Liveblogging the Meet The Press debate

I had sworn off of this, but Tivo changed channels for me during breakfast....

Here's what's going on during the Meet The Press Republican debate.   

David Gregory, in order to prove that Meet The Press and the Republican Party are both hip and groovy, announces that some of the questions will come from Facebook.  Perhaps from the city of Farmville. 

Michelle Bachmann is no longer present as the Sarah Palin surrogate, and this is good. 

FIRST QUESTION: Why does Mitt Romney stink?

Gingrich:  Romney is timid, and he wants to grow up to be Barack Obama.  He is BarackLite.  When he makes love, he pretends to be Obama. 

Romney:  I'm proud of being the John The Baptist for ObamaCare.  I also believe that I created jobs as governor, unlike New Mexico governor Gary Johnson who claims that he created NO jobs as governor.  I have no freakin' clue about the true role of government in the economy.

Santorum:  Romney didn't want to run again as governor of Massachusetts.  He didn't fight.  I did the right thing, and fought until I got my ass kicked by a Democrat. 

Gingrich:  Romney ran the red light.  He talked too long ! 

Romney:  Ted Kennedy made me do it.

Ron Paul:  The question should be about the issues, not Mitt.  However, Mitt did endorse the single payer system, the TARP bailouts, the Fed printing money for their friends.  Romney hasn't challenged the idea of a U.S. Overseas Empire.  That's what we should be talking about.  Not whether Mitt and his Magical Mormon Underwear can defeat Obama. 

Perry:  Well I'm the one who can 1) reinvigorate the Tea Party, 2) defeat Obama and 3)  ummmm...Ooops !

SECOND QUESTION:  How will you tell Americans that your spending cuts you are going to cause pain?

Huntsman:  Back to Mitt Romney... He criticized me for putting my country first. 

Romney:  Huntsman went to work for Obama.  If you look closely at the older versions of Mormon doctrine, black men can't enter the highest levels of Mormon heaven.  As a Mormon, Huntsman should know that, and be ashamed. 

Huntsman:  Ok, ok, ok, I would tell Americans that I embrace the Paul Ryan plan.  It takes a pitifully small amount of money out of the budget during the next 10 years. 

David Gregory:  In the name of the prophet Lehi, PLEASE give me 3 programs you would cut....

Huntsman:  Social Security and Medicare?  Maybe?  But I'm not going to touch Defense. 

Santorum:  Means testing on Social Security.  Food Stamps.  Medicaid.  Give it all back to the states.  Give 'em a time limit.  Including Social Security.  If you ain't dead within 20 years, you get no more money. 

Gingrich:  I taught history at the college level for years, and I'm going to lull you to sleep without answering the question.  These are not the droids you are looking for.  I'm going to improve the government, not cut it. 

Perry:  I'm going to get it right this time !!   Commerce, Energy, and Education !!!

The crowd goes totally wild. 

Break for advertisements. 

SECOND QUESTION CONTINUED:

Santorum:  People think that they should have the same plan that Congress has.  They have a choice.  (I'm finding myself liking Santorum on this one.) 

David Gregory:  Grover Norquist has gotten some Congressmen to sign a pledge for No More Taxes.  Warren Buffett thinks the rich can pay more. 

This is where I go stark, raving mad, and I'm going to skip Romney's response on this one.  Warren Buffett has made his billions, and NOW he wants EVERYONE ELSE to pay more in taxes.  His Berkeshire Hathaway group has been in a two-year lawsuit against Washington to avoid paying an extra billion or so in taxes. 
Warren Buffett is a hypocritical old fraud. 

Huntsman:  The loopholes make our entire tax system silly.  We don't govern, we sell exceptions to the tax code. (My words, not his.) 

Gingrich:  I worked with Tip O'Neill.  I worked with Bill Clinton.  You have to do that to get things done. 

Romney:  We didn't just work with Democrats, we were totally immersed in them in Massachusetts.  We developed relationships with them.  We did it so long that we now refer to ourselves in the plural.  We, we, we. 

David Gregory:  Dr. Paul, why is your legislative record so poor?  Why aren't your bills passed?

Ron Paul:  This shows how out of touch Congress is with the American people.  (Paul hits this one out of the park online and live, something like 3 times per week.)  Shit, can you imagine Congress voting against any bill that cuts spending? 

Santorum:  Ron Paul has never accomplished anything, never done anything, he's never successfully worked with anybody.  But if he's Commander In Chief, he's going to bring our troops back home to defend the U.S. !!   Can you believe that ????  We need somebody to maintain the status quo !!!

Ron Paul:  Changing foreign policy mistakes that go back to Woodrow Freakin' Wilson takes time.  We can't be all things to all countries.  Yeah, it takes a while.  In the meantime, let's audit the Fed !!

Santorum:  I've tuned Rick Santorum out.  He's doing talking points.  I Will do better on his next question. 

Huntsman:  I will do better than Obama by demonstrating trust.  Democrats will trust me because, after all, I spent the last 3 years representing one. 

Perry:  I would buck my party by talking about their spending levels.  We need a part-time Congress, which implies that only millionaires could afford to serve in Congress. 

Rick Perry just showed the world that he is stark raving mad. 

Advertising break. 

David Gregory:  Let's bring in some newspaper and TV people to help with the questions. 

Newspaper guy:  Home heating oil is $4.00 a gallon.  Congress is cutting the subsidy.  Whatcha gonna do?

Huntsman:  I feel your pain.  He'll break up the oil distribution monopoly.  (Why not drill, baby, drill?  Or crank up that Keystone pipeline?)

Ron Paul:  Subsidies are bad policy.  On energy, we should de-regulate.  50% of the transaction is the monetary unit.  When you create money out of thin air, prices go up.  If you subsidize somebody and print money to do it, prices go up. 

Romney:  What we don't need is a Federal Government saying we're going to solve all problems for all people.  Give these issues to the states. 

TV Guy:  Romney, you once said that the gay community needs more support from Republicans, according to a GLBT periodical.  Whatcha gonna do now? 

Romney:  I oppose same-sex marriage.  But I don't discriminate against them.  And yet in death, we live. 

Santorum:  I think gays and lesbians should be treated with respect and dignity.  But no marriage or adoption rights.  And yet in death, we live. 

Newspaper Guy:  Are right to work laws a federal issue?

Perry:  Only because of existing federal laws.  It shouldn't be a federal issue.  I'm not anti-union, I'm pro-job.  If you want to grow jobs, pass right to work legislation.  Education, Energy, and Commerce. 

Romney:  Carpenters union makes them better carpenters.  But lets talk about the pure, undiluted evil of government unions - they should have the same salaries and bennies as the private sector. 

Santorum:  I would support Federal Right to Work legislation.  I've worked with unions. 

Another break.  I wish they'd gotten Ron Paul going on the unions. 

THIRD QUESTION:  Jobs, jobs, jobs. 

Gingrich:  The long term answer to the oil problem is to make supply and demand work for us, not against us.  Flood the market with the commodity that is scarce. 

Romney:  Obama didn't cause the problem, but Lord Have Mercy, he made it worse.  Obama is anti-business.  (And he oughta say that Obama's current improving jobs record is only due to the size of the workforce shrinking.  People are just giving up, and those people don't get counted.) 

Newspaper guy:  What about out of state power plants polluting New Hampshire? 

Romney:  I don't know this specific regulation.  We've got to find a way to keep the air clean.  (In economics, this is called an externality.  My transaction with party #1 does harm to party #2.  There are also positive externalities, BTW.) 

Gingrich:  My Environmental Solutions Agency would be better than the EPA, despite having the loathsome buzzword "Solutions" in the title.  Much well-deserved ridicule directed at EPA. 

TV Guy:  Is Obama a Patriot?  Is he evil? 

Perry:  Obama is a f***ing Socialist. 

Santorum:  When I voted for the prescription drug benefit, it was not the act of a f***ing Socialist.  It was a way to require people to have health savings accounts.  No irony intended. 

TV Guy:  Is healthcare a right? 

Ron Paul:  Entitlements are not rights.  You have a right to your rights, liberty, and the fruits of your labor.  There are no "group" rights.  One group is not entitled to take something from someone else. 

Newspaper Guy:  NH motto is "Live Free or Die". 

Huntsman:  "Live Free or Die" is an awesome motto.  New Hampshire wants a leader who will unify.  Huntsman, by use of his word leader, shows that he doesn't understand the NH motto.  We don't need leaders, we need people to maintain the infrastructure and secure the borders and interfere in disputes.  Huntsman as a "leader" would betray that ideal. 

Advertising break. 

David Gregory:  Let's scattershoot for a while. 

Santorum:  Russia and Korea have nukes, but Iran is a Theocracy.  "They think the next life is better than this one."  That is scary.  We can't treat them like normal people.  Therefore, they are different.  Santorum's extreme Catholicism kinda leaves him exposed on this one, right? 

Gingrich:  Concerning my attacks on Romney, Mitt Romney and his firm Bain Capital, committed acts of Capitalism.  There is nothing lower than committing acts of Capitalism.  I want Romney to admit that is his former staff running the anti-Gingrich PAC. 

Romney:  I can't direct ads of a PAC.  It's illegal.  Everything in those ads is true. 

Romney vs Gingrich spat ensues.  They're both silly people.  They both love Big Government, and their records show it.  That's why it's so easy for them to dredge up stuff like this. 

Gingrich:  We've going to make a movie about Romney committing acts of Capitalism. 

Santorum:  It doesn't take a village.  It takes a family.  Obama has a secular ideology. 

Ron Paul:  If president, I will continue to preach liberty.  Sound money.  National Defense.  Defend Liberty and Liberty !!

Yet another ad break.  I had no idea that a debate would cost this much.  I'm getting hungry, as this project has disrupted breakfast.
 I am, however, 100% live.  Had to slow down to catch some stuff, but fast-forwarded through the ads. 
So far, Ron Paul is winning.  Why?  Because he's right. 

What the hell?  I was going to completely finish this liveblog on time, and the TV just cut it off, just like that?  No closing statements?  No nothing, just The End? 

Time to scramble some eggs. 

Enough of the political crap.  It's a nice day.  Hope y'all have a good one !!!

LateBlogging the Republican Debate. September 7, 2011 - total failure at pretending to be interested

If it weren't for Ron Paul, I wouldn't be doing this. 
I usually liveblog interesting debates.  This one won't be interesting.  I didn't even get home in time to liveblog the thing.  Thank you, Tivo. 

Ok, here we go. 

Mitt Romney and Rick Perry just finished a little argument over who created the most jobs as governor.  Perry claims that Michael Freakin' Dukakis created more jobs as Massachusetts governor than Romney did.  Romney claims that George W. Bush created more jobs as Texas governor than Perry did. 

Who gives a rip?  You know who isn't here at this debate?  Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.  He's wasn't invited to this thing because he's a libertarian-ish sort.  Johnson claims (truthfully) that he didn't create a single job as New Mexico governor.  He just got the government out of the way and let the private sector take care of it.  Can you imagine anyone at MSNBC letting that cat out of the bag to run around on this stage, making a mockery of the proceedings? 

The MSNBC moderators (and the rest of the lamestream media) ought to show how many government employees were on the payroll before and after the Romney and Perry administrations.  That's what matters. 

Michele Bachmann just ripped ObamaCare a new one. 

Brian Williams just asked Ron Paul how the world would survive without government regulations.  Ron Paul just gave a somewhat rambling answer, but got to the point.... we don't need the government to do it.  "But who would keep the airplanes from dropping out of the sky?"  Paul shoulda said "follow the Canadian model and privatize it.  Canadian Air Traffic Controllers don't fall asleep on the job."  But he just said, essentially, let the Free Market handle it. 

Why is there an airplane hanging over the audience? 

MSNBC, like most left-wing organizations, is having a hard time making things work properly.  They can't coordinate their video clips with the debate moderators' questions. 

The debate moderators are trying to hang the Massachusetts RomneyCare model on Mitt Romney (where it belongs).  Romney is dodging the question, and talking about what he would do in the future. 

These people are talking about jobs as if they're the goal of a business.  Jobs are not the goal.  They are a by-product.  Lordy. 

Michele Bachmann is claiming that she's the only person with the legislative experience to repeal ObamaCare. 

Gingrich is trying to get some party unity going, claiming that all of his brothers in pork are against ObamaCare, and he's not going to put up with MSDNC trying to get Republicans fighting with each other. 

Herman Cain, after multiple appearances on Stossel, Freedomwatch, and debates that I've seen, finally cut loose a rip on ObamaCare that I could agree with. 

God help me.  Rick Santorum just answered a trick question on welfare, using words that I could have possibly written.  I think the entire world, after the last 3 years, is now leaning Libertarian. 

Bachmann says that "energy" is one of the greatest opportunities for job creation that we have.  Bullshit.  Outlawing "energy" and digging ditches with spoons would create the most jobs.  But that's not the point.  We'll have good job creation when we allow entrepreneurs to get filthy stinkin' rich.  Jobs are merely a by-product of that process. Deal with it.  Thank you. 

They just asked Ron Paul if eliminating the minimum wage would create more jobs.  He answered that it would.  Didn't even think about it.  Why?  Because it would. 

Ron Paul just scared the shit out of me.  I thought he'd lost it.  He said he could create a gallon of gas for a dime.  Yes, for a dime.  But yes, if you have an old-school silver dime, it's now worth $3.50. 

Brilliant.  Freakin' brilliant. 

Now Perry is attacking Paul for quitting the party, and writing an anti-Reagan letter.  Paul says Reagan taxed too much and spent too much.  Yep.  Until Obama came along, more debt was rung up under presidents named Reagan and Bush than all other presidents combined.  Look it up.  Hit the Ronald Reagan label at the bottom of this post. 

Ok, the airplane hanging over the audience is Reagan's Air Force One plane.

Shortly after hitting Ron Paul with an anti-Reagan question, they're acknowledging Nancy Reagan in the audience and giving her a round of applause.  Nice. 

Rick Perry is saying good stuff about Social Security being as broke as The Ten Commandments, and that anyone who promises money to today's young workers is lying. 

Mitt Romney, bless his Mormon heart, is defending Social Security.  Let's see two workers support one retiree.  That's where we're headed. 

Rick Perry, bless his perfect hair, is calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme.  Because that's what it is. 

Herman Cain, bless his thick crust, just suggested that we go to the Chilean system for retirement plans.  Go here for info. 

The moderators have now taken us off into inoculations.  I bet fluoride in the water supply will be next. 

Ron Paul just hit a home run on a TSA question.  Now Brian Williams is going after him on FEMA.  Paul asks him back "What happened before 1979 when we didn't have FEMA?"  Let the states handle it.  Doh. 

Herman Cain wants to fix FEMA and fix Homeland Security.  Good luck, Herm. 

Jon Huntsman is bleating about what he did for job creation. 

I can't watch any more of this.  With the possible exception of Ron Paul, I can't drink enough beer to imagine any of these people being willing to cut out a single cabinet-level department.  I can't imagine MSDNC asking the question. 

If something happens that's remotely interesting, I might expand on this thing.  Dull, dull, dull.  Talking points, talking points, talking points.

Good night !!

If you're disappointed in this blog post, I apologize. Here's a fun video: