FIRST & FINAL Thoughts On the Week That Was…Part II
A few thoughts on the 5pm Tier II debate held on Thursday before the main event; Jeb Bush folds like a cheap tent on defunding Planned Parenthood; and Megyn Kelly reigniting the phony “war on women” narrative.
FIRST Carly Fiorina: She was the clear winner among the seven candidates who debated during the so-called “undercard”. She was confident, well-prepared, and a little snarky. She answered the first question about being low in the polls by saying that Ronald Reagan “couldn’t win” if polls mattered 15 months before the election. She once again took on Hillary Clinton (of all the GOP candidates, she is the most vocal critic of the former First Lady). Ms. Fiorina gave a great answer to the “knew-it-was-coming” Donald Trump question by asking the other candidates on stage if any of them had received a call from President Bill Clinton before declaring their candidacies. This was in reference to the story that came out this week that the former 42nd president called the business mogul and suggested he should enter the 2016 race as a Republican and tap into the “GOP anger”. Many have speculated that Clinton is trying to have Mr. Trump disrupt the GOP side to make it easier for his wife. Overall, a great start for the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and we fully expect Ms. Fiorina to move into the top 10 in future post-debate polls.
UPDATE: This was brought to our attention yesterday evening. Carly Fiorina blamed the 2013 government shutdown on Ted Cruz and said she felt sorry for Speaker John Boehner during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN back in October of 2013, just after it started. Republican primary voters are conservative. Being on the side of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Reince Preibus and a whole host of moderate establishment types is not going to improve your chances of winning. Stay tuned.
Bobby Jindal: The Louisiana governor performed quite well. He rebutted the opening question to him about his unpopularity in his own state quite nicely by saying he ran for office to make big changes and offer leadership, not to kiss babies and cut ribbons. He spoke well, was prepared, and offered actions that he will do as president such as defund Planned Parenthood. His best line of the night:
“Planned Parenthood had better hope Hillary Clinton wins this election because I guarantee you that under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice, and the IRS and everybody else we can send from the federal government will be going into Planned Parenthood….”
We like Gov. Jindal a lot.
Rick Perry: Ronald Reagan or Ronald “Raven”??? During the debate, Mr. Perry was talking about immigration and the Simpson-Mazzoli legislation that Reagan signed into law granting amnesty to 3 million illegals. Many have speculated that Perry says “to when Ronald Raven signed…”. You decide.
Who wants our next president to be a fighter? A leader who won’t back down to either the Russians and Vladimir Putin, or the Chinese? How about someone who will confront the dangers of Islamist terrorism nationally and globally?
We certainly do.
And yet, Jeb Bush folded like a cheap tent when Hillary Clinton criticized the former Florida governor after he spoke to the Southern Baptist Forum on Tuesday and said he wants to defund Planned Parenthood.
Two hours after the former First Lady’s criticism, Mr. Bush clarified his comments by releasing a statement saying he “misspoke” and that community centers like PP are integral to providing healthcare to many low-income women.
When politicians “misspeak”, it shows such little backbone. Sure, everyone is entitled to make a mistake when the mouth is quicker than the brain. But what Mr. Bush illustrated on Tuesday was weakness.
So herein is another problem that we have with Jeb Bush. He goes on record and says that Planned Parenthood should be defunded. It is the singular current issue that has rallied the conservative base and that could, could help give conservatives a reason to warm to the idea of a Jeb Bush presidency should he win the nomination. So what does he do after some social media heat comes his way? He cowers and backtracks.
Is that how he would lead us against terrorism? Against the political opposition?
Our analysis of Jeb Bush’s candidacy concluded that there is no way that we would support him during the primary season (still true) and that we would have a hard time supporting him next fall should he be the nominee, even if we want Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders as far from the White House as possible. After this latest weak show of leadership, we still stand by that analysis.
No Bush.
Final Fox News’ Megyn Kelly has really disappointed us.
First, we learned in a recent Variety magazine article of her liberal social views and praise for Hillary Clinton.
Then, Ms. Kelly moderates the first primetime GOP debate of the presidential cycle and right off the bat asks Donald Trump about his “war on women” over some tweets and other comments he has made in the past. Mr. Trump, annoyed, proceeded to say that he doesn’t have time for political correctness and that if she didn’t like it, that’s too bad.
It was clear to us that Fox News received its marching orders from either the establishment of the Republican Party to take out Trump or from corporate headquarters to use his celebrity for record ratings. We say both.
Despite what many critics of the Fox News Channel say about it being a right wing news organization (love how the left accuses Fox of something that they are blind to when it comes to their own networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, etc. etc.??), Fox News, in our opinion, tilts slightly to the right and is in bed with the establishment.
Donald Trump wasn’t the only candidate on stage to get blasted from Megyn Kelly. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was asked by the moderator if he would really let women die in order to save an unborn baby. The look on her face was of utter disgust. Despite asking a question not based in fact as Live Action News points out, Megyn Kelly is playing destructive politics.
We don’t mind moderators asking tough questions. But if Fox News can’t seem to moderate a fair debate focusing on substance and issues that truly matter to the vast majority of Americans like jobs, national security, and immigration, then conservatives will have more and more trouble getting their message out to the voters. But as we all know well, before there was a Fox News Channel, conservative talk radio, or a host of great conservative websites too numerous to list, there was “The Great Communicator”, Ronald Reagan, who led a movement that still exists today. It can be done again with the right values, principles, and the ability to articulate them.
Though Megyn Kelly’s show The Kelly File is highly rated, we would be curious to see know many of the three million viewers who tune in each night actually know her values and beliefs. As conservatives, we stopped watching. If we need to know what progressives think or watch conservatives be asked “gotcha” questions, we will tune into MSNBC, CBS, NBC etc.
