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JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Republican White House hopefuls gird for key debate

World Jan. 07, 2012 - 02:05PM JST ( 34 )

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The debate will give the candidates a prime-time shot at denting Romney

The debate will be the first since Santorum lost to Romney by just eight votes in Iowa's caucus

If core conservatives rally around Santorum, or another candidate, Romney could be in for a battle

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34 Comments

0

smithinjapanJan. 07, 2012 - 04:19PM JST

The Big Top is set up... get ready for the circus!!
0

MadvertsJan. 07, 2012 - 05:32PM JST

Cliff top more like.

It's going to be fun to watch these guys tear each other apart in the childish manner only US politics can produce. Team Obama must be gleefuly watching these strange rodents swarm about...
-1

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 05:34PM JST

The Big Top is set up... get ready for the circus!!

Is it contempt of the common man (progs like to claim they are all about helping) for whom these debates are held, anxiety about 'opposing views' getting out to the same w/o the Gatekeeper Media twisting them, or just plain old envy of the American system that drives people to comments like that?
-2

VirtuosoJan. 07, 2012 - 05:39PM JST

Now that Michelle Bachmann is out of the picture I've completely lost interest -- it's just not fun any more.
-1

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 05:49PM JST

Now that Michelle Bachmann is out of the picture I've completely lost interest -- it's just not fun any more.

She is not ready for prime time. No, Minnesota is where she does the most good. They deserve her. They need her. She is among her own kind there.
0

MadvertsJan. 07, 2012 - 05:56PM JST

I think "envy" is way down the list of emotion to outsiders looking in on US elections oldest, un-progresssive buddy. Like rock bottom.

The vindictive tradition of personal attacks, character asassination and supidity that emerges and seemingly worsens every two years is not something to be envied.

Neither is the mental state of some of the more dedicated followers, notably on the right. Four more years of Obama is sure to fill some beds in the pyshciatric ward.
-1

VirtuosoJan. 07, 2012 - 05:58PM JST

She is not ready for prime time. No, Minnesota is where she does the most good. They deserve her. They need her. She is among her own kind there.

Gosh@unreconstructed, you sure have an astute grasp of conservative politics. Have you considered throwing your hat in the ring?
1

MadvertsJan. 07, 2012 - 06:00PM JST

He did. Lieberman 2012 wasn't it?
0

LagunaJan. 07, 2012 - 06:06PM JST

The more I listen to the criticism they hurl at each other, the more I agree with all of them.
0

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 06:09PM JST

Gosh@unreconstructed, you sure have an astute grasp of conservative politics. Have you considered throwing your hat in the ring?

nah, much more fun rattling the cages of the ankle biters on the international left.
-1

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 06:11PM JST

The vindictive tradition of personal attacks, character asassination and supidity that emerges and seemingly worsens every two years is not something to be envied.

and yet you keep coming back.
-1

MadvertsJan. 07, 2012 - 06:26PM JST

Comedy is comedy. Elections in the US are not much different to a JT flame war. Only it's more difficult to simply change ones name to hide from previous positions out there in Reality.
-2

plasticmonkeyJan. 07, 2012 - 06:36PM JST

Bachmann may be out, but her nuttiness lives on in the hearts of those remaining. The debate will essentially be about trying to outdo the others in extremist dogma --"repeal socialist Obamacare", "bomb Iran", "ban gay marriage", "reign in activist judges", "eliminate the EPA and the DOE", "make poor pay their fair share". Santorum, Perry, and Paul actually believe the nonsense they spout. Gingrich is a pathological liar, egomaniac, and opportunist. Romney is a shrewd businessman who will say anything to get elected. Huntsman is the only reasonable person in the pack, which makes him unattractive among most of today's Republican voters.

Minnesota is where she does the most good. They deserve her. They need her. She is among her own kind there.

unreconstructed, you really have a thing against Minnesotans, dontcha. Personally, I like the place. Your comment offends my liberal sensibilities.
-1

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 08:18PM JST

Huntsman is the only reasonable person in the pack, which makes him unattractive among most of today's Republican voters.

Huntsman supports the Ryan Plan. The Democrat Party wants you to know he will personally push your aged mother or grandmother off a cliff, in her wheelchair. Don't you watch TV?
1

LagunaJan. 07, 2012 - 08:59PM JST

Good point, unreconstructed - "reasonable" is quite relative in today's GOP. The Ryan plan is nuts.
-2

SerranoJan. 07, 2012 - 09:21PM JST

"Frontrunner Mitt Romney"

This is foreboding indeed. 4 more years of Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe Biden may just cripple the country.
-2

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 09:23PM JST

The Ryan plan is nuts.

But it's a plan.

The Democrat Party won't even offer one.

Because they don't have one.

For three freakin years now they have not even passed / presented the nation with a federal budget.

Who are these people? Who do they serve?
-1

plasticmonkeyJan. 07, 2012 - 10:09PM JST

Don't you watch TV?

Yes, and I can read too. That Huntsman is the only reasonable candidate among the bunch and that he supports the Ryan Plan says a lot about how unreasonable the rest of the GOP has become (as Laguna pointed out).

What's the predominant theme in GOP plans? Cut taxes on the rich so that they can supposedly create more jobs (which they didn't under GW's cuts), and loosen regulations that protect the environment, workplace safety, wages for the lower classes, and human rights. The key to the future? The magic of good old fashioned feudalism.
-3

unreconstructedJan. 07, 2012 - 10:16PM JST

What's the predominant theme in GOP plans? Cut taxes on the rich so that they can supposedly create more jobs (which they didn't under GW's cuts), and loosen regulations that protect the environment, workplace safety, wages for the lower classes, and human rights. The key to the future? The magic of good old fashioned feudalism.

'Wages for the lower classes" ? I'm sorry, but your , uh, analysis there reads like the kind of caricature of America I get from Euros and Canadians. Where did you say you are from?
1

plasticmonkeyJan. 07, 2012 - 10:43PM JST

Screwing the lower classes is not a 'caricature' of America. I've lived it. Sub-minimum wage factory work where management would order employees to stencil over storage dates for toxic waste when they found OSHA inspectors were coming. Two workers burned to death in a fire that was the result of noncompliance of government safety regulations that were deemed to expensive by the millionaire owner of the plant.

Your vision of America is an embrace of such unfettered corporate behavior? I am not what you would call a statist or socialist or communist, and I understand that governments cannot and should not control every aspect of a society. But I do believe in a democratically elected and monitored body that protects the interests of both the strong and the weak and attempts to ensure (in ways the private sector cannot and will not) a system in which competition leads to a healthy and harmonious society.

Why anyone in the middle or lower income brackets supports these Republicans makes no sense to me.
0

SerranoJan. 07, 2012 - 10:59PM JST

Question: What has Barack Obama done to create jobs except extend the Bush tax cuts?
1

LagunaJan. 07, 2012 - 11:03PM JST

Republican White House hopefuls gird for key debate

The headline leads one to wonder with what they will gird themselves with.

Romney: he'll bring a selection and choose a girdle based on his audience. Santorum: he'll choose something that matches a sweater-vest and contains a high-tech gaydar warning system. Gingrich: he'll adorn himself with a shatnez of fine white linen interwoven with purple, blue, and scarlet thread depicting Newt Gingrich. Perry: he'll sport a holster belt made from coyote fur with two six-guns containing blanks. Huntsman: he'll wear magic Mormon underwear. Heck, at this point, what has he got to lose?
-2

plasticmonkeyJan. 07, 2012 - 11:32PM JST

Laguna--brilliant.
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SerranoJan. 07, 2012 - 11:38PM JST

"what will they gird themselves with"

Obama will push through yet another stimulus bill, ballooning the national debt even more.
1

LagunaJan. 08, 2012 - 12:27AM JST

Thanks, plasticmonkey. I know many are disappointed I left Ron Paul off the list, but he's a libertarian, so I predict he'll just let it all hang out - and we'll finally see the extent of his his poll number.
-1

unreconstructedJan. 08, 2012 - 02:02AM JST

I've lived it. Sub-minimum wage factory work where management would order employees to stencil over storage dates for toxic waste when they found OSHA inspectors were coming.

Nice story. But I have to ask what state and what year you have described. Also - were you legally old enough to have been entitled to the minimum wage? Were you a student while on that job? In what year did the events you describe take place? How did the factory owner know OSHA inspectors were coming?
0

oberstJan. 08, 2012 - 04:52AM JST

This is not a circus yet till we have a circus master.........wait for Trump throw this " wig " into the ring as an independant candidate later this year.
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Patrick HattmanJan. 08, 2012 - 07:09AM JST

I've been saying this for months and it still holds true: Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. The rest is theatre for the permanent economy that centers around our election process and gives "jobs" to tons of people who conduct the campaigns and those who report and analyze the stuff.
-2

plasticmonkeyJan. 08, 2012 - 07:44AM JST

@unreconstructed--you can throw as much skepticism at my story as you want but it doesn't change my argument. It was '87, I was not a minor or a student, and I don't know how the management knew OSHA would be coming. Maybe they guessed. In any case, the plant was storing toxic paint byproducts in a lot next to the city's water treatment facility. For the sake of my privacy I'm not telling you the state. The point is the conditions and violations in the factory were appalling, and I used the story to illustrate why government oversight is necessary in this world.
-1

noriyosan73Jan. 08, 2012 - 11:11AM JST

Isn't it amazing that a population of country people such as in Iowa can determine who is in and who is out? What is harder to understand is why California waits until June to have its primary election. By the end of January or no later than the end of February, the Republican candidate will be "anoitted: as people said about President Obama. The American electoral system is impossible to understand, and the Electoral College is worse.
0

unreconstructedJan. 08, 2012 - 11:48AM JST

The American electoral system is impossible to understand, and the Electoral College is worse.

Your candor is refreshing. Non Americans don't understand our politics. I have been saying this for as long as I have lived and traveled abroad. And I will add that though in Japan for decades I do not truly understand their system and never will.
-1

unreconstructedJan. 08, 2012 - 11:57AM JST

In any case, the plant was storing toxic paint byproducts in a lot next to the city's water treatment facility.

You worked for sub-minimum wage in a factory back in the late 80s? is this what you are saying? You had your degree but were toiling for roughly 3 bucks an hour in what I remember was a fairly robust economy? Did the local gov license the plant to operate next to water treatment facility, or did they build the treatment facility next to a known existing hazard?
-2

plasticmonkeyJan. 08, 2012 - 06:16PM JST

You had your degree but were toiling for roughly 3 bucks an hour in what I remember was a fairly robust economy?

You're assuming a lot about me, and changing the subject. Or are you insinuating that people who work in miserable conditions are stupid and have nobody but themselves to blame? Or that I'm lying and that everybody was rich in the 80s under your glorious Reagan?
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unreconstructedJan. 08, 2012 - 07:22PM JST

plasticmonkey

You're assuming a lot about me, and changing the subject. Or are you insinuating that people who work in miserable conditions are stupid and have nobody but themselves to blame? Or that I'm lying and that everybody was rich in the 80s under your glorious Reagan?

I am not insinuating anything. As someone who lived through the era you describe (but had entered the work force earlier while still quite young) I am very interested in your experience. Sounds like we are roughly the same age. My glorious Reagan? I did not vote for him in 80 or 84, and I was far from any hope of becoming rich. But as I recall the the mid to late 80s jobs were quite plentiful and relatively well-paying. I say that as someone who, as a h.s. student and a minor, did work for less than the min wage.

So, you were no longer a minor and not a student but worked an apparently difficult/dangerous factory job for less than the min wage in the late 80s? Is this what you were trying to say?