I've never seen nor heard of a presidential election with such dramatically influential debates. We are talking about debates causing 15-30 point swings in this GOP race in mere days. Certainly there were the Lincoln/Douglas debates, but that was a bit of a different situation in that it was the general election and the topic was a significant issue with stark contrast. The current situation is the primaries, and the differences between the candidates are few and minor. Romney had SC in the bag before two horrible debates. Then after SC Newt immediately saw the Romney 22-point FL lead vanish and he was on top by 8 points. One poor debate performance later for Newt and he is now behind 8-points again in FL. Who's gonna jump after tonight's debate. Whomever it is, that is who will win FL.
These endless "debates" are well past the point of providing any new information on policy or character. The radical shifts in poll numbers are nothing more than visceral responses subject to extreme recency bias. You have to wonder whether these poll respondents are on medication.
Actually I disagree. And I'll even take a shot here at the republicans. There is an old saying, if you ask a man who is lying the same question enough times, sooner or later, his story will change. I think we are seeing that now. These guys are getting asked the same questions in slightly different ways week after week, and their story is changing. This is really interesting because going forward, the public is going to demand more debates, or maybe more accurately, the media. I just wish we had more debates in the general. I think they are only scheduling 3 plus the one for VP's.
I actually think that a big factor in this is desperation in the GOP. Not the candidates, but the voters. They are desperate for something different next fall. This desperation is causing an extreme amount of second guessing. If any candidate even appears weak at all, he is discarded in favor of another. If that candidate has a weak moment, then he is discarded. A couple months ago the field was large so they could cycle through potential nominees and the swings weren't quite as dramatic. Now that the field has narrowed, any shifting is going to be significant as the voters battle within themselves. Complete desperation.
And we still know nothing if the specifics of how any of them will actually boost the economy. Specifics being the operative word. Yeah, yeah we hear the same o same o, we'll cut taxes, de-regulate, get government out of the way. Whatever! The elite media is evil. Yeah, yeah, we all know that. So what have these debates really shown us? Romney? Nice enough guy with a barrel of inherited wealth. Spreads it around more charitably than most. Kudo's for that. Can't seem to take a stand on any one issue. In other words, we've learned nothing new. Newt? He's not afraid to call a spade a spade, wink, wink. Hypocrite on moral and economic issues. Talks up Reagan-ism, but actually wasn't at all for Reagan when Reagan was in office. Basically another piece of shit professional politician. In other words, we've learned nothing new. Santorum? Daddy rapes daughter...sorry kid, you're having a baby. Will be singing Onward Christian Soldiers as he launches the nukes. In other words, we've learned nothing new. Ron Paul? Un-electable. Has a lot of good ideas that will never be implemented due to a corrupt and incompetent congress. In other words, we've learned nothing new. Not to leave the current administration out. Watching the State of the Union we can rest assured our president has no real plan either, so it's more of the same. And after watching Bubble Ben's performance yesterday we know there's still plenty of ink left for the printing presses, so if you're a professional trader, make your living on Wall Street/Financial Industry...you'll do just fine, better than fine. Nothing to sweat, you're covered. Everyone else? Well, not so much. What to do? Keep flipping physical silver. Easy money! Carry on!
Inherited? Please provide evidence to back up that claim. Everything that I've ever found suggests that beyond an education, he didn't inherit anything from his parents.