Of course I’ll be covering it, probably one of my “updates at the breaks” type of coverage, not a Live Event. It starts at 9 p.m.
Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos “moderated” the Drake Debate in December. My prior posts: Drake Debate – Video highlights, Drake Debate Post-Op & Tweets of Night and Duel at Drake Debate.
This should be the hottest debate yet. Without Michele Bachmann on stage, Romney will not have someone to do the attacking for him, and we are at the point where Newt and Perry have nothing to lose from hammering Romney. The wild card will be Santorum — will he focus on Romney or the not-Romneys?
I’m expecting and hoping for fireworks.
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Latest Rasmussen puts Gingrich back above Paul. What will Ron Paul do?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/south_carolina/election_2012_south_carolina_republican_primary
Assuming Santorum and Gingrich come after him, it’ll be interesting to see if Mitt fights back or employs the usual frontrunner strategy known as the rope-a-dope. I think he’d better off fighting back because GOP voters want to nominate a fighter to square off against Barack H(ugo Chavez) Obama.
Romney is is Bob Dole. Bob Dole knows that Bob Dole would never do anything in the 1st person, so Bob Dole will wimp out.
I’m wondering when they will finally get down to the economy.
Of course, Sawyer and Snufagufalus will avoid that subject.
A hundred quatloos Gingrich brings it up anyway.
Hopefully this will finally be the time when Romney’s record is finally scrutinized.
Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit might have a bit of insight on why Newt, and Rick Perry, did so poorly in Iowa. Seems the IowansFueledWithPride.com, a ethanol subsidy supporting group, sent out flyers right before the election showing that Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry did not support ethanol subsidies, a fatted pig that Iowa farmers have been sucking the teat of for 30 years.
But the joke is on Iowa. The little piggie named “Corn Subsidy” died on 12/31/11 at midnight. The Congress not only did not renew the thirty year old theft of taxpayer dollars (to the tune of $45 BILLION) but the Congress also lifted the tariff on Brazilian ethanol.
So Iowans, in their effort to continue getting a check off the backs of taxpayers all across the country, turned their backs on the two guys who would have theirs when it comes to taxes and regulations. Of course, the “ethanol” industry claims that it doesn’t matter that the subsidy is gone, but then why make it an issue in Iowa? Sorry, Iowans, some of us are just not that stupid. You want your little piggie back and you know that the check is NOT in the mail. So now you’re stuck with picking the worst of the litter. Hope it bites you.
Now here is my question: why do our candidates, who are all vying for the conservative vote, put themselves in a position to be grilled and asked “gotcha” questions from the likes of Sawyer and Clinton’s token midget? They have no other goal than to provide fodder for the Obama administration/campaign by making our candidates look small. Insanity, pure insanity.
“…why do our candidates, who are all vying for the conservative vote, put themselves in a position to be grilled and asked “gotcha” questions from the likes of Sawyer and Clinton’s token midget?…”
Indeed!!! And most of them – except Gringrich and Santorum -declined the proposed Trump-moderated debate?
McCain should tell his endorsed candidate, Romney, that no matter how much MSM hind end he kisses, they still despise him and will unload on him should his poll numbers ever rise above 25%.
Sawyer’s biased reports are too numerous to itemize: however, MediaResearch does a laudable job at the link. http://www.mediaresearch.org/Profiles/Sawyer/welcome.asp
I no longer watch her, but the two most disgusting performances I recall are her 1998 interview of Ken Starr and her condescension to Adam Sandler on Good Morning America, circa 1998-1999.
Perfect comment. Why do they do it? There is no conservative audience and the Obamabots use the Q & A as fodder.
No, the joke is still on the consumer. As long as the mandate for 15% ethanol remains, gasoline refiners will just have to pay more for it and pass the cost along that way. Sugar-based ethanol production will take some time to come into the US market after the punitive tariffs.
Another dirty little secret is that the ethanol mandate causes billions in damage to engines, shortening their lives.
Santorum is the big ethanol supporter in the field, though, and received the only perfect score from the interest group evaluating the candidates.
The wild card will be Santorum — will he focus on Romney or the not-Romneys?
My bet is Santorum follows his previous performances and take his shots as they present themselves. The most notable take down I recall coming from Santorum was against Ron Paul on the issue of foreign policy. I am sure he has taken swipes at Romney and others but they don’t stand out to me right now. I have to give him credit for being more focused on his own message than just taking pot shots. That could all change though now that he is center stage.
I suspect most ‘gotcha’ questions will be directed at Gingrich and some at Santorum. Sawyer and Snuffaluffagus will try their best to hold fire on Romney. They will try to get Newt to loose his cool and go medieval on Mitt. That fits their narrative.
It is more likely it will backfire and Newt will jam gotchas right back down the ‘moderators’ throats. He’s done it before in debates (Scott Pelley, for one) and won a lot of support for it. Politically savvy Stephanopoulis is too smart for it, Sawyer not so much.
There is a video currently extant of Romney getting a “you lie!” ambush from an AP reporter, and to his credit Romney hands it right back to him, but his affect in doing so is not effective, made him look fragile to confrontation.
I bought popcorn in preparation for watching this debate. =)
Sorry Professor, I would watch but my attention will be on the Saints-Lions. Who the decided to put a debate against the wild card game needs his head examined.
[…] https://legalinsurrection.com/2012/01/sawyer-and-stephanopoulos-to-debate-republican-candidates-satur… […]
I’m surprised the MFM doesn’t just have a debate among journalists rather than bother to put the real candidates up on stage.
We really wouldn’t see or hear anything different than if they did. As before and after and during what we mostly hear are the opinions and agenda of the journalists (I use that term advisedly) with the questions and questioners being mostly left leaning agenda ridden news readers.
Did anyone really learn anything useful from any candidate during any debate shown on TV? Really? Really?
Newt, now that Old Nasty Newt has resurfaced, will attack Romney for spite because he never thinks very far ahead and his ego has been damaged by Romney’s friends pointing out the Gingrich record.
Santorum and Perry will be smarter. Romney’s support base is solid and steady, his numbers are growing as the other candidates self-destruct. The object is to become the one surviving Not-Romney candidate and hope the conservatives will coalesce around you.
I expect both of them will be playing for South Carolina, and try to take out Newt or each other. Paul will do whatever he does when he’s not soliciting money from Holocaust deniers, and nobody cares what Huntsman does.
Ah, when Romney makes vicious, repeated ad hominem attacks, it’s politics as usual, get used to it. But if Gingrich attacks back, it’s spiteful, representative of a character flaw.
OK. Right.