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My Live Tweets of the August Fox GOP Debate

-By Warner Todd Huston

I usually live Tweet many events like this at my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/#!/warnerthuston. The Fox GOP debate is no exception.

As to the debate, who won and who lost?

I’d say Tim Pawlenty ended his run last night. His bickering with Michele Bachmann rattled him and made him look a bit silly. Tim lost but so did Rick Santorum who kept attacking Ron Paul for some crazy reason. Rick seemed like the queen of rage last night, not Bachmann.

As to Bachmann, she did not damage herself in the room, but a few of the things she said about Pawlenty’s past positions were a bit of a misrepresentation. Still, she could think on her feet and seemed in command of herself whereas Pawlenty was getting mad.

Ron Paul… well, Paul has no chance whatsoever. He does not appeal to two thirds of the GOP voters. He is good with those interested in economics, but he fails with security Republicans and social issues voters. So, he is pointless to even bother talking about. He can never win the nomination.

Herman Cain did not hurt himself and stays even, I think.

Newt Gingrich really made a great showing here. Newt was in immediate command of the facts, answered the questions spot on, and gave the viewers the best angle by attacking the media (a media most Republicans hate). It is too bad that Newt’s campaign is in such disarray that he cannot capitalize on this showing. He made himself look very good here, but it won’t matter.

Jon Huntsman was mostly feckless in the debate. His main answer to every question was, “Gosh, guys, really AM a Republican… really, really I am!” Huntsman is going nowhere.

Romney seemed strong here. He answered well and made no stumbles. He did not damage his brand as front runner, such as it is.

So, big winners in substance: Newt and Bachmann. No damage: Cain and Romney. Losers: all the rest, especially Pawlenty.

Finally, as I watched Twitter, many were saying that the biggest winner was Rick Perry who was smart enough to stay out of the debate. Maybe. But I won’t make that move since he wasn’t there. It is too easy to say he won by not being there and ignores all that happened there.

Anyway, here are my live tweets from the debate:

• Welcome to my Live Tweets of the Ames GOP debate.
• Ron Paul says cut the military. THIS is why he can never be the GOP nominee.
• Good reply by TPaw… where is Obama’s plans? “I’ll cook you dinner or mow your lawn if you can find his plans.”
• Bachmann hits TPaw on cap and trade, “era of small gov’t is over,” and health insurance! Ouch!
• Bachmann: TPaw “sounds more like Obama to me.”
• I think Bachmann’s quoting TPay on the “small gov’t” thing is a misquote, isn’t it?
• TPaw hits Bachmann on her history of “misstating” things.
• Minnesota “nice” not much!
• Minnesota Mash!
• Yes, she IS sounding like the Queen of rage, there!
• Let’s hope the commercials are nicer! LOL
• Newt: to Chris Wallace “I wish you’d laid off the gotcha questions.” Ha, good one. Newt comes out swingin’
• OK, Huntsman what about same sex unions and cap and trade??
• What about cap and trade, Huntsman? No answer.
• How do you assure people you know enough to be pres Mr. Cain? A long asked question, really.
• Cain has a tendency to get mad. Let’s see if he can hold his temper here.
• Huntsman: “We can secure border and I won’t talk of anything else until I’ve done it.” But what about citizenship? He dodges
• Hunstman’s every answer so far has been “Hey, I really, really AM a Republican!”
• Cain: “America’s got ta learn to take a joke.” We can. We hired Joe Biden for VP! We all took that joke.
• Newt: “Move the ICE bureaucracy to Texas to clean up the border.”
• Ron Paul: “We need to get out” of the Middle East to fix our own southern border?? The guy is an isolationist.
• I am feeling too sober in the Paul-says-the-fed drinking game.
• By the way, Ron Paul, are U saying that immigrants should never vote and always be 2nd class citizens?
• Man is Twitter moving at lightening speed.
• Say, TPaw, do we have to raise taxes? “No.”
• TPaw- “I regret the raising the tax on ciggies.”
• So TPaw regrets cap and trade, regrets ciggie tax raising… he sure regrets a lot of stuff.
• Say, Bachmann, you voted for the Minnesota tax raise on ciggies, too!
• Bachmann, “I voted for pro-life policy in that bill.”
• Minnesota Mash again.
• Minnesota Mash: TPaw: Bachmann is a liar… Bachmann: TPaw is not really a conservative.
• TPaw getting that tight face! He’s getting peeved.
• Welcome to the Ames Minnesota GOP debate.
• Remember Rich Suntarim… er, Suntoram… who was he again?
• Santorum: “I would NOT negotiate on raising taxes.”
• Newt: “The super committee is the dumbest idea I’ve ever seen. It’s irrational.”
• Newt: “Do away with it. Get rid of this secret, phony business.”
• Wallace with another gotcha question. Saaaay what about “Obamneycare”?
• I this Chris Wallace or Chris Matthews?
• TPaw smacking Romney for appointing liberal judges.
• Mitt: “I think I like Tim’s answer last time better.” Good laugh line.
• Romney “I’ll give an Obamacare waiver to every state.”
• Romney is now claiming that govt CAN force people to buy something! Baaaad answer.
• Bachmann: “Govt is without authority to force a citizen to buy a product against their will.” Good answer.
• Bachmann: “I won’t rest until we elect more senators that agree with me.” Wow. When did a prez start electing senators??
• Paul: “We need a market-based delivery of healthcare.” Good answer.
• Santorum: “Our country is based on moral laws.” Hmmm. This is not a good answer for a debate format. It takes BIG explaining.
• Cain not getting much air time tonight.
• Bachmann went potty I guess (during break she wasn’t there when the cameras came back on)
• Missed what Paul said. Anybody?
• TAKE A SHOT, Paul said “the Fed”!
• Bachmann: “I like Sarah!”
• Huntsman smacks Perry’s faith, but does Perry’s folks wear super special, secret underwear??
• TPaw: Praising the troops, dodging the question. We need a wind down in Afghanistan using slower drawdown.
• Romney: “Time for the Afghans to keep their freedom for themselves.” Says 2 years drawdown right if Afghan’s take own security
• TPaw: “Obama sticks his thumb in Israel’s eye.”
• Say, Ron Paul, why are you high on allowing other nations to nuclearize?
• Ron Paul simpleton: “Reagan talked to the Soviets, why can’t Iran have nukes?”
• Paul: “We didn’t go to war against the Soviets” Um, ever heard of the Cold War, Paul???
• Santorum slamming Paul hard!
• Shorter Ron Paul: “America sucks and we should mind our own business.”
• Cain: “We need to become a player in energy to put a squeeze on Iran.”
• Santorum Mad at Fox, TPawmad at Bachmann, Bachmann mad at TPaw, Newt mad at gotchas, Ron Paul just plain MAD.
• @DavidLimbaugh is right that Fox should get props from the left bor this GOP bloodbath!
• Next Chris Wallace question: “So when did you all stop beating your spouse?”
• Paul the peace and love candidate. Did he want to join Kookcinich’s Dept. of Peace?
• Ron Paul the madman of peace…. I want peace DAMMIT YOU MORONS.
• Newt about to get mad at another gotcha…3,2 1
• Newt just called the venona files the verona files. Oops.
• I think a Cain drinking game is “let me be clear.”
• Byon getting boooed heavily for that stupid question.
• Bachmann answers that well.
• Romney: “Marriage should be decided at federal level.” Full faith and credit answer.
• @ByronYork gets award for most idiotic and insulting question. Congrats.
• Hunstman: “Byron I’m really, really a Republican. No really. I really am. Oh, and I support civil unions.”
• Ron Paul: “Feds should be out of marriage.” No license, no nothing. So, what about Soc. Sec. benefits, Mr. Paul?
• Santorum is wasting too much time on Ron Paul who is an after thought if that in this race.
• Huntsman: “I’m proud of my record, I’m running on my record, I am a broken record.”
• Cain: “We didn’t need to raise the debt ceiling.”
• Cain: on repatriating corp. cash “So what? It’s THEIR money!” Yep.
• Newt taking over Ron Paul’s “the fed” drinking game.
• Santorum smacking Ron Paul again. WHY is he wasting this time??
• Yeah, why does everyone say “The Tea Party” like it was one thing and not thousands of different groups??
• As I’ve seen we have yet to say a word about entitlement reform, here. And what actual programs and departments would we cut?
• I almost started tweeting the commercials.
• gosh where are the “boxers or briefs” questions? CNN wasted half the last debate on THAT idiocy, remember?
• Cain: “Fed govt should be out of the business of the education of our children.”
• Santorum: “As you can tell the media isn’t paying attention to us, but we are paying attention to Iowa.”
• Cain: “Send a business problem solver to Washington DC!”
• Ron Paul: “Get off my lawn you kids. And audit the fed while yer at it.”
• Rick Perry might have something to say about that Michele.
• Cain actually stayed looking credible. Huntsman, not so much. TPaw beat up by a woman. Romney no damage. Paul finished.
• Newt still looked in command f facts, but his campaign is no where. Santorum looked whiny, kept attacking the wrong candidate.
• lots of dukeing it out tonight, though. Much more raucous than last time. TPaw lost his battle tonight. He is done.

And there you have it. My reactions during the GOP debate.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

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