First Moonbase Primary Open Thread
Will Gingrich fly us to the Moon?
Will Romney continue the paddling of Newt's plump ass he delivered in the last debate?
Will Santorum froth?
Will Wolf Blitzer give any air time to [OTHER CANDIDATE]?
Some recent coverage might help you puzzle out these and other questions:
Ron Paul polling in dead last in the Sunshine State. (Which he is very openly not campaigning in.)
Reason/Rupe polling on why Newt Gingrich (Newt Gingrich!) is ahead.
Why Romneycare sucks.
Did we mention that Ron Paul is avoiding the sunbirds?
And when will someone think of the SuperPACS?
For all other questions, speak up in the comments.
Update: Well it's vaguely surprising that they got into an argument where each one claimed to be less anti-immigrant.
Ron Paul just scored a decent point: Obama's Latin America policy is "abysmal" because it's exactly the same as previous Latin America policy.
Too bad the Latin America thread is dying down without anybody bringing up the War On Drugs.
8:30: Whether government contributed to the housing bubble: Another question on which only Ron Paul can speak intelligently. (Which is no guarantee that he will.)
8:32: Looks like the show of hands was pretty underwhelming when Gingrich used the "Do you know anybody who's been foreclosed" ploy.
8:34: Gingrich's trying to wriggle out of his Freddie Mac historiographical lobbying is shameless.
8:36: Ron Paul got the first big round of applause by saying he's not interested in Romrich's GSE entanglements. Does that mean everybody's bored by the GSEs, or do they just like hearing about the Fed?
8:39: Blitz Wolfschmidt promises space after the commercials. I wasn't just teasing with the title of this thread!
8:40: Jesus H. Christmas, Wolf, Romney's taxes?
8:43: Romney is making Gingrich look like a tool, I think.
8:45: Debates are so much better with a raucous audience. The spectacle of an establishment media dinosaur like Blitzer trying to keep the conversation on trivialities, and getting booed by a bunch of voters, give me hope for this country.
8:49: A little common sense for Blitz von Wolfsschanze: If you have to tell people "This is substance," it's not substance.
8:51: Hey, Ron Paul, I want to repeal the 16th Amendment too. Let's talk!
8:53: Paul gets a great point out of the medical records follies: We really do have age discrimination laws, and they really are ridiculous.
8:55: Paul got the laugh line, but Romney made the best point: A moonbase would be ruinously expensive.
9:02: Oh by the way, now's a great time to read Reason's Special Space Issue, on newsstands now!
9:11: With his Romneycare attack, Santorum stumbles into the strongest case against Romney: that he has no leg to stand on against President Obama.
9:15: There's a real problem with Romney's argument that the people of Massachusetts like Romneycare by "about three to one." That's the exact problem with Social Security, Medicare, Defense, and so on. They're cancers on the economy but the voters will never get rid of them.
9:20: Folks, I have met Carlos Gutierrez, and he is so unimpressive that even in a crowd of unimpressive people he stands out as more unimpressive than most.
9:23: O Jesus, Wolf, the First Lady? The Queen of America? This is your "substance"?
9:25: From the Twitter feed of one Mary Mauldin: "I would love for Newt to say let's talk about Fast&Furious, Solyndra, Keystone anything…but these obnoxious questions." I'd love for anybody to bring these up.
9:28: Can we pass an amendment to outlaw family-pimping by politicians?
9:30: Hey Romney, I think the X Games were one of the great showcases of the human spirit. What will you do to bring back the X Games?
9:38: Palestinian Americans exist? And they're Republicans?
9:39: (Just kidding. One thing I like about having a bunch of Arabs in my family and friend networks is that Arabs are almost always super-rightwingers when scratch the surface.)
9:41: I'm a big fan of J-Pod's Twitter feed, and here's a reason why: "One reason I like Mitt Romney is he thinks I'm a Gentile."
9:44: Don't-forget-the-diacritical alert: Dig Matt Welch's interview with the Santorum-namechecked Luis Fortuño.
9:49: Hey Santorum: It's not just the owners manual. It's also the supreme goddamn law of the land.
9:54: Beating-Obama question favors Ron Paul: Even though Romney is the most electable because of the electableness of his electability, Ron Paul actually outpolls Obama.
9:56: Was it really only two hours? It feels like 36.
9:59: So for the umpteenth time we're going out with no discussion of Fast and Furious, Solyndra or Keyston XL. Focus on Obama, boys, focus on Obama!
9:60/10:00: Thanks a lot, folks. I want my two hours back.
