\u201cWe need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as ISIS is using technology to recruit those who would murder American citizens. I do not believe that we need to wholesale destroy every American citizen\u2019s privacy in order to go after those that we know are suspect or are \u2014 are already a problem.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nBased on early results from what\u2019s been tagged the Happy Hour debate,<\/strong> Fiorina has likely earned a place at the big kids\u2019 table in the next debate. If she moves up, she will leave behind other likeable candidates including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former New York Governor George Pataki, and former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.<\/p>\nThe Prime Time Match<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\nBut then there was the gang of ten.<\/strong> The 9 p.m. line-up included experienced politicians like Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Chris Christie of New Jersey, and John Kasich of Ohio; former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee; Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky. \u00a0There was political newcomer and celebrated neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson.<\/p>\nWith such a full slate of presidential competitors,<\/strong> there was not time to explore each candidate\u2019s views on a wide range of topics. A few soundbytes from the field:<\/p>\nMarco Rubio<\/strong>, questioned whether never having held executive office might render him unprepared for the presidency, countered, \u201cThis election cannot be a resume competition. If it is, then Hillary Clinton will be the next President.\u201d<\/em> This election, Rubio said, should be about the future, not the past; and he pledged that if he is elected, he will be the candidate of the future.<\/p>\nAccused by the debate moderators of being \u201cdivisive\u201d ,<\/strong> Ted Cruz<\/strong> hung onto his \u201cme vs. them\u201d mentality: \u201cI believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth,\u201d<\/em> Cruz said. \u201cIf you\u2019re looking for someone to go to Washington to \u201cgo along to get along\u201d, to get in bed with lobbyists and special interests, then I\u2019m not your guy.\u201d<\/em> Could Cruz\u2019s belligerence prevent him from working collaboratively with the Congress? I think so.<\/p>\n\u00a0Jeb Bush<\/strong> fought against the \u00a0inference that his candidacy would be viewed as part of an unpopular \u201cBush dynasty,\u201d and instead cited his record of job creation and economic recovery.<\/p>\nChris Christie<\/strong> also stood on his record, boasting that he\u2019d balanced the budget, created 192,000 private sector jobs, cut business taxes and vetoed five tax increases during his five years as governor.<\/p>\nMike Huckabee<\/strong> used the platform to reconfirm his conservative values. There is nothing in the Constitution, he noted, to defend the legalization of same-sex marriages. Abortion should be illegal except to save the life of the mother. He did not, however, see a Constitutional Amendment as the best course of action, because revising the Constitution is an arduous problem. He believed that defunding Planned Parenthood could be accomplished by applying the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. \u201cWe now have scientific evidence [that the fetus is a person],\u201d<\/em> Huckabee said. \u201cTo ignore the personhood of the individual in the womb is a violation of that unborn child\u2019s due process.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>He noted that the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and he decried America\u2019s support for an institution which, as recently released videos have shown, \u201crips body parts and sells them like they\u2019re parts of a Buick.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nRand Paul<\/strong> was asked about foreign policy, specifically U.S. policy in the Middle East. \u201cHow are we going to defeat ISIS?\u201d<\/em> he responded. \u201cI have a proposal: \u00a0Don\u2019t arm the allies of ISIS. We shouldn\u2019t fund our enemies, for goodness sakes. We didn\u2019t create them, but one way we stop them is by not funding them and not arming them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nOhio Governor John Kasich<\/strong> was questioned regarding what the moderator called the \u201cSt. Peter Rationale,\u201d invoking God when expanding government Medicaid programs. Governor Kasich responded with evidence of programs that had worked in his state: rehabilitation programs for drug-addicted, treating them in prison, then releasing them into the community, helping to get them on their feet. He boasted that the recidivism rate for convicts who had passed through the program was only 10%. Kasich also reported that he had helped the working poor by offering them Medicaid coverage, enabling them to go to a family physician rather than come into the emergency room where their costs would be much higher. Medicaid in Ohio, he noted, under his administration is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country, and went from an $8 million deficit to $2 million in the black.<\/p>\nJeb Bush spoke about the problem of immigration, calling for the elimination of sanctuary cities, where local governments are not following the federal law, and highlighting the need for a path to earn legal status. For illegal immigrants, that path would include payment of a fine, and completion of many requirements over a period of time. \u00a0Bush did not, however, support amnesty programs for illegal aliens\u00a0already living in this country.<\/p>\n
Scott Walker,<\/strong> one of a number of strong pro-life candidates on the Republican platform, was asked a question regarding his opposition to abortion except in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of a mother. He used the opportunity to reconfirm his pro-life stance: \u201cI\u2019m pro-life,\u201d<\/em> he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been pro-life. I believe that that is an unborn child that is in need of protection\u2026. Unlike Hillary Clinton, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nFire\u00a0The Donald!<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\nBut the candidate who set off the most fireworks<\/strong> was business mogul and celebrity television star\u00a0Donald Trump. Watching Trump\u2019s antics (he tossed around\u00a0words like \u201cstupid\u201d and \u201cbamboozled\u201d and tossed a slur toward Rosie O\u2019Donnell) and seeing him stand alone in refusing to pledge support for the party\u2019s candidate, even if running as a third-party candidate would likely guarantee a Democratic win, I found him intolerably self-centered.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s more, his brash rhetoric<\/strong> hinted of bribery as he spoke of donating to Hillary Clinton\u2019s foundation and other Democratic candidates with the expectation of receiving \u201cbusiness-related favors\u201d and then, two or three years later, cashing in on that contribution.<\/p>\nThat Trump has received the lion\u2019s share of votes in early voter polls<\/strong> says more about the voters\u2019 dissatisfaction with their current leaders in Washington than it does about his expertise on the world stage. Trump\u2019s bluster and bravado may be funny on television, in the same way that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un\u2019s outrageous demagoguery\u00a0is funny. I\u2019m sure that eventually, Trump\u2019s schtick\u00a0will demonstrate to the American electorate that while screaming \u201cYou\u2019re fired!\u201d may be de rigueur<\/em>\u00a0for NBC\u2019s Celebrity Apprentice<\/em>, the real-life drama of American politics demands negotiation skills and mutual respect.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, the first Republican presidential debate was nothing, if not entertaining! With a field of 17 candidates, Fox News Network divided the contenders into two groups: an early (5 p.m.) assemblage of seven lower-ranking candidates; and a prime-time (9 p.m.) \u00a0line-up of the top-ranked challengers in recent polls. The Early Debate I was away from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,192,193],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-politics","category-polls"],"yoast_head":"\n
The 2016 Debates: Leadership and Inexperience Shall Kiss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Well, the first Republican presidential debate was nothing, if not entertaining! With a field of 17 candidates, Fox News Network divided the contenders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2015\/08\/the-2016-debates-leadership-and-inexperience-shall-kiss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 2016 Debates: Leadership and Inexperience Shall Kiss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, the first Republican presidential debate was nothing, if not entertaining! With a field of 17 candidates, Fox News Network divided the contenders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2015\/08\/the-2016-debates-leadership-and-inexperience-shall-kiss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Seasons of Grace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-07T13:50:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/files\/2015\/08\/Shaking-hands.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathy Schiffer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathy Schiffer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2015\/08\/the-2016-debates-leadership-and-inexperience-shall-kiss\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2015\/08\/the-2016-debates-leadership-and-inexperience-shall-kiss\/\",\"name\":\"The 2016 Debates: Leadership and Inexperience Shall Kiss\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-07T13:50:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-07T13:50:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/#\/schema\/person\/e15e2847c72a2f422d45a893c1d8c8a4\"},\"description\":\"Well, the first Republican presidential debate was nothing, if not entertaining! 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