The Other McCain

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Cain And Gingrich Conduct Actual Debate: Mitt Romney Hardest Hit

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | 39 Comments

by Smitty

Watch here. Watch Now.
I’m not without qualms about either fellow. However, having potential leaders do more than stand there and trade bumper stickers is such a breath of fresh air that I could even foresee. . .the meltdown in the bunker when You Know Who finds out. . .

Update: stand by for the National Security Debate on 22 November at Heritage.
I predict that Mitt sounds like the preppy dude who completely over-studied, Newt sounds a polished old hand, Paul remains Non-Interventionist (to the extent anyone thinks that would work), and the rest amount to a barbershop quartet with a guest solo from Michele singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot“.

Update II: Linked at Temple of Mut.

Comments

39 Responses to “Cain And Gingrich Conduct Actual Debate: Mitt Romney Hardest Hit”

  1. MrPaulRevere
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:00 pm

    How to reform Social Security: Make it a voluntary defined contribution program with a 15% bump for those at the poverty line, a 10% bump for those at 150% of the poverty line and a 5% bump for those at 200% of the poverty line. Yeah I know that its very unlikely to happen, but a man can dream can’t he?

  2. Adjoran
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:02 pm

    I’ve got company so will have to watch it later, but this is a GREAT idea and should replace the idiotic media-run group press conference lightning rounds we’ve been seeing so far. 

    Run it like a 4-man round robin tournament.   First round Cain-Gingrich and Romney-Perry.  Second round Cain-Romney and Gingrich-Perry.  Finally, Cain-Perry and Romney-Gingrich. 

    Similar format to this one, allow for thought and discussion.

    Invite the media to cover it, but they don’t share the spotlight.  Six debates that will tell us much more than another 30 of the circuses we’ve seen so far.

  3. MrPaulRevere
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:20 pm

    Cain made an excellent point about giving states administrative power over any federal block grants. I would go even further and give that power to the counties.

  4. Anonymous
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:24 pm

    Got my Cain sticker in the mail.  Love it.

  5. Anonymous
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:27 pm

    Wow, actual entire sentences and real dialogue….THIS is what a debate should be!

  6. MrPaulRevere
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:33 pm

    I’m waiting for the National Review/American Spectator debate. Think about it, Stacy McCain and Rich Lowry on the same panel…

  7. Anonymous
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:37 pm

    It worked.

    Screw the other “debates.”

  8. smitty
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:53 pm

    There is the 22Nov Heritage debate here in DC. http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/01/national-security-debate-moves-to-nov-22/

  9. smitty
    November 5th, 2011 @ 9:55 pm

    When are we going to ask why the money flows backward, from DC down, rather than rising from the economic base?
    Our cart precedes our horse. Discussion that isn’t about correcting THAT problem is a distraction at best.

  10. MrPaulRevere
    November 5th, 2011 @ 10:15 pm

    Certainly. The point I was trying to make is that any social service spending should be administered by the level of government closest to the people so they can keep an eye out for fraud etc. And who knows, that might mean they actually have to pay attention to governmental affairs. The DC behemoth encourages apathy.

  11. Anonymous
    November 5th, 2011 @ 10:22 pm

    Pretty cool. 

    Perfect format for Newt since he has an opinion on everything.

    Cain came of as a great communicator ideas and overriding principles to guide them while Newt came across a great incubator of ideas.

    Both guys were great.  Wasn’t really a “debate” in the vein of two people going after each other trying to “win” but a conversation showing that both want serious change and our open to a wide array of solutions.

    And as Herman Cain implied toward the end….

    Cain/Gingrich 2012!

  12. Finrod Felagund
    November 5th, 2011 @ 10:41 pm

    Is there a transcript of it out there anywhere?
     

  13. smitty
    November 5th, 2011 @ 10:52 pm

    I wouldn’t expect one for a bit. Even if you have a piece of software make a first pass, it’s a toot extraction transcribing these things.

  14. richard mcenroe
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:11 pm

    This format is a complete waste of time.  How are we supposed to know what to think about the candidates without unsympathetic moderators asking leading questions about subjects the party’s voters don’t think are important?

  15. Dianna Deeley
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:31 pm

    You have a solid point, as long as it doesn’t lead to “subsidiarity”, and the insane bureaucratization of every level of government, as happened in Europe under that rubric.

  16. Dianna Deeley
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:33 pm

    Having done transcription, it’s a tedious process, particularly when more than one person is speaking.

  17. Dianna Deeley
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:34 pm

    A little more acid, and my screen might melt! Well done!

  18. smitty
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:49 pm

    Hey, let the lower levels of government be as Byzantine as they wanna be. Also, let them fail.

  19. smitty
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:50 pm

    Just watch the brown stuff.  .ereht gnorw si gnihtemoS

  20. MrPaulRevere
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:54 pm

    Thanks for your reply. Devolving government to the most accountable level is not only the best way forward it is the only way to avoid the fate of failed societies like Greece.

  21. Dianna Deeley
    November 5th, 2011 @ 11:55 pm

    Bureaucrats are to civil society as fleas are to dog owners.

  22. richard mcenroe
    November 6th, 2011 @ 12:00 am

    ¡??n?? ?? ?ou s,??

  23. MrPaulRevere
    November 6th, 2011 @ 12:45 am

    When the man talks it pays to listen: Mark Levin gave a sobering yet stirring keynote at the Defending the Dream Conference hosted by Americans for Prosperity:  http://www.therightscoop.com/watch-live-mark-levin-andrew-breitbart-at-11am-saturday-morning/

  24. Anonymous
    November 6th, 2011 @ 12:56 am

    Nice talk show.  They should get a daytime slot, Herb and Gin cover the issues.

  25. Adjoran
    November 6th, 2011 @ 1:45 am

    That would be great!  If Rich needs to go to the little boys’ room, Stacy can hold his hand. 

  26. Adjoran
    November 6th, 2011 @ 1:48 am

    And people wonder how the Parthenon got that way . . .

  27. Adjoran
    November 6th, 2011 @ 1:50 am

    You guys are like, blowing my mind, dudes – is this stuff you got at the OWS Hallucinogenic Working Group Tent?

  28. Adjoran
    November 6th, 2011 @ 1:52 am

    Can’t do it.  America needs Joy Behar to use to scare children into eating their vegetables.

    [Was I supposed to say “plant-bodied persons” there]?

  29. Rick
    November 6th, 2011 @ 2:39 am

    Cain didn’t embarrass himself. With his Biden-esque penchant for gaffes, I really expected that. Newt was clearly the brightest and most informed of the two. If he didn’t have a habit of slipping back into an infuriating inside-the-beltway mentality, I’d support him. At this point, I think he’s just angling for VP.

  30. Anonymous
    November 6th, 2011 @ 2:49 am

    At least Cain wasn’t foolish enough to compare anyone in the GOP to Biden.

  31. Anonymous
    November 6th, 2011 @ 2:51 am

    You should watch Conan’s “Triumph The Insult Dog” covering the #OccupyFailure “protests.”  I think it’s linked over at breitbart’s tv site.

    Your mention of Joy Behar reminded me.

  32. Anonymous
    November 6th, 2011 @ 2:54 am

    Yep.  In fact, if the government contracted the administration of services out to private firms, then they could go after them when they underperform.

    Of course, at the first sign of trouble, the Dems would “nationalize” them, so it wouldn’t last long.

  33. Anonymous
    November 6th, 2011 @ 2:58 am

    That’s one thing that totally amzes me about “Generalissimo” transcribing so many of Hewitt’s interviews.   That’s a heap o’ typin’

  34. Caos Sinclair
    November 6th, 2011 @ 4:04 am

    This is a quality that hit me like a bolt of lightning Newt did well and told of his accomplishments and I will not take away from that but Politicians always are long winded on and on, The greatest sign of great leadership is being able to listen,I saw Herman Cain the President, You have to be able to listen and then evaluated CEOs do that, That is substance not just talking which I notice all politicians bicker on the debates and Herman Cain listens, He does not jump in, He has very bold plans . America Is bleeding to death and cant have a bandage and Tonight I saw the president,He is a great communicator and HC will tell you over and over again , till you get it , the voter I am speaking of, yet he has tremendous patiece which all business CEO have to have< President Cain would never make a rash decision, That is greatness, I saw Mr, President Cain the man of substance not the talking  continuousness! that is true leadership. all the other candidates you cant shut up, They have an agenda and don't quit, there is a Big difference between a creator of jobs and politician on a soap box saying what people want to hear to get more applause, A Conservative with Common Sense that is the diamond you have in a President Cain, Newt is close to his issues and compliment the issues very close to HC.s but The boldness of A Herman Cain presidency is his clarity and yet great communication skills but always the quality of listening  the skill you want in a president, we will see Cain/Gngrich restore America 2012 will be the ticket,

  35. ThePaganTemple
    November 6th, 2011 @ 8:15 am

    I can tell you that part of the answer to that is, its a damn shell game. Many of the establishment party figures in the states want it that way. It absolves them of some degree of accountability. Its also a form of welfare to the states, with many of them receiving more money from the federal government than they send in. Then they can all bitch at the federal government over the very problems they’ve enabled, and come election day no one gives enough of a damn to vote the bastards out.

  36. Shawn Gillogly
    November 6th, 2011 @ 11:40 am

    It was a ‘debate’ in the sense that this was what a discussion from two people in the same party w/ basically the same ideology should do. They both came off intelligent, aware, and deep. Something the media circus sound-bite facades would never allow happen. I think it makes for good ad material for both of them, as well.

  37. SHRINE CELEBRATION: 1 Year Until Capitalism Freedom Day! « Temple of Mut
    November 6th, 2011 @ 11:49 am

    […] will end this post with a small comment on last night’s Gingrich-Cain debate. I think the best result of this novel event is than many conservative friends have come away with a much more positive view of the entire […]

  38. ThePaganTemple
    November 6th, 2011 @ 12:19 pm

    Well if this is the way they would act toward Obama in a debate that just makes me more determined to see Michelle Bachmann get the GOP nomination. I don’t want anybody that will treat that little piece of shit like a human being, I want to see him abused and belittled. Anybody that can’t bring themselves to do that doesn’t cut the mustard.

  39. Mike Rogers
    November 6th, 2011 @ 6:23 pm

    Implied at the end?
    That was the punchline to the whole show – when the two men first walked on stage, they joked that this was a preview of the GOP ticket. And, Please note this was a Tea party debate in TEXAS without either Perry or Paul. Furthermore, Steve King hot-footed it down from Iowa specially for this event.
    I know that Tea party types have some concerns about Newt’s statist tendencies, but this joint ticket with the communicator and the professor, already pulling almost a 40% plurality of the polls between them is the perfect anti-Romney.
    Yes, they CAIN!….. and look out O’Bummer.