From the cartoonist:
I watched the first Republican debate in a bar with some friends. First time, and probably the last, I have ever asked anyone to switch the channel to Fox News. I watched the second debate at my drawing table with an Italian sub from Wawa.
My thoughts on the debate:
It kicked off to an exciting start when toadie moderator Brett Baier asked the candidates to pledge not to run a third party campaign. Donald Trump refused to take that oath. Trump promised to support the party nominee if it’s Trump.
Trump was Trump. He got upset with a question and went off on moderator Megyn Kelly during the debate and after on Twitter. He was a real cry baby. In other parts of the debate he didn’t back down from anyone. Of course he didn’t make much sense and didn’t offer any specifics except that he’s rich, successful and popular.
Rand Paul’s campaign is dying. He tried to make a name for himself by attacking Trump and Chris Christie. He even criticized Christie for hugging Obama. I don’t think the crowd liked Christie’s response, but I thought he burned Paul pretty well with saying “he remembers the hugs from victims of 9/11.”
Jeb Bush didn’t hurt himself. He didn’t help himself either. Neither did Scott Walker who reminded everyone that he rides a Harley.
John Kasich was on home turf, and he wasn’t booed by the GOP crowd by saying he went to a gay marriage and would still love one of his daughters if she was gay. For Republicans, that’s progress.
Rubio came off pretty polished and will probably siphon off support from Bush.
Ted Cruz came off as a saner Trump, which is like coming off as a less rattier rat. He still looks and comes off creepy in a very Uncle Fester kind of way.
Mike Huckabee said the military is for killing people and breaking things. That’s something Rush Limbaugh used to say. I don’t know what bothers me more. A presidential candidate stealing material from Rush Limbaugh or the fact I know Rush Limbaugh said that.
I think Ben Carson had the best joke and came off as the most likable. He stated that everyone mentions things that only they’ve done out of the candidates so he’d do the same. He mentioned being the only one to separate Siamese twins, operating on a fetus and removing half a brain. Then he said looking at Washington you’d think someone had beat him to removing half a brain.
They all talked about immigration, Iran, abortion, Hillary, and Obama. There was no mention of climate change or voting rights.
Personally, I like the styles of Carson, Rubio and Christie. Yeah, I like Christie. He used to be a moderate, and I think he comes off more human than most, though he’s a horrible governor.
In the earlier debate (the Kid Table Debate), the media and social media is praising Carly Fiorina. That’s what low expectations gets ya’. Her winning that debate is like winning the NIT championship. Maybe she’ll move into the top ten now.
Not all the questions were softball questions, but most came off from a partisan stance, as though the moderators worked for the GOP. Kelly did a good job at times. The Jesus question at the end was stupid, and after halfway through the candidates, they added another question to that question which I thought was amateurish.
The next debate will be hosted by CNN. I don’t know the format yet, but I’ll be checking in on that later today.
http://claytoonz.com/2015/08/07/tough-question/
About Clay Jones:
Clay Jones was often sent to the principal’s office as a child for making fun of his classmates. He discovered at a young age that he had a knack for poking fun at the flaws of others, and he decided later to make it a career. He went from drawing simple Crayola caricatures of his friends to full-sized comic books by the time he was in high school.
His sharp satire first earned him freelance work at The Panolian in Batesville, Miss., where he eventually became their editorial cartoonist. Jones spent the next seven years in Mississippi working for The Panolian, the Daily Leader in Brookhaven, and soon self-syndicated his work across the nation from Jackson. He was lured away from the state by a position with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1997 but returned to work for the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in 1998, where he worked and produced a daily blog until 2012 (where he continues to freelance).
