The livestream is here, but my PC is (very sensibly) refusing to load the Faux News player…
Richard Adams’ Guardian liveblog is here:
8.30pm: Welcome to the GOP presidential debate, brought to you by Fox News and the good people of Sioux City, Iowa – the final slugfest between, well, a pack of slugs.
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The Iowa caucuses is on 3 January and between then and now this is it: the last chance to impress voters nationwide.
Have at it, y’all…
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9.16pm: Asked why he is so rubbish, Rick Perry claims that like star quarterback Tim Tebow – actually not a very good quarterback but he somehow still wins games – he can be better than he looks. “I hope I am the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses,” says Perry. Perry will be lucky to be the Forrest Gump of the Iowa caucuses.
Paging Mr. Tbogg, Mr. Tbogg to the red courtesy phone….
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Roger Simon @politicoroger
I met Saul Alinsky. I interviewed Saul Alinsky. And Saul Alinsky would not have considered Obama a radical. #iowadebate
15 Dec 119.22pm: If you had “Saul Alinsky radical” in tonight’s debate drinking game, then chug, because Newt just dropped that.
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If you don’t know who Saul Alinsky is, join the 99% of the American population who are with you.
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9:35pm: Asked about taking bucketloads of cash from mortgage facilitator Freddie Mac, Gingrich somehow claims that he was “a private citizen” when he did so, and that doesn’t count. Also, he then goes into a weird self-defence, claiming that he loves people buying houses. So he was just trying to help. By banking cheques for $1.6m.
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And yet, not so long ago, Newt Gingrich wanted to shut down Fannie and Freddie. But now it turns out they are just brilliant.
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WIN:
141. David – December 15, 2011 | 9:55 pm · Link
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“I’ve been having affairs since Obama was in high school!” ~Newt
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10.07pm: We’re onto Iran and the nuclear weapons. The question in essence: why, Ron Paul, will you not bomb these dangerous fanatics? “It’s war propaganda going on,” says Ron Paul. “The greatest danger is that we’ll have a president who will over-react.”
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For bonus points he also called Iraq “that useless war”.
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Moderator Bret Baier says Ron Paul would be running to the left of Barack Obama on this matter. “What did we do on Libya? We talked them out of their nuclear weapon and then we killed him,” says Paul. Hmm.
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Paul appears to be running for President of Iran. Which is a novel tactic in a Republican presidential campaign.
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Original Wonkette may have the best summary of the debate (& it ain’t over yet!)
Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox
I want us all to mark this moment when crazy met nuts and crazy won. #iowadebate
15 Dec 11
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Facepalm:
10.26pm: Our correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg is at the debate venue in Sioux City, Iowa, and she sends this analysis of the debate so far:
… Perry has spent a little bit too much time staring slack-jawed into the camera to dispel the impression that he does not have the intellect to be president. But he did get applause for his idea for a part-time Congress, working just 140 days every two years…
Because running THA WORLD’S GREATEST COUNTRY IN HISTORY EVER PRAISE JEEBUS should be a part-time job. Hey, it works for Wal-Mart!
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WINNER of tonight’s debate: President Obama.
LOSERS: Everyone who paid any attention, including those of us here at BJ, each & every one of the candidates, and I strongly suspect Faux News, because while all the participants ladled out a sufficiency of Crazy, there were no “meme-making” moments to enliven two hours of squirming tedium…