I didn't see the debates last night, but just the jaw dropping snippets on the Today Show.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

First, Good grief, all those Reagan references. As an OP observed astutely last night, many under the age of 41 may not clearly remember Reagan, but they DO remember....

President Clinton. Who was MOCKED (?!), as if the Clinton years were not the last era of prosperity and peace which this country has experienced. So, I see the candidates all chuckling in an utterly revolting and smug manner about the evils of the Clintons, and, I think that's pretty awful, but the topper/whopper for me, in this little montage is...

McCain. Shouting that he would "get" Bin Laden whom he would follow to the "gates of hell". I mean, after his disastrous appearance on TDS last week, you'd think he'd aim for a little more dignity and a little less ridiculous rhetoric, then as I watched the rest of the Today Show coverage I saw...

Chris Matthews explain to Meredith Viera why it might have seemed that Mitt Romney received preferential treatment in the order of questions and the location of his podium, but that wasn't really case, as he explained over and over, while Meredith finally gave up and just ended the segment, and I realized the moderator set the tone, last night.

And, even for the rah, rah war folks at the GE network, there was no way to spin the "debate" to look like anything other than what it was.

A group of privileged, wealthy, vain, hate and fear mongering men trying to sell this country something it's not buying anymore.

BTW, I was not home last night and missed it. I now wonder if I could have stomached the entire 90 minutes.

Wow, just wow.

:wow: MKJ

[rodeodance]

1. so, did they satisfy the conservative base??

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

2. Sastifying the base...an apt description.

I wonder if the base smoked afterwards. MKJ

[Emit]

12. Hate to say this -- listened to Rush this morn for about 2 minutes

yack. And he was ranting and raving about the debates -- said something about how it was just a ruse by the librul' media to make Republicans look bad. I couldn't stomach him anymore -- caught one caller who was pissed that the debates were on the librul' MSNBC and not Fox -- they hate Matthews -- thinks he's a librul', I guess.

[trotsky]

3. Hey, I'm under 41 and I remember Reagan.

I remember my 6th grade classroom having to squeeze in 42 desks and the teacher being unable to walk between the rows in part thanks to Reagan education cuts. (Ketchup is a vegetable, kids!)

I remember The Day After and being scared shitless of the Soviets and that they and their godless nation would attack us for no reason.

Apart from the music, movies, and TV shows, the 80s sucked, and Reagan was a big reason why.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. I apologize for the generalizaton. Max Headroom was a perfect analogy of Reagan.

The 80's felt like a perpetual recession, didn't they? MKJ

on edit, OP changed to in response to your observation.

[trotsky]

7. Aw, that's OK, no apology necessary.

Growing up in a lower-middle class working family during the 80s, I don't understand how anyone in the middle and lower classes can look back on those years fondly. Mortgage rates in the stratosphere. Elimination of middle class tax credits and deductions. Increasing payroll taxes on everyone but the rich. And the idea that anything you wanted, you could just spend yourself into debt to get. The "Reagan Legacy" is one of putrid decay.

I guess we have to keep in mind - most people aren't as political as we are. All they care to remember from the 80s is Reagan's kind grandfatherly image, and his standing up to the evil USSR. Democrats have benefited from this too, as a whole generation of people remembered FDR's stewardship during the Great Depression (which really didn't end until the massive war spending) but tended to forget things like Supreme Court packing and Japanese-American internment.

[madison]

4. Rudy's game plan

I have figured out Rudy Giuliani's game plan to win the Republican nomination for president.

In every answer to a question and in every speech he gives, Rudy will say four things:

"9-11,"

"9-11,"

"Ronald Reagan," and (one more time)

"9-11."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, heck, it's better than saying:

"wife Number One,"

"wife Number Two,"

"Bernie Kerik," and

"wife Number Three."

[Virginia Dare]

6. I stomached about 30 minutes of it...

it was indeed jaw dropping. Jim Gilmore, Tommy Thompson and Ron Paul were the only ones who could be considered halfway rational, that's how bad it was.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. I'm still steamed about that Clinton question

It was completely inappropriate, IMO. MSNBC really blew it, blatantly displaying a bias toward promoting the Cons, IMO. :grr:

Last week, I was really excited it was going to be "our day" for once. After three days heavily promoting the event by throwing punches at the Dems, I was ready for some 'Democratic love' under the expectation that the programming guys would at least make a concerted effort to please the target audience: Democrats. But, right off the bat, I tune in and lo and behold...They're having an interview with Jim Gilmore about his announced candidacy. Throughout the morning, Con after Con was interviewed about the Democratic Presidential Debate. It seemed like a 2:1 ratio of Cons to Dems about what to look for, who'll break out, what they need to do, etc. (and that didn't include the "hosts"). By 11 am, I turned it off until around 4pm.

At 5pm, it was better...but not much and I watched till 7pm, then tuned back in at about 10:30 for more post-analysis and a replay of the debate, then more replay of the post-analysis. There were about 30 minutes immediately following before it turned hyper-critical (thanks to Matthews), and then they picked over every detail they could muster INCLUDING a couple of "what they say vs the truth" run downs from David Shuster(?).

But yesterday and last night? The ratio of Con to Dem 'guests' was 1:0, as far as I could tell. There was less time provided in post-debate analysis (not to mention far less in the criticism category) and the same level of hyper-criticism given Democrats was definitely not there. At best, their criticism was more a sense of "Don't worry, it's only the first debate. They're gonna kick ASS next time!" Then, Matthews question about if Bill Clinton should be back in the White House...WTF?!?!?????!!!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. It looked like Matthews was saying, "we're all buddies, here, right" launching immediately into

"let's all make fun of the guy by whom we're most threatened".

I doubt any one of them, especially including Matthews, would have had the guts to say what they did if President Clinton was in the room with them.

What a bunch of wimpy wannabes. MKJ

[KharmaTrain]

10. Next Monday's Daily Show Is Due To Be A Killer

They'll need all weekend to go through all the comedy gold in all that "pomp" and bullshittery.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. true

they will find some good ones...

[Rosemary2205]

11. My fav of the night was someone saying gays deserve to be unemployed

Well, that's a slight exaggeration. A question was asked, "Do you think companies should be allowed to fire gay workers (assumingly only because they are gay)? - The answer given was yes. -- No one on stage made a point of disagreeing.

[Poiuyt]

17. That was Tommy Thompson

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I walked away a couple times

it was migraine inducing, I tell you

And all of thenm scare me

To say that Ron Paul is the sanest of the bunch is rather telling (since he is an old time Paleo con\ libertarian) but he is the only one I'd trust with the football.

Yep they were all batshit insane

And their followers call us moonbats

Hell, after last night, regardless of who we noninate, that person NEEDS to win for the sake of the country

[AspenRose]

18. I agree 110 percent

Democrats NEED to win or else the world is screwn.

[AlCzervik]

15. i watched the whole thing, here is my recap.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=818865&mesg_id=820161

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

19. Excellent, I wanted to Rec and then realized it was a response post. Nice job!

:toast: MKJ

[MadBadger]

16. I screamed at the TV a couple times, specifically towards Rudy

And his answer to the Roe v Wade Question. I thought Chris did a good job on everything except that awful Clinton question, and mentioning Mark Rich. Overall though, I thought he was good, and not in any way being for the Republicans. He was fair.