when pundits say he has a good night. But tonight the Luntz focus group was especially mystifying, because all the pundits of every ideological stripe I saw on Twitter were saying it was a bad night for him–but then the focus group had 4-5 people saying they supported Rubio coming into the debate and it was like a dozen or more after the debate, because they were so impressed by him. Where did that come from? Either it is a weird outlier group, or Republican primary voters are just more mystifying than I had ever conceived. Amin Sayedi, Marketing Professor at U Wash: “I often use videos from Frank Luntz in my class, to show moderator’s bias, and how not to run a focus group. Thanks for new material, Frank!” [https://twitter.com/aminsays/status/692951174593548288](https://twitter.com/aminsays/status/692951174593548288) [Media Matters](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/01/29/fox-allows-gop-pollster-frank-luntz-to-tout-mar/208260) notes that Luntz failed to disclose that Rubio hired him to co-write a book in 2012. “Frank Luntz focus group reacts positively to Scott Walker’s debate performance. FNC, 9/16/15. Proven. Competent.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3QnOmcIWss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3QnOmcIWss) Walker’s campaign ended 5 days later. [Vox.com](http://Vox.com): "Rubio’s defense was beyond pathetic. What he meant, he insisted, was that the 2006/2007 attempts at immigration reform in the Senate had included pathways to citizenship that were too lenient, so much so that they amounted to amnesty. But his pathway to citizenship was of course very different, so he didn’t reverse himself at all. It’s unclear who was supposed to find this at all convincing. It came across as a desperate attempt to justify a flip-flop — in this case a double flip-flop, as Rubio would later flip back against a pathway to citizenship. It was perhaps the debate’s most memorable moment, and it was an utter disaster for Marco Rubio." > **[3 winners and 3 losers from Thursday night's Republican debate](https://www.vox.com/2016/1/29/10866528/republican-debate-fox-news-winners-losers)** > > Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology,... ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/59 "2016-01-29T06:34:55Z")
The video clip thing was interesting. I bet they were going to play Trump’s “pro-choice in every respect” interview (or something else unhelpful for him) and make him respond live. He probably made the right choice if that’s the case. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508/60 "2016-01-29T08:45:35Z")
**Measure for Measure** , thanks for those. That’s certainly more in line with the way I saw it. Both Rubio and Cruz looked to be twisting in the wind when it came to their histories on immigration reform. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > They kept talking about how ISIS is the biggest Islamic threat in history. I think that might be a surprise to the countries that were forcibly converted to Islam in the 7th century onwards. We were also told we now have the smallest air force in American history. Even if the many years when we had an infinitely small air force don’t count, how about the day after they bought their first planes? And then there was Rubio’s promise to tear up the Iran deal his first day in office. Considering that they already got the billions of dollars in unfrozen assets, that would mean simply not holding them to any of the agreements they made about their nuclear program. Idiot. > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Paul seemed to tell it straight wrt racial injustice in the criminal justice system. I don’t want a president Paul, but nice job, gold star. Yeah, that was decent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-presidential-debate-tonight-01-28-16/744508.md?page=4)