The Donald To Chair Presidential Debate!

[Guest fountainhall]

With Donald Trump back in the Presidential race, albeit as the moderator of a Game Show loosely described as a Presidential Debate, some of the contenders – e.g. Ron Paul and John Huntsman – have so far refused to take part. Paul has called the Game Show, “clownlike”, adding, "I didn't realise he had the ability to lay on hands and anoint people". Huntsman was more scathing –

 

“I’m not going to kiss his ring, and I’m not going to kiss any other part of his anatomy,” he said. "“This is exactly what is wrong with politics. It is show business over substance. If he had any courage at all, he would be running for president of the United States of America as opposed to manipulating the process from the outside.

 

“The presidency of the United State of America is more important than these silly game shows and reality shows.”

Others, like Newt Gingrich, have accepted the invitation. In what at first appears flattering but on reflection is just downright stupid, Gingrich is quoted as having said this -

 

"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer to the presidency. This is a country that elected an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency. Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman," Mr Gingrich said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/8937304/Donald-Trump-offer-to-host-Republican-debate-accepted-by-Newt-Gingrich.html

 

Well, Mr. ex-Speaker (why US politicians should keep their titles for life rather defeats my understanding!), like many of your comments, you are right and wrong! Right on count 1. But on Count 2? This, after all, is the Donald Trump whose business, thanks to an overdose of junk bonds, went bankrupt in 1991 and who was also on the brink of personal bankruptcy. Indeed, throughout most of the 1990s, large chunks of the Trump Empire were in such difficulties that he had eventually to be bailed out by a group of Hong Kong investors.

 

But then the Empire struck back and Mr. Trump has been what the Republican front runner always knew he was, “a great businessman”. That's what will be on his tombstone, no doubt. “Game Show Host” does not carry quite the same cachet.

[Bob]

Romney in my eyes has also jumped up a notch in stature - given he's not showing up to this so-called debate either.

 

The Republican show has been pretty sad so far and now their elevating it to reality tv entertainment. How pathetic.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Mebbe Gingrich believes that if the former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger had been born in this country, he too could have been running for President. Too bad he'd committed adultery. For shame, Arnold. Now you should go back to Austria.

 

The Republican show has been pretty sad so far and now their elevating it to reality tv entertainment. How pathetic.

Hey, it's tv. They're the stars of the idiot box.

 

Speaking of tv, I keep getting Ron Paul mixed up with Ru Paul. Which one is the drag queen?

[Bob]

Speaking of tv, I keep getting Ron Paul mixed up with Ru Paul. Which one is the drag queen?

 

While admittedly I wouldn't vote for Ron Paul under almost any circumstances, I've got to defend the guy a little. As misguided as he is on some (okay...many) issues, he's at least consistent and saying his notions in an honest manner from the heart. God knows that the other candidates will say next week but it most likely will be consistent with whatever the pollsters tell them at that moment (regardless if inconsistent with prior positions) that their audience du jour of rabid right-wingers want to hear.

 

As to Ru Paul, I'm sorry, I don't accept I'm even in the same species that Ms./Mr. Paul inhabits. Sort of like a cross between Jim and Tammy Baker on methamphetamines. [Come to think of it, I wonder if John Paul (yea, da pope) is Ru's brother as they appear to have worn similar outfits....]

[Guest fountainhall]

For shame, Arnold. Now you should go back to Austria.

So where does Gingrich return to? Didn't he commit adultery with a House of Representative staffer at the same time as he was not just married (he finally divorced in 2000), but was also helping prosecute President Clinton for - adultery, albeit this was not sex as Clinton chose to define sex

 

Heck, he even faced 84 ethics charges in Congress and then lied to the Ethics Committee to try and cover them up -

 

Gingrich acknowledged in January 1997 that "In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee". The House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules. Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich

 

And how did he excuse this behaviour? In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, he stated - yes, these are his very words (according to the same Wikipedia page listed above) -

 

"There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate."

So passion for one's country leads to adultery? And voters actually buy this crap? He almost makes Jim Bakker sound like a saint!

 

But then he and Bakker have something more in common - a deep sense of faith (at least I think that's what Bakker had, in addition to loads of cash). A convert to Catholicism a couple of years ago, Gingrich is now trumpeting religion for all he is worth. Just last month he stated -

 

"A country that has been now since 1963 relentlessly in the courts driving God out of public life shouldn't be surprised at all the problems we have," he said, referring to a Supreme Court decision that struck down school prayer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2011/12/05/newt-gingrich-catholic_n_1127152.html

 

So the race is theologically interesting, as the Huffington Post also points out in the same December 5 article

 

"I think there's now an evangelical tri-lemma," Texas pastor the Rev. Robert Jeffress, who has made headlines for calling Mitt Romney's religion a cult, said in an interview to Slate before Herman Cain suspended his campaign. "Do you vote for a Mormon who's had one wife, a Catholic who's had three wives, or an Evangelical [Cain] who may have had an entire harem?"

[Guest fountainhall]

The Donald certainly has some weird judgement. One of the contestants on his Celebrity Apprentice series was none other than the former Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, at the time awaiting trial on very serious corruption charges. On a You Tube clip, Trump says, "You have a helluva lot of guts . . . I have friends where things have happened to 'em, they crawl into a corner, they die! You're out there punching. So I respect that!"

 

Well, Mr. Trump, that man who gained your respect has just been handed down a 14-year jail term.

[lexusgs]

Here's another one of them spouting about something he clearly does n't understand. I'm surprised he can remember his lines

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/8942673/Rick-Perry-launches-attack-on-Barack-Obama-over-gay-rights-and-religion.html

[Guest fountainhall]

I see that only two candidates now will be debating. I wonder if in fact it will go ahead. If so, then I can see Trump using the opportunity to push his own positions as blatantly as usual, given that he has not ruled out entering the race in due course.