So What About that Pre-Florida Republican Debate?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Instead of rehashing the whole January 26 Republican debate, I think it would be easier for me to post here all my Tweets from my live tweet of the debate. Some were fun, some serious and at the end I pass my judgment of how well the participants did. Below you’ll see my tweets, some with comments in parenthesis to put the tweet in context.

  • Aaaand here we go…

Opening Statements

  • I hear that Mitt Romney’s Super PAC said that Newt attacked the National Anthem in Reagan’s era!
  • (Rick says his mother lives in Florida) Uh oh, Rick’s Mommy is a carpetbagging snowbird. Now I cannot vote for him!
  • I’m Ron Paul… now GET OFFA MY LAWN YOU KIDS.
  • CNN’s first question:”Mr. Santorum, if you were a tree, what sort of tree would you be you racist creep?” OK, jess joking

Immigration Questions

  • (On the immigration ad about Romney) Didn’t Newt have that ad axed? Now he’s supporting it? Odd.
  • (Mitt’s Solution)It’s a little late to just “follow the law,” Mitt. We’ve already made a mess of that.
  • Mitt: “Our problem isn’t 11 million grandmothers.” Applause. That was a good one, Mitt!
  • (Questions back and forth between Newt and Mitt for quite some time) I think Santorum and Paul are now in the green room having a snack. Its the Mitt Newtny show!
  • (CNN goes to the Hispanic conference for a question) CNN gives Hispanics their own debate watching room? El separata but equalo?
  • Paul: “Cuba should be our buddies!” To heck with worrying over gulags and political prisoners. So last century, right Ronnie?
  • Does Ron Paul realize that supporting Castro in Miami is probably a bad political move?

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So What About that Pre-Florida Republican Debate?”


We Need Less Partisanship? Bah, We Need MORE of it!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last weekend I attended a townhall meeting held by my congressman. During the question and answer period one theme came to the fore that is all too common in America today. That theme was that we need less “partisanship” in Washington D.C., there is too much choosing of sides, too much party politics. Blah, blah, blah. Cry me a river.

What tosh. We don’t need less partisanship in our politics, we need more of it. At least the more honest kind, the kind based on real principles.

One thing was clear from those whining about partisanship, too. They were all the left-wingers in the audience guided there by MoveOn.org’s email blasts. Now the reason the lefties were piteously whining like this is because this particular congressman is one of the more conservative members of the House. (I am not naming him because this is not his opinion and I don’t want anyone to associate this op ed with him) So, their ideas were the ones on the losing end of this congressman’s votes, to be sure.

Of course, if this congressman were to be like most Illinois congressmen — a lefty — these lefty audience members would not be whining about partisanship at all. They’d be happy as clams with a left-winger’s votes and would find the whining about partisanship quixotic.
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We Need Less Partisanship? Bah, We Need MORE of it!”


Stupid Things People Say

-By Warner Todd Huston

Dennis Prager is fond of saying he’ll take clarity over agreement any day and that is a good phrase to keep in mind when you open your big mouth to join the debate. In keeping with the quest for intelligent dialog, here is a list of ten things that I think we should all stop saying because it makes those who indulge in them look, well, stupid.

1). “That’s just your opinion.”

Really? What else would it be? Who goes around blurting out everyone else’s opinion but never their own, anyway? Don’t say this because being captain obvious doesn’t make you look any smarter than the person you’re castigating for having an opinion with which you do not agree. Also, do not immediately reject things just because you think it is “an opinion” because at some point you are stating that nothing can be known or true and everything is “just an opinion.” This sort of sloppy thinking leads to reducing everything to a lie and, well, if that’s true, what’s the point of having a debate at all?
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Stupid Things People Say”