Join Us Tomorrow As Reason Live Tweets the First GOP Debate

All the news, views, and abuse you can use about the Republican faceoffs at 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 pm. on Fox News

FoxNews

Join us as we livetweet tomorrow's inaugural GOP debates. You can find the tweet stream at Reason.com or over at our Facebook page.

We'll kick things off at 5:00 p.m. with the kids table debate for the candidates who didn't make the primetime cut, possibly including:

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former HP head Carly Fiorina; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former New York Gov. George Pataki; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. 

At 9:00 p.m. we'll dive into the grownups debate, which will feature the candidates who are polling in the top 10 so far: 

Real estate magnate Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. 

The debates will air on Fox News and be hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. 

Comments

[tarran]

No.

What an appalling idea!

[Fist of Etiquette]

OMG. They're debating already? I thought all this talk of who's in and who's out of the top ten was about a debate in the distant future.

LIVE BLOG!

[sarcasmic]

I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.

[Idle Hands]

Drinking Game!!!!!!!

Any mentions of Abortion, Mexicans, and Obama you drink.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

I wish Obama had been aborted by a Mexican Dr. close enough?

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

With a woodchipper?

I'll allow it....

[Rasilio]

Is there a drink called a woodchipper? If not some enterprising bartender needs to invent one so it can become the official beverage of libertarian drinking games

[Elspeth Flashman]

I think it would have some cheap gin in that drink.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Wait- let's try: gin, peach flavor & iced tea - it'll have the zing of pine/juniper berry & the color of light wood. I hereby dub this the woodchipper.

[Citizen X]

You drop a shot of Everclear in right before you drink it.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I am a lightweight - the Obama mentions alone are enough to kill even the hardiest of drunks, like David Hasselhoff.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

You have to mix in a cheeseburger; it's what the pros do!

[Elspeth Flashman]

I think you mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKeRr8t1FvY

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

You need to apply the burger earlier in the process.

But it is the only reason the Hoff ain't dead.

[Juvenile Bluster]

The State of the Union drinking game alone kills dozens of people a year. You want to be responsible for a few dozen additional deaths?

[Elspeth Flashman]

#libertarianlivesmatter

[Free Society]

Racist!

[DEG]

I don't know if there is enough booze in the world for that.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You know, this is the only reason (drink!) why I would follow a live blog like this.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I really should stay away, but I gotta see Trump clownin'.

[The Late P Brooks]

Twitter? Facebook? Go ahead and start without me.

[Robert]

Any live b'cast radio or stream of the audio?

[Sudden]

Odds of Dalmia calling Trump "Grand Wizard"?

I'm going 10 to 1 she will.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Trump is more of an Imperial Exchequer

[Robert]

Care to host a debate between those in the bottom 300 of the filed GOP candidates?

[The Last American Hero]

Trump has a seat at the grown ups table. Actually, the prime seat. Nope, still can't process that one.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

the grown ups table

These people are grown-ups in name only. They should all be relegated to the kids table until they stop acting like devious, malignant children.

[fleshy wavefunction]

grown-ups in name only

GUINOs?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Italians switch "name" with "designation".

[Elspeth Flashman]

What you did there, I see it. +1 gold chain with a track suit.

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

noyce

[Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper]

The entire point is "Let's see how wacky Trump can be!!!!"

Of course, the wackier he gets, the more support he gets. Just like Hilary.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

He'll be at the center of the stage. What the fuck is going on?

[Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper]

Unless each contestant is armed, I see no reason to give a flying fuck.

[fleshy wavefunction]

I keep wanting to think the GOP polls are getting things right when I see the people out of the debate:
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former HP head Carly Fiorina; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former New York Gov. George Pataki; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.
But the I see the list of people that are in the debate:
Real estate magnate Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
And despair a little.

[0x90]

One more and we could get a baseball game going. With the punchline being that this would actually be the Republican All-Star Game.

I weep for the future.

[CPBrown]

Maybe they could do what they do in European football (soccer). After each debate :

Promote 3 of the best candidates in the "lesser" debate to prime time.

And relegate the 3 worst from the "big" debate.

[Mike M.]

Not even my dream girl Megyn Kelly can get me to watch this.

I'd watch her do just about anything. But not this.

[Free Society]

"But I won't do that..."

[Migrant Log Chipper]

Tweets are for twits....with the exception of Iowahawk.

[The Last American Hero]

And of course @Nihilist_Arbys. The best of all Twitter Feeds.

[John]

Am I the only one who finds Megyn Kelly annoying? Yes, she is epically hot. What makes her annoying is that she constantly makes mundane points that while valid are nothing a smart 8th grader couldn't make yet seems convinced she is the most brilliant person on earth.

[The Last American Hero]

You watch her with the volume on?

[John]

Yeah, that is a mistake. Of course she wears too many clothes for even that to be that entertaining. If Fox would go naked news, I would be down with watching her on mute.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Eight graders must the target audience.

[Mike M.]

Is she the greatest or most insightful talking head ever? No. But I'll always have a soft spot for her because we were classmates back in the day. She was epically hot back then too, and I never had the stones to try and ask her out.

I also like the fact that she'll actually let her guests speak (memo to O'Reilly: everything in life isn't about you; shut the piehole once in a while).

[John]

I said she was annoying not the most annoying. Yeah, she is better than O'Reilly but everything short of getting a root canal followed by a partial birth abortion is.

So was she a bitch? Did she have any character and intelligence or just ride her looks?

[Mike M.]

My social interactions with her were pretty limited, but she struck me as a sharp cookie. Though she definitely wasn't afraid to use her looks. Smiled almost all the time. You could tell that she wasn't one of the man-hating radical extremist types either, which was nice.

She was so damn gorgeous that I suspect a lot of us dudes were probably intimidated just being around her. Though maybe that was just me.

[Sudden]

I'd still opt for the root canal and partial birth abortion instead.

[John]

And screw the GOP for letting Fox News run their party. It is utterly idiotic to have a ten person debate and not include the one woman running, Fiorina. There is absolutely no reason for Huckabee to have been included. Not a single one of his supporters would not also support Carson if he were the nominee. He bring nothing to the table and should have never been included.

[Jerry on the sea]

Fox News will be biased in favor of the candidate who will spend the most money buying television ads on the network.

[John]

I assume that would be Bush and Trump. And I don't think so. They will be biased to whichever candidate can kiss Meghn Kelly's ass the most.

[Dan Bongard]

Huckabee has more experience and more support than Fiorina. It would be silly to exclude a more qualified, more popular candidate just to check the "woman" box in Identity Bingo.

[John]

Huckabee is a hopeless candidate. Fiorina has much more upside than Huckabee. A lot of people don't know her. The point of the debate is to give candidates exposure. Huckabee is a known commodity and is at his ceiling. He has zero chance of winning. Fiorina in contrast isn't yet known and has much more potential to do well.

You don't base who gets in on raw poll numbers. A guy like Huckabee with name recognition but no hope of ever winning shouldn't be in the debate.

[Dan Bongard]

Fiorina "isn't yet known" because she hasn't done anything relevant yet. Ditto Carson.

[John]

Last I looked they have done a lot. There is more to life than politics

[Dan Bongard]

Did you not know the meaning of the word "relevant"? Shall I provide a link to a dictionary?

As for there being more to life than politics -- no shit, Sherlock. There's more to life than neurosurgery too, but I'd rather be operated on by Ben Carson than by the most brilliant auto mechanic in America.

[John]

Did you not know the meaning of the word "relevant"? Shall I provide a link to a dictionary?

Apparently you don't but I do. Here is a hint, experience can be "relevant" without being exactly the same thing. Moreover, there is no other job like being President. It is a combination CEO and national therapist. I think being CEO of a large corporation is just as relevant experience as being governor of some hick state like Arkansas.

[Dan Bongard]

"It is a combination CEO and national therapist"

Ah, I see the problem. Your understanding of the Presidency comes solely from watching reruns of "The West Wing".

In reality, the job is nothing like either of those things.

[John]

Your problem is you have no idea how the political system works. Here is a hint, your high school civics teachers were lying

[Hyperion]

Wasn't Carson a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins? I mean, that's somewhat more of an accomplishment that most politicians can claim. Would you want Nancy Pelosi doing your brain surgery?

[Dan Bongard]

The Republicans should run Michael Jordan, then. His accomplishments as a basketball player dwarf Carson's accomplishments as a neurosurgeon.

[Hyperion]

Jordan would probably get more votes too, because most people are fucking retarded.

Leading the pack is a billionaire who can't fix his hair.

It's looking grim for humanity.

[lap83]

"It would be silly to exclude a more qualified, more popular candidate just to check the "woman" box in Identity Bingo."

While I'd normally agree, look at who the Dems are running to check the "woman" box. She has more scandals than wrinkles. But by not even trying to run a woman candidate, the GOP is allowing Hillary to have the one tactic she has left.

[Dan Bongard]

Hillary's "one tactic" has been and continues to be that she's Bill Clinton's wife and a Hillary term would be a third Clinton term.

At this point, the Republican front runners are Trump (a Clinton supporter loathed by a solid third of Republicans) and Yet Another Bush. That is Clinton's other major advantage -- the Republican need to double down on failure.

Pick a competent governor or senator who isn't named Bush and Republicans win easily. Stick with John's incessant temper tantrums and lose. Those are the two options.

[lap83]

"And screw the GOP for letting Fox News run their party."

What, and have it appeal to people under the age of 60? Poppycock and twaddle. Those kids are too busy with their poodle skirts and rock music to care anyway.

[John]

They are sort of the yin to Reason's yang. Reason only cares about appealing to people under 25. If you are between the ages of 25 and 60, I guess you don't matter.

[brady949]

#25to60yearoldlivesmatter

[Tony]

It would hardly be Republican of them to engage in affirmative action.

But the party did cede the decision making to FOX News, because the party didn't want to take the blame for excluding anyone. FOX News in turn put responsibility on polls (then changed their rules and excluded one of the polls that didn't give them a result they liked).

Everybody asked why they couldn't just do two debates with random assortments. Not only would it eliminate the meaningless polls from the equation, it would mean candidates wouldn't know precisely who they'd be debating, making for a more unpredictable... oh wait.

[The Last American Hero]

Did you see the seating arrangement for the debate? Christe gets the Fox News "Leg Chair".

[John]

Hasn't Christie gotten religion and is no longer a lardo?

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

HAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAA!

[Hyperion]

No, he had weight reduction surgery and gained 80 lbs!

[Free Society]

Fox News leg chair? Do you mean that Fox has to give Christie his own chair like tax payers had to give Taft his own bathtub?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I have to wash my hair that night, sorry.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

If you haven't watched a reason live Twatter event before, they are actually way more entertaining than the event itself. I have watched a SOTU live tweet thingie while playing Freecell with the TV off and had a grand ol' time.

[John]

I think they should have Seth McFarland do voice over for Christie. Don't change what he says, just make it in Seth McFarland's voice. If there is anyone who should sound like Peter Griffen, it is Christie.

[DesigNate]

Damn it John, now my boss is wondering what the hell I'm laughing about.

[Hyperion]

'It wasn't anything on the intertoobz, I swear, I was working! Hey, look at this report, don't you think it's funny?'

[Free Society]

I'll not join anyone live tweeting, or regular tweeting, anything, anywhere, ever. Except of course if I were being paid. So uh, carry on Reason staff.

[Hyperion]

Oh good gawd. I hate being hungover on Friday morning. I hate to go to the office! I hate you Reason, I hate you!

[John Titor]

If there's drinking games involved this seems more like a libertarian mass-suicide by alcohol poisoning.

[Hyperion]

The spaceship can't arrive with Captain Libertario to save us, unless we first commit mass-suicide by alcohol or other dangerous drugs.

[Mazakon]

Another perk of not being able to stand alcohol.

[croaker]

Tomorrow night is a good time to go see a movie.