Relive the Crazy! Live Tweets of the GOP Debate!

Hello to all, my self-imposed writing moratorium did not last long. I skipped my soccer game and tweeted throughout the GOP debate. Like I always say, it’s my favorite TV show. Here is the list of my tweets as I did them, including responses to people who wrote to me, and re-tweets (RT) of things I thought were funny along the way (and the tweets that aren’t mine, will be noted). And, my Twitter feed is at the bottom of the blog as well, you can see nothing was embellished here. Any items in bold, were added afterward for re-tweets/reference/clarity.

If you didn’t see it, the major happenings were: the moderator getting booed for asking Cain about his sexual harassment cases, Rick Perry said he wanted to eliminate 3 government programs and forgot the 3rd when he tried to list them. He included the word, “oops”, in his response and people on the stage tried to help him. Cringe-worthy stuff, here’s the video (Perry gets going at the 1:10 mark and “oops” is at about the 2:00 mark). For some reason, Cain referred to Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, as “Princess Nancy.”  Without further ado, here are my thoughts as they happened:

- Ron Paul always looks like he’s wearing a suit that’s too big for him.

- Michigan citizens just cheered for Romney being against MI auto-bailouts. #twilightzone

- How is Romney selling the “I’m consistent” line, based on his marriage? & he still flubs the line. (See my Romney preview, for his flip-flops on issues)

- Its pretty Pavlovian how RW-ers (right-wingers) clap for every line, even that mush Perry just said (before his “oops” line). #cnbcdebate 

- Shorter Santorum: picking winners in manufacturing ok, in green energy: not so much #cnbcdebate

- (me, responding to a Twitter friend) what?! This is the best show on TV! I can’t get enough.

-Shorter RW-ers: we don’t care if our guy assaults women.. You’re guy does it (I meant Clinton here) = impeachment #cnbcdebate

- Milton Friedman is the Republican $$ version of Ronald Reagan. #cnbcdebate

- (responding to a friend) I think I’m not gonna blog. I’ve been writing so much, no one can keep up. (What can I say? I’m a liar)

- I’m guessing boos will come for Paul, not sure why..his ideas may not jive w/ the $$$ crowd.

- I’m sure Paul has fallen asleep by now (he’s the old one, they didn’t ask him anything for a while). #cnbcdebate 

- Shorter Bachmann: Obama has no jobs guy, while she speaks on Immelt’s network (whoops). (Jeff Immelt is Obama’s jobs czar and CEO of General Electric, parent company of CNBC)

- I’m sure we’ll get balanced advice from all the CEOs, about what to do about the economy. (This was after CNBC went to commercial w/ 3 CEO’s asking questions.)

- It doesn’t take much to get RW-ers to clap. (forgot what happened here, I think a rambling answer from Perry)

- Oh the irony, a bunch of people in Michigan, cheering for a lack of regs + free mkt. #cnbcdebate

- Asian markets have to be selling off, if this is on all CNBC stations. #cnbcdebate

- (RT) #CNBCDebate Cramer: Henry Ford paid his workers 3 times the average wage so they could afford to buy cars. Newt is a liar.

- (RT) Well, I have an idea what Herman Cain would do with Fannie (Fannie Mae, govt housing agency). If she was wearing a skirt. #cnbcdebate

- Shorter debate crowd: White person and/or token black guy says anything = applause. Questions about harassment= boos #cnbcdebate

- That’s it, I’m starting a Kickstarter acct, to get Ron Paul a tailor. Those baggy suits are killing me. (Ron Paul really wears baggy suits each debate, keep an eye for it next time)

- Why don’t you explain 17% of the economy in 30 seconds? Reasonable. (during the healthcare portion)

-Shorter GOP (re: healthcare): Repeal, Obamacare, states, tort reform, state lines

- Leesman (CNBC’s Economic’s Expert) made a deficit funny! It’s funny b/c we’ll be like Greece. Blerg.

- I have to admit, I do love the “coming out of commercial music.”

- (RT) Fanny Mae & Freddy bad, Obama care bad, repeal everything, no regulations, no taxes, free market oh & #Cain can grope all women

- Santorum trying to sound like a normal human being, too bad he’s an evil bigot (see my preview for his anti-gay ideas)

- I miss drunk, high, maple syrup #Perry.  (see the Perry video in my “Linked In” post)

- OMG, I spoke too soon on Perry. (This was the Perry “oops” moment and it turned me into a valley girl. Sorry.)

- Did Perry have a labotomy during the commercial break? #cnbcdebate

- Perry has to drop out by the next break! #cnbcdebate

- (responding to a friend) hey!! Are u watching this clusterf###?

- lets get “oops” trending…my god, this is unbelievable #cnbcdebate

- (responding to a friend) you’re prob right. You can follow the tweets w/o losing the IQ points. (she wasn’t watching it live)

- Maybe Perry’s notes had “oops” written on it? I’m stumped.

- They should make a special arrangement for Perry to give his exit speech tonight. #cnbcdebate

- And, how does Perry forget the Dept of Energy (it was the 3rd agency he forgot, leading to the oops moment)? He’s a TX oil-whore. My $$ was on him forgetting education. #cnbcdebate

- (RT) Rick Perry = Texas Toast #cnbcdebate

- Thanks to Stephen Colbert, when I see Newt I think of mashed potatoes. #cnbcdebate

- (RT) Noted: GOP debate audiences boo gay troops, cheer for letting the uninsured die and Cain feeling on folks in his car. #CNBCdebate

- Cain = over matched. He can only survive Fox debates. (Finance stuff was a bit much for the Cain train)

- I wish I did the drugs Perry did in college. (I was still in shock from the “oops” moment)

- Is crony capitalism, really capitalism? #cnbcdebate

- (From Pres. Obama’s Twitter account) “Obamacare” and “repeal” are tied for most mentions at the second commercial break. How are your predictions holding up?

- (someone wrote me about my Perry/drugs comment) haha, i’m an optimist, I like to think he’s clean while in office. & we’re seeing the damage he did back then, now.

- (same as above) I think college me wants what college Perry had. He must’ve been doing some serious stuff I couldn’t handle now.

- (RT) Cain’s a chauvinist & a prick, duh. He doesn’t have his wife on the campaign trail because he wants to keep his options open #princessnancy

I hope you enjoyed this. And, I hope it reads well. Counting my intro, this post is still over 1,000 words. And, I did all that tweeting on my phone. So, I’m sure some weird phone-caused carpal tunnel syndrome is in my future.

See you next time,
James

Beginner’s Guide to the GOP Debate, Part IV, Romney/Santorum

Hey folks,
I just realized at the end of the last week, I gave you a Shakespearean quote. And, I’ve been using Roman Numerals for a few days now. I think I have to institute a dress code to read this blog. So, long t-shirts, baggy jeans, or Timberland boots are not allowed when reading the blog. I have to make sure this stays classy. I’ve set the bar pretty high.

Ok, now that some of you have changed, let’s get to Part IV of the GOP Debate preview. If I’m being honest, I’m sad this preview is over. I’ve had fun exploring the crazy the last few days and I’m going to miss these people.

Mitt Romney:

Romney is the former Governor of Massachusetts. During his time there, he enacted a health care bill to extend coverage to all citizens of the state. It was the model for President Obama’s health care bill. So, in the eyes of today’s GOP, this is a negative. The Republican spin doctors are real clever with names and branding. So, Obama’s health care bill became known “Obamacare”. It doesn’t take a genius to see where this is going. Romney’s bill was called “Romneycare”. Tim Pawlenty, thought he was being cute, and called it “Obamney-Care” during a debate. He is now out the race. Politicians and jokes are like oil and water.
Romney has 5 children (thoughts on this later). He was a businessman before politician. He made his money buying companies, breaking them up, and selling the pieces at a profit. The company’s name is Bain Capital. Here’s Romney (center) with his Bain buddies. They made so much cash, they literally posed for pictures with money. One guy has money in his mouth. I guess this is what rich folks do for fun. And, I promise you will hear Romney or others say we need someone who understands the business world in the White House. This narrative does not hold up when you look at the facts. When Romney was at Bain, the process of buying, selling and chopping up companies led to thousands losing their jobs. So, beware of the “business man as president” talking point. I have to go into that in another post. But, this line of thinking does not mesh with how you run a country during slow economic growth, recession, or a depression.

Romney is not well liked in the Republican party either. He is a notorious flip-flopper. He was pretty moderate when he won in Massachusetts. Here’s a wonderful video of him taking both sides of a few issues as the years have gone by. Video is under 2 minutes:

A few years ago, another Republican candidate (in 2008), Mike Huckabee said he looks like, “…the guy who laid you off…” It must be the polished, purposely combed-in gray, Just for Men look of his. And, if he wins the nomination and beats Obama, you can assume he will take it easy on Wall Street. He’s collected 7 million in donations from them and we still have 13 months to the election. He also thinks of corporations as people (video). This is a big point of protest at these occupations now (will be detailed in a later post). Romney is also socially awkward. At an appearance, he said to a bunch of unemployed people, that he too was unemployed. Even though his net worth is estimated between 190-250 million dollars. However, he is the favorite for the nomination. Herman Cain will fall apart, for a bunch of reasons. I hope one of them is his pizza-themed version of “Imagine” (see Part II).

Rick Santorum:

He is a former Senator from Pennsylvania. He is VERY anti-gay rights, lifestyle, etc. Here is his position, this appeared in an April 2003 interview, from the AP.
“Santorum stated that he believed consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts. Santorum described the ability to regulate consensual homosexual acts as comparable to the states’ ability to regulate other consensual and non-consensual sexual behavior, such as adultery, polygamy, child molestation, incest, sodomy, and bestiality, whose decriminalization he believed would threaten society and the family, as they are not monogamous and heterosexual.”

Yikes, now that was some heavy stuff. But, it does gets funny. Dan Savage, who is a gay rights activist and author, took exception to Santorum’s comments. And, he really got back at him. I have to say, this is one of my favorite things in the political world. If you Google the name “Santorum”, Dan Savage has worked it somehow, that the first item that appears is the description of a sex act. You know what, it’s pretty tough to describe tactfully, here is the exact wording:
“Santorum 1.The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. 2. Senator Rick Santorum”

I urge you to Google it yourself, again no exaggeration on my part. You don’t have to click any links (if you’re at work). It’s the just the first thing you see in the results. If you Google “Rick Santorum”, the sex act appears as the second search result, after his political website. I wish I could see the look on someone’s face, who Googled his name for the first time. Classic stuff. Wherever you are, Dan Savage, thank you. Santorum is also seriously hawkish on war, while polls show the majority of Americans want the wars to end. But, we’re talking about someone who wanted to regulate consensual sexual activity. It doesn’t have to make sense.


That will do it for today, remember I’ll re-run these as a refresher when the next debate comes around. But, if any candidate drops out by then, you won’t have to read about that person again. I’ll only re-post previews of those still in the race. And, if they do anything stupid between now and then (highly likely), that will be added as well, to keep it current.

Recent posts have been pretty heavy with my Times Square trip, GOP Debate, live blog, tragic news of us maybe losing the Bachmanns, and my fake debate with Buerkle. This week, be prepared for light-hearted (non-political), shorter posts. I still should get 3 or 4 posts up, counting this one.

See you soon,
James