Tearing Out My Eyeballs: Or, Watching the Latest Republican Debate

Okay, I’m a glutton for punishment.

I like watching the Republican debates probably more than I like watching the Democratic debates. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s also in line with my tendency to listen to conservative talk radio when I’m driving. Call me open minded; or a student of Sun Zu :

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will win a hundred times in a hundred battles.If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you win one and lose the next.If you do not know yourself or your enemy, you will always lose.

Anyway, good lord, these things are amusing.

Other than the more obvious GOP buffoonery, I think the best part was during the Hannity & Colmes recap in which the online poll showed Ron Paul as the run away winner. Hannity just about exploded. There’s not any video of it on YouTube yet; maybe someone can post it when it becomes available. They also had Republican pollster and all around douche-bag Frank Luntz working with a focus group of Republican voters, and in an effort to take attention away from Paul, he asked the group who thought the Congressman had “won the debate” (as though anyone really wins these god damn things – also, let’s stop calling them debates, because they aren’t) and, predictably, nobody raised their hands. They were mostly Giuliani types, which is typical given the Fox pro-Giuliani bias (at least, that how it seems to me anyway).

I think it’s funny that the GOP establishment is in so much denial over the relative strength of the Ron Paul campaign. It is my sincere hope that he wins the nomination, since he’s pretty easy pickings when the national race comes around, and it would teach those god damn war mongers a lesson; its about time the libertarian wing of the Republican party wake up and realize that the party establishment cares less for them than they do David Kuo and the Religious Right.

Did anyone else happen to catch any of the debate? Favorite moments?