Anarchy in the GOP Presidential Debate Version

We looked at this after the implosion of Kevin McCarthy's candidacy for Speaker.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/10/has-modern-gop-reached-limits-of.html?showComment=1444441587728#c1460648126903104314

Then there has been this entire GOP primary where according to a poll released by Survey Monkey last Friday two candidates with zero experience in government-Carson and Trump-have almost 60% of the primary vote.

This was my argument to Tom Brown in our usual comments discussion.

" I wonder how the Democrats could use this kerfuffle over the GOP debates to their advantage... I think they should somehow make fun of them for this."

"Paint their desire to avoid "gotcha questions" as a desire to avoid questions they don't want to answer."

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/11/mitch-mcconnell-is-unusually-functional.html?showComment=1446469135225#c5588455619011621135

He did have a real good idea where Hillary can joke when someone asks her a question that this is a gotcha question and she's not going to answer it.

But overall, I don't think Dems have to do too much. The GOP by now has made it clear how self-immolating it really is. Why fight it?

The Dems don't need to do anything that will put attention on them rather than the clown car that is the GOP.

An opponent as nihilistic and self-destructive as the GOP is the best opponent of all: they do all the work themselves. Why even bother laying a glove on them?

However, this leads us to the latest GOP anarchy. Anarchy is the result of purism, ironically. Unity requires compromise and the agreement to agree rather than disagree.

But the GOP is splitting apart as there is no ability for anyone to look out for the big picture best interests of the party.

Reince Priebus is the latest GOP institutional leader to end up on the cross hairs.

Josh Marshall has a great analogy for Priebus as the new Boehner.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-reince-the-new-boehner

As Slate says, the GOP is now highjacking it's own debate process:

"The GOP’s Presidential Contenders Are Hijacking Their Own Debates"

"The Republican Party has lost control of its own primary. Expect chaos."

"In a Godfather-esque gathering of rival political concerns, representatives of the Republican presidential campaigns gathered in an Alexandria, Virginia Hilton on Sunday evening to draw up a list of conditions for their participation in future presidential debates. The campaigns still are all het up about the completely unfair questioning that business-Republican network CNBC subjected them to last week, such as, Marco Rubio, your tax plan is really good for the wealthy, no? or, Ben Carson, why were you in bed with this snake-oil company for so many years? If the moderators had asked fair questions, see, the candidates wouldn’t have been forced to lie. What’s so complicated about that?

"The campaigns and their consiglieres put together a list of demands to which future debate hosts must agree to ensure the candidates’ participation. The finalized version, as obtained by the Washington Post, is hilarious in its granularity. Not oncebut twice does the document inveigh against “lightening [sic] rounds,” which must be banned “because of their frivolousness or ‘gotcha’ nature, or in some cases both.” The letter also implores networks to agree not to “ask the candidates to raise their hands to answer a question,” “allow candidate-to-candidate questioning,” “allow props or pledges by the candidates,” “show an empty podium after a break (describe how far away the bathrooms are),” or “leaves microphones on after breaks.” What about allowing hot mics in the distant bathrooms? There’s no clear rule on that, though it would certainly violate the spirit of the letter."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/11/republican_presidential_candidates_issue_debate_demands_to_networks_reince.html

By the way, Kasich couldn't have fallen more flat in his attempt to call out Trump and Carson for their 'ridiculous' ideas.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/10/kasich-comes-in-frisky-but-trump-tars.html

Trump really did rip him apart with a couple of words: Fracking and Lehman Brothers. But more fundamentally this is the whole trouble with those who just focus on how crazy Trump and Ben Carson's proposals are.

Trump's plan calls for $9 trillion dollars in tax cuts that won't blow up the deficit. Jeb Calls for $4 trillion dollars in tax cuts that won't' explode the deficit.

Kasich's plan is very similar.

http://www.taxjusticeblog.org/archive/2015/10/although_he_left_out_key_detai.php#.Vjfk9rerTC0

All the GOPer tax plans are budget busting creative supply side fiction. Kasich simply is calling the kettle black.

Yet we're supposed to be shocked by Trump's plan but not Kasich?