{"id":82347,"date":"2015-12-15T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=82347"},"modified":"2015-12-16T16:25:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T00:25:49","slug":"republican-debate-open-thread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=82347","title":{"rendered":"Republican Debate Open Thread"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comments to Steve Sailer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

* There are no rattlesnake bites up in Nome, Alaska because they don\u2019t have rattlesnakes up there. Stop importing Muslims into the US and you reduce the need for surveillance, after all, it\u2019s not Sven from Minnesota who is conducting jihad.<\/p>\n

Every sacred principle must be abandoned in order to keep the Rube Goldberg invention of multiculturalism semi-functional.<\/p>\n

* People shape culture. As the Muslim proportion of the US population grows, there will be more Muslim influence on American culture. So far, at least, Muslims immigrating to the US have been of higher SES than those migrating to Europe, and even with this benefit, we already have erosion of civil rights in order to accommodate Muslim interests and the threats arising from Muslim presence, so if the future influence is to be the same, better or worse, I can\u2019t see up tapping future immigrants who are better than present, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s plausible that we can even maintain the same caliber of immigrants because most of what we\u2019ve been seeing of late have been refugees, not Muslim engineering professors, so the composition of the Muslim community is going to be diluted with low human capital immigrants and we\u2019re going to follow the European model of disaffected 2nd generation kids who turn to more radical Islam because they\u2019re not integrating to success in the US.<\/p>\n

Who needs that future when it can be aborted right now and thus this leaves us to deal with the more manageable problem of existing Muslim-Americans, and keep in mind that it is because of this population that there are calls for increasing the scope of the Surveillance State.<\/p>\n

* I am struck by the fact that Trump has set the terms of the debate. Even when Trump is being attacked, it\u2019s for being too strong on immigration\/terrorism\/Islam.<\/p>\n

* Trump has said that all the interventions and meddling have been wrongheaded, wrong, should\u2019ve invested those trillions in the USA.<\/p>\n

* Rence Priebus (RNC Chair) warmed up the crowd with a spiel full of transparent swipes at Trump.<\/p>\n

* Trump wants to keep Muslims out of America.<\/p>\n

Christie\/Fiorina\/Kasich\/Jeb\/Cruz\/Rubio wants to provoke WWIII with Russia.<\/p>\n

Which one of these two positions is scarier?<\/p>\n

* I\u2019m finding Rubio\u2019s hyper energetic speaking style increasingly grating, especially as he keeps interlarding his speech with pre-fab boilerplate. I liked that he got his ass kicked on his Gang of Eight participation.<\/p>\n

Carly is also grating. Sounds like the spinster headmistress of a private girls\u2019 academy hectoring an assembly of senior girls on how standards have been slipping.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad Rand Paul is still in the debates because I agree with a lot of what he says about our foreign policy. The crazy war-talk from most of the others is alarming.<\/p>\n

Kasich sounds like a crazy old coot, so it\u2019s funny he acts like he\u2019s the only reasonable person on stage.<\/p>\n

Jeb is pathetic. He keeps mentioning that Trump gets his foreign policy views \u201cfrom the shows.\u201d Why doesn\u2019t Trump remind the audience that Jeb gets his foreign policy views from Paul Wolfowitz.<\/p>\n

I think Ben Carson is campaigning for Surgeon General. I\u2019m okay with that. Do we have a Surgeon General at the moment? Don\u2019t recall hearing of one.<\/p>\n

* Immigration Grade from NumbersUSA:
\nTrump: A-
\nPaul: C-
\nBush: C-
\nRubio: D<\/p>\n

* Several of the middling lights have done their homework. Carson\u2019s compares middle east policy to an emergency on an airplane \u2013 \u201csecure your own mask before helping your neighbor. Well, we need to take care of our own people before we solve everyone else\u2019s problems.\u201d Sounds kinda hokey, but it will stick in people\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n

Rand Paul sticks it to Marco Rubio on refugees (can\u2019t recall the exact words, but Rubio looks nervous and stammers a bit).<\/p>\n

Rand Paul and Donald Trump are both doing well trashing the money and lives we\u2019re wasting in the M.E., all of which have achieved nothing. Both get applause when they talk about the problems in the M.E. being intractable and our country wasting time and money trying to referee it.<\/p>\n

Christie sounds like the pig-faced idiot he is when he talks about \u201cpunchin\u2019 ole Russia in da nose!\u201d but his willingness to say \u201cno refugees at all\u201d is a worthwhile moment. His NJ governor background has apparently led to a weird combination of sensible response to massive immigration by radicalized foreigners, combined with aggressive, moronic dick-swinging when it comes to international relations. Invade the world without the invite the world (or course, he couldn\u2019t pull that off, even if it were desirable).<\/p>\n

* Vanity things not done in 1965:<\/p>\n

Hair coloring (this got its start in the 1940\u2032s but looked bad with the early formulations, got much better right around the early 1960\u2032s and has since improved by leaps & bounds). Tanning salons; topical tanning lotions. Botox. Electrolysis, laser hair removal. Collagen injections. Human growth hormone. Cosmetics for men \u2013 not including stage makeup. Face lifts (& artifices that induce temporary face lift) and lots of other cosmetic surgical procedures. Vastly improved cosmetic dentistry.<\/p>\n

But hair coloring is Number One \u2013 it\u2019s why almost all women \u201cof a certain age\u201d no longer look like women \u201cof a certain age\u201d looked in 1965; and today increasing numbers of men also use hair coloring and have hair transplants or wear well-fitted \u201chair replacement technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course there\u2019s also genes: if you think candidates today aren\u2019t picked, at least in some significant part, because their genes gave them telegenic good looks, then perhaps you might think again. There\u2019s an abundance of data showing that good looking people are more popular, more successful, earn more, advance faster to better positions, have greater life-satisfaction, and other advantages and opportunities over other than good-looking people.<\/p>\n

* Rubio appears to be a not very bright. He has been coached to memorize a variety of \u201cconservative\u201d republican-pleasing catchphrases. He strings these catchphrases together as circumstances warrant, reciting with a flat monotone. He then pauses with a pleased half smile on his face as if waiting to be praised for being a good boy who\u2019s memorized his lesson well.<\/p>\n

After his election in 2010 he was riding high as the tea party fox news favorite and then sold out for a few sheckels to shill for Zuckerberg\u2019s amnesty PAC.<\/p>\n

* Wealthy people age better due to less stress, better medical care and better nutrition. By stress I mean not only physical stress caused by hard manual labor and also lack of sleep and rest, but also psychological stress caused by financial worries, living in bad housing conditions in gritty neighborhoods and long commutes to work.<\/p>\n

Being poor takes a toll on you. Rich people look different, much healthier and more relaxed.<\/p>\n

* A wealthy friend of mine told me that money can\u2019t buy happiness, but it can make you less nervous.<\/p>\n

* Trump needs to convert enthusiasm to actual votes in the primary and the general and it\u2019s an open question as to how deeply his supporters are engaged with the political system.<\/p>\n

Is Trump interested in mastering the minutia of policy? Open question and the answer will affect his electability.<\/p>\n

How committed is he to the policies he espouses? Talking tough in general is different from talking tough in specifics and from implementing the tough talk as tough policy which will be carried out. The principal reason he\u2019s garnering support is for his tough policies but he\u2019s reluctant to be specific and if he backtracks in the specifics, then his support would decline.<\/p>\n

What seems to be happening is a battle over direction. Establishment favors set policies and new policies designed to bring in minority voters (at the expense of white voters) and Trump\u2019s policies seem to bring in white voters from (at the expense of immigrants) and rely on a different set of policies. If Trump is true to his statements, then 8 years from now the Republicans could be a reoriented party. There is a lot of inertia working against that type of transformation and this pits a large base of voter interest against a small base of establishment interest. Even if Trump wins he needs to tap into the Republican networks to staff positions all through the Executive and if they all work against his vision, reform dies on the vine.<\/p>\n

* Have you noticed the Establishment\u2019s increasing vehemence in denouncing and vilifying Trump, as Trump\u2019s numbers continue to climb? Because the Establishment is scared sh_tless that Donald Trump has an excellent change of being elected by the fed-up-with-the-Establishment American people.<\/p>\n

* Trump might be the only one to go on the attack with Hillary and win. Rubio will get hit over the head with \u201crepublicans are racist\u201d, he\u2019ll backtrack and lose the republican base. Trump will go for the throat and drive her unlikeability ratings up helping to erode her base. It\u2019s a long shot but she\u2019s susceptible there.<\/p>\n

* At some point Trump needs to pull a version of the Rocky switcheroo (Rocky went from boxing southpaw to righthanded) and Trump needs to suddenly come out as a policy dork to show that he gets all myriad minutia of policy at the federal and international level. He didn\u2019t come out looking good on the Nuclear Triad question.<\/p>\n

* Trump has the demeanor to destroy Hillary and unlike McCain pulling his punches against Obama because McCain didn\u2019t want to be perceived as a racist, for Trump this would be a do or die opportunity and he\u2019s not going to want to lose.<\/p>\n

* The Trump technique, \u201cYou know, I like Hillary. She\u2019s a nice person. A very nice person. But let\u2019s face it, as secretary of state she was a disaster. Probably the worst secretary of state in our history. And honestly, that face, that voice\u2013do we want to look at that for the next four years? Do we want to listen to that? I don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Trump works because he says what ordinary people think they\u2019d say if they were running for president. That\u2019s part of why they like him. Not knowing what the \u201cnuclear triad\u201d is doesn\u2019t degrade him in their eyes\u2014they don\u2019t know what it is either, so who cares?<\/p>\n

* I think Trump has a very good chance of getting the Republican nomination, and anyone who represents either of the two parties has a realistic chance of becoming President.<\/p>\n

If you look at past elections, even in a blowout like Reagan v. Mondale, Mondale still got 40% of the vote. Just by winning the nomination, Trump will have a built-in 40-45% of the vote. Then we\u2019re just a terrorist attack or economic bubble away from President Trump.<\/p>\n

* I think Dubya\u2019s secret is that he is an extremely charismatic, confident alpha male.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t think this when he was president. I never thought he was much of a speaker. I thought his eyes were too close together to be very good looking or charismatic. In fact, I don\u2019t think this quality was very evident when he was president (or when he was on tv as president).<\/p>\n

But I recently saw a picture of him when he was younger (35?). He was extremely charismatic, confident, and dominant. It reminded me of James Caan, or Warren Beatty, guys like them.<\/p>\n

In the picture, Bush looked like a smug, rich jerk. But he had the extra quality of being one of those guys who, in spite of your not liking him, you wish he would invite you to his yacht party.<\/p>\n

Every social group (from junior high school on up) has that kind of guy. He isn\u2019t necessarily rich (though Bush was). He isn\u2019t necessarily a great athlete. And he isn\u2019t necessarily the best looking. But he\u2019s got some ineffable quality where you hope he likes you.<\/p>\n

* I think Trump\u2019s Muslim ban stuff is overkill, but why does Jeb say we need Muslim immigration for us to work with Muslim nations?<\/p>\n

Trump never said ban diplomats and heads of state.<\/p>\n

And besides, most of communication is done electronically.<\/p>\n

China doesn\u2019t allow Muslim immigration, but it does trade and diplomacy with the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Israel doesn\u2019t allow Muslim immigration but has close ties with Saudis and Turkey and Egypt.<\/p>\n

Besides, it\u2019s the Muslim allies of the US that did most to aid and abet ISIS: Saudis and Turks. And ISIS got so much US weaponry.<\/p>\n

Prior to 65 immigration law, US banned most immigration, but it worked with China in the war against Japan in WWII.<\/p>\n

Why do we need to allow immigration from a nation to work diplomatically with it?<\/p>\n

It makes no sense.<\/p>\n

Nixon met with Mao when two nations didn\u2019t trade people.<\/p>\n

If anything, relations are worse now even though so many people go back and forth.<\/p>\n

* I am listening to ATC on NPR, and they have a segment in which two reporters are analyzing last night\u2019s Republican debate. One reporter referred to Trump\u2019s proposal to build \u201cthe most beautiful wall in the world\u201d to keep out Mexican and other illegal migrants from crossing our southern border and dismissed Trump\u2019s proposal as being unnecessary in light of the fact that statistics show that Mexicans have actually been returning to Mexico in recent years. I believe Mitt Romney referred to such behavior as \u201cself deportation\u201d during the 2012 Presidential campaign and was mocked endlessly by the MSM for his \u201cfrivolous\u201d proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comments to Steve Sailer: * There are no rattlesnake bites up in Nome, Alaska because they don\u2019t have rattlesnakes up there. Stop importing Muslims into the US and you reduce the need for surveillance, after all, it\u2019s not Sven from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islam"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82347"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82453,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82347\/revisions\/82453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}