So, as a reminder: the debate is tomorrow.

Thursday at 9 PM Eastern on Fox News, to be precise.  …Annnnnd the pregame festivities should be mighty interesting. If you had asked me this afternoon I would have said that Donald Trump would be returning to the debate, but the man seems bound and determined to see if Fox News is bluffing.  …I don’t think that Fox News is bluffing. CNN might have folded; they need the ratings boost more than Fox does. The Big Three networks wouldn’t have, because they dwarf the cable news networks anyway.

Be interesting to see where that goes. However, it’ll be more interesting to see a debate where I can expect to have uninterrupted policy discussions for a change.  I plan to enjoy this, in fact. Savor it.

 

Nah, I’m skipping the Democratic debate.

Somebody else volunteered to watch the dang thing, so I’m off of the hook. …And isn’t that just kind of telling, huh? Because nobody’s saying Gee, I wonder if I can foist off watching the next Republican debate onto somebody else.  Nope: 11 million watched the last Republican debate, which is around double the number of viewers that were watching at the same point in the 2008 and 2012 cycles.  Let’s face it: the GOP is simply intrinsically more interesting than the Democrats are right now.

This, by the way, worries Democrats.  Not all of them, of course; just the ones who can do elections at an arm’s length.  The hardcore progressive ideologues haven’t a clue about the mess they’re in, it seems…

Reminder: Democratic debate tomorrow.

The thing that people should look for – note: ‘people;’ I have no earthly reason to watch that debate, and have no intention to – is whether Bernie Sanders is ready to actually start going after Hillary Clinton and keep going after her.  I do not expect that he will. I expect that Bernie Sanders doesn’t have the nerve to give Hillary Clinton the good, solid push needed to topple her from the top of the Democratic hill, and we’ll be given more proof of that tomorrow.

Mind you, I win either way.

Gonna live-tweet the debate tonight, as usual.

Probably won’t write it up formally, because everybody else will and these things are mostly good for keeping people focused on the upcoming caucuses and primaries. But the consensus among the Right-sphere seems to be; expect a brawl tonight. My RedState boss and buddy Leon Wolf went into some of the reasons why here; I think that he’s onto something, particularly when you take into account that there’s only going to be seven people on that stage.  I would prefer five, but seven should help clarify stuff.

Moe Lane

PS: Don’t expect anybody to self-destruct tonight.  Ain’t gonna happen at this point.

Oh, new debate tomorrow!

Completely forgot about it, what with all the festivities lately. Bush, Carson, Christie, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, and Trump. Yup, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Rand Paul have been cut from the list and will be joining Rick Santorum in the undercard debate, and again: I feel that the undercard debate has had its day. Live streaming of the main event at 9 PM Thursday on the Fox Business Network; no word if metal chairs and improvised clubs will be strewn on the stage.

Yes, I’m being facetious.  But if there’s ever going to be a brawl at one of these things, it’s going to be tomorrow. The only person on that stage tomorrow that doesn’t have a grudge match going is Ben Carson, and I just assume that Carson doesn’t have one because he never raises his voice…

OK, I’m crashing.

Had to watch the forty hour debate, and I’m ready to sack out. Fast take: Donald Trump was incoherent and on at least one point (our aging nuclear arsenal) downright alarming, and will probably get punished for it by going up five points in the polls. Meanwhile, the hidden assumption on pretty much everybody’s part apparently is that the nomination fight will ultimately be between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.  You could see it in the way that they framed the debate tonight; and I’ll worry about how that particular paradox gets resolved later.  All in all, pretty good debate… for the first one hundred and ninety-five hours. It dragged a little in the second half, though.

Reminder: GOP Debate tonight.

It will probably be – almost certainly be – heavy on national security. Particularly terrorism, now that Islamist jihadists feel comfortable with committing atrocities on American soil. I also expect that two, maybe three candidates will end up saying things that will sabotage their campaigns tonight – and no, I’m not going to say which ones.

Debate’s 8:30 PM tonight, on CNN.  I’ll be watching it, because the Republic requires my sacrifice. …Gee. Thanks, Republic.