Not that you asked
Okay, let's get this over with. Of course I watched the debate Thursday night, but so did a record number of people. Fox News should quit bragging about that rating because the same number of people would have watched if it had been on Animal Planet. We all wanted to see what Donald Trump would do, and he didn't disappoint.
The fact that that blowhard is leading in the polls tells you all you need to know about the current state of the GOP. For a guy who keeps bragging about how tough he is going to be with Mexico, Putin, and ISIS, he sure has spent a lot of time whining about "tough questions" he got at the debate. Look, if a Republican can't handle the way he's treated on Fox News, those guys I just mentioned will eat him alive.
Actually, there are three Republicans who I could live with as President but not because of the debate. I had the same opinion of them before Thursday. They are John Kasich, Rand Paul, and Jeb Bush. Neither of them has been drinking from the Tea Party water fountain. Kasich is the best of the lot, and if Republicans are smart, they will nominate him. He's a moderate, and he doesn't think that Obama is the spawn of Satan. Paul is against unwarranted searches by the government and wants to change the way we deal with non-violent drug offenders. Bush could do well if he followed his father's example and acted like George W. had been adopted.
I also found it odd when Marco Rubio said Hillary Clinton shouldn't lecture him about living on a small income. She knows plenty about living on a budget. She wasn't born into a wealthy family. She had student debt after law school. She and Bill didn't even own a house until 2000. The Clinton's didn't become wealthy until Bill left office, and he left owing millions in legal fees.
I also noticed that they all talked a lot about what they were against, but very little about what they would do. For instance they all said that they would repeal the Affordable Care Act, but none of them said what they would replace it with. The health care law isn't perfect, but it has given thousands of people access to health care that they didn't have before. No one on that stage offered an alternative for those people.
It was the same with the Iran deal. They're all against it, but they offer no alternatives except tougher sanctions, which would be useless. Here's why:
This is not just a deal between the United States and Iran. There are four other countries ready to sign it and lift their sanctions on Iran. Once that happens, our tougher sanctions won't really hurt Iran. What will happen is that Iran will use our refusal to sign as proof that we really are the "Great Satan" and tell their people the United States is the cause of all of their problems. They will make sure the Iranian people will continue to hate us.
On the other hand, if we sign the deal we will have access to the Iranian people. With that access, we have a chance to change their minds about us. Believe it or not, there are people over there who don't like living under a Muslim-controlled society.
In the end, the debate only proved two things. One is that when confronted with his own words, Trump doesn't handle them as well as the people he originally aimed them at. The other is that as long as Trump is invited to a debate, we're all going to watch.
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