08-07-2015, 10:58 AM
(08-07-2015, 05:33 AM)Duchess Wrote: I had no idea God was involved in politics. If I had, I would have told him to butt the hell out. What's he trying to do, ruin his reputation?
I watched the final portion of the debate this morning.
The GOP, some more than others, caters to the religious right and invokes God as an excuse to limit freedoms (based on their personal spiritual beliefs and self-serving interpretations of Christian doctrine). They do it to such an extent that, as a rational person (especially a female person), it feels hypocritical voting for any Republican candidate. But, I've done it in the past and I might again. Lesser of two evils and all.
I like Rubio. I like his stand on immigration as compared to other GOP candidates, his energy, and the fact that he has some solid governmental experience at a young age... But, I hate his stand on abortion (which is the same stand across the GOP candidate pool). Still, he's a 'maybe' for me because I don't believe abortion should nor will be outlawed, nor that Rubio would be politically stupid enough to try to push for that. Plus, I won't mind if he and others in the GOP succeeds in getting a nationwide cut-off of 20 weeks placed upon abortions; under 1.5% of abortions happen past then anyway and I don't like late-term abortions either.
Ted Cruz, on the other hand, would probably be politically stupid enough to try to strip women of all rights to choose when it comes to abortion, and other topics. He's worse than Santorum, in my opinion, when it comes to using God (sincerely or not) to justify his suppressive views and is almost wholly reliant on ultra-religious donors. He's even too fundamentalist to play well with the rest of the GOP in many cases. Cruz is my least favorite candidate on almost every issue, and on a personal level too.
I like Kasich so far, a lot. I like his experience with federal budgeting, armed services, and I like what he's achieved for the state of Ohio. I also liked him on a personal level last night -- he didn't reek ("wreak", for aussie) of self-righteous condemnation towards people outside of his demographic and spiritual beliefs. And, he came across as someone who focuses on the issues and stands his ground without constantly resorting to bashing his opponents or invoking God at every turn. I could see him being an effective bi-partisan leader. I'm interested in learning more about his stances on all of the key issues.
I thought Christie and Jeb Bush did pretty well last night. Their experience shows when answering both soft and hard questions. I'm with Christie when it comes to anti-terrorism screening, and I like Bush better than most of the GOP candidates on education and immigration.
Though I'm sure the topics will be addressed in the first Democratic debate agenda, there were no questions about gun control, decriminalization of marijuana, or criminal justice reform in last night's GOP debate. Too bad for Paul -- he's at the top of my list on the latter two issues. I thought Paul performed kinda poorly last night.
Huckabee's "consumption tax" plan is kind of interesting. I'd like to hear more details. When he said that Obama is "trust and vilify (vilify his critics)" whereas Reagan was "trust and verify" in regards to nuclear negotiations, it seemed to resonate with a lot of the audience.
Carson is not experienced nor qualified enough to be President just because he's smart. I think that showed last night and he's probably out of the running.
Walker was kind of a non-factor in the debate, in my opinion. Nothing surprising, nothing memorable, no big mistakes. He's meh, for me.
And, Trump was Trump, he made me smile and nod a few times, and he had me rolling my eyes a few times.
For me, at this time, Rubio, Kasich, Christie and Bush are the Republican candidates of interest. I'm surprised Bush is on my list, but he is.