Good archers. Invented the self-replicating arrow, they start a fight with ten arrows in their quiver, they fire fifteen of them and still have ten arrows!
This stuff is important, so I will try to watch, but sweet Jesus! Three fucking hours! Better idea, maybe just keep this thread up on the screen and read it instead! This is where the party will be, right? My invitation got lost in the e-mails, but this is it, right? Guys?
Written before I read everyone else’s responses, so that they won’t influence mine:
What I Hope For/What I Expect:
(1) Trump: I hope he’ll be wildly entertaining. I expect he will be, as well.
(2) Carson: I hope he speaks with more passion and conviction than he did last debate. I expect that he won’t.
(3) Bush: I hope that his performance will be forgettable, and lack the passion it needs to pull more voters into his camp. I expect that he’ll do better than last time, because I think he went into the last debate feeling confident, and now that he’s falling in the polls I think he may try harder than he did last time.
(4) Cruz: I hope that he’ll be more entertaining than he was last time. Make some inflammatory comments that rile up the base and infuriate other people. (Sorry, what can I say? I like drama!) I expect that he’ll play it cool, since that’s what he did last time and it seemed to work out pretty well for him.
(5) Rubio: I like Rubio. I hope he does well. I expect that he’ll probably spout a lot of standard lines, and maintain the base of support that he has, but not gain any more support.
(6) Huckabee: The thing about Huckabee is that he appeals to religious voters, and given that they’re going to gravitate towards someone, I’d much rather be seeing Huckabee on screen than Santorum. So with that in mind, I hope he does well enough to maintain his base of support, but not well enough to gain more support. That’s pretty much what I expect from him, too.
(7) Paul: I hope that Paul can finally come across as mature and presidential, because so far he’s coming across as way too hot-headed to be a good leader for this country, but I like a lot of his views. I expect that he’ll still come across as hot-headed and unprofessional.
(8) Fiorina: I hope she won’t stand out too much, as I don’t really like the idea of a non-politician winning the nomination. I expect that she’ll do incredibly well, as every single time I have seen her speak (not just in the last debate, but in every video I’ve seen of her), she’s a fabulous public speaker.
(9) Walker: I hope he continues to flounder. I expect that he’ll do better in this debate, though.
(10) Kasich: I hope he does well enough to not only win over the media (as he did in the last debate), but also win over the voting public (which he did not manage to do in the last debate). I expect that he won’t, because he’s too liberal. Also because he’s not very charismatic, and I really wasn’t expecting him to do nearly as well in the last debate as he did.
(11) Christie: I hope he stops taking himself so seriously, because he used to be fun to watch. I expect that he will continue to take himself too seriously, come across as angry, and continue to lose support just like he has been.
Haha I love this! Especially the bolded ones! (bolding mine, just in case that’s not clear)
Rubio, eh? I’m a political news junkie and I haven’t heard a whisper about Rubio in the MSM since the LAST debate. Is he a brilliant tactician who’s playing 12th dimensional chess, or is he just another fucking loser?
Also, I’m calling bullshit on the “JEB! He sucks, but he’s better than anyone else!” argument. I don’t see his positions as being any more reasonable than the other’s. I see nothing but name recognition, and he shares that name with a mediocrity and a disaster.
Carson and Fiorina are going to be trying to get another boost in the polls. The establishment candidates are going to try to pull away from the establishment pack that trails the outsiders.
It’s becoming clear now that the establishment guys aren’t going to beat the outsiders. The outsiders will have to beat themselves and then the best establishment guy will be there if that happens. If Bush and Rubio et all think that they should go after Trump they are mistaken. They need to distinguish themselves from each other, because as long as the outsiders are in the race, the voters don’t see much difference between the establishment guys.
For me, what’s going to be most interesting is Ben Carson. He was kind of ignored in the first half of the last debate although in the end he did get an average amount of time. This time he’ll be a focus of questioning, so this can be regarded as his real national debut. He probably has the most potential in the group to rise or fall tonight.
He shouldn’t attempt to say too much because outside of brain surgery the man’s a blithering numbskull.
He sure got good reviews from the focus groups.
Who were they composed of?
Joe the Plumber and 12 of his closest friends.
I think Trump will be his usual self. I expect that the establishment candidates that don’t really have a chance will focus on attacking Trump. This group will likely include Rand Paul, Christie, and the early debate people. The establishment candidates that actually have a chance will focus more on attacking Clinton and explaining their own positions. I think Bush, Kasich, and Walker will fall into this group, and I expect them to attack Clinton and ignore Trump. I’m not quite sure what Carson will do, but I don’t think he will go after Trump.
Expectations? My head to explode. So won’t be watching.
I expect the Kim Davis issue to be one of the first questions asked. Trumps will comment on her appearance, and for once, I’ll agree with him!
Trump will insult everyone in the room with about as much dignity and skill as a 5 year old.
Bush and Walker, but probably several others, will attempt to be more aggressive. Whether that translates into similar childish attacks, foolish acts of self-defense or pure failure is where the betting line is.
Ben Carson will be attacked. If he’s smart, he’ll completely ignore it and not respond. I don’t like the guy’s politics, but he’s the only one with half a brain when it comes to the whole ‘eating their own’ crap.
Very few if any of the questions will interest anyone but the rabidly conservative.
I think the date and basic game theory suggest that the dynamics of debate 2 won’t be much different from debate 1.
At some point, months from now, the urgency of taking Trump down a peg will be sufficiently high that someone will have to risk upsetting Trump’s supporters and attack him. But for now I don’t think anyone dare’s risk it, especially since there’s a good chance Trump will implode without intervention.
I think Walker, Kasich, and Christie are the only ones who might risk crashing unless they make waves. And really Christie most of all. So if anyone goes on offense against Trump, I’d bet on him.
Would be nice if they were asked about Ahmed Mohamed. I gather the GOP contenders have been kinda quiet about him today.
Sorry, but the name doesn’t register. Isn’t that pretty much John Smith in Arabic?
He’s the Muslim kid arrested in Texas for liking science. See, e.g., all the news right now. 
And this, to me, is one of the striking differences in a debate among Republicans and one among Democrats. In a Democratic debate, candidates typically take every opportunity to express why they would be the best president for all Americans (that their responses are usually bullcrap is a different issue). In a debate among Republicans, on the other hand, candidates express their vision of how their presidency would best benefit Conservatopia, thereby dismissing, insulting actually, at least 50 percent of the country as though they don’t matter.
that CNN will
a. Try as hard as they can to invoke in fighting between the candidates. Not that the candidates will need much encouragement, but I susect CNN will lead it on rather than try and moderate.
b. Ask as many embarrassing questions as they can.