The sound & fury of the GOP debate: A candidate-by-candidate breakdown of its weirdest & most idiotic moments
Last night I poured myself a generous cocktail and watched the Fox News debate. It was, as expected, an orgy of stupidity. Almost nothing of substance was said by any of the candidates. The whole spectacle was a cringe-inducing snapshot of American politics today.
Everyone involved in the broadcast was complicit in the idiocy. The moderators set the tone with their inane questions and refusal to demand intelligible answers. As best I could tell, their job was to smile and nod affirmatively. (Except when it came to Donald Trump.) The candidates offered no policies, no plans, no ideas – only platitudes and awkwardly delivered snipes. The audience did their part, too. Every fatuous remark was applauded rapturously and without thought. No one, it seems, was bothered by the non-answers. Perhaps the most depressing part was the makeup of the crowd, which was about as diverse as a U2 concert. The shimmering sea of whiteness was, if nothing else, a reminder of what diversity looks like in the Republican Party.
At any rate, if you were fortunate enough to miss the debate, here are my takeaways for each candidate. No attempt was made to organize or make sense of these observations. They were recorded in real time and are as incoherent as the sources.
