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Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich tried to evoke the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate in an attempt to put substance before politics, laying out approaches to governance, rather than simply offering soundbites.  From what little I watched, it seemed a mostly self-congratulatory evening with the two candidates trading compliments more than barbs, and making every attempt to appeal to their Tea Party audience.  A far cry from the debates Lincoln and Douglas staged for an Illinois Senate seat in 1858, where the two had profoundly different views on slavery, with Lincoln setting the stage for his eventual presidential run in 1860.

Sadly, it seems history is moot these days.  Candidates often evoke the past without any real knowledge of the events they allude to.  This is especially true of this event, which was really nothing more than a high-priced fundraiser ($200 a ticket) featuring two of the GOP presidential candidates.

Comments

  1. pro boxer Mike Tyson as Cain:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usNhDwc7azg

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  2. Seems Newt came out the better of the two in this debate. Campaign Hermanator is spinning out of control with this latest "oops" moment on Libya,

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/15/herman-cain-libya-gaffe?newsfeed=true

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  3. Video was "removed by user" so I missed it.

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  4. Here's one from HuffPost,

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/herman-cain-libya-question_n_1093425.html

    assuming this is the video you are referring to marti.

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  5. Now there's the Rombo ad, which literally puts words in Obama's mouth. Get ready for a very nasty, ugly and exceedingly duplicitous campaign ahead. These GOP candidates will stoop to the lowest level in their assaults on Obama.

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  6. Hermanitor quit the campaign.

    Too bad - I was hoping for a CAIN-COULTER campaign to promote society's interests in advancing wholesome Republican moral principles and values.

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  7. Now the rest of the motley crew jostles for his supporters,

    http://news.yahoo.com/gop-rivals-hope-court-cain-supporters-192130112.html

    There was something phony about Cain's rise that makes me wonder if he had any real supporters. Seems this year's GOP race is being orchestrated by Fox News.

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  8. If only we could blame this on Fox News, but I don't think we can. About half of the voters in this country are brain dead.

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  9. I have actually watched most of the republican debates and can honestly report that half the Republican nominees are brain dead. The thought that we might actually have one of these candidates as our president is terrifying.

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  10. At least we no longer have to consider the terrifying option of Herman Cain. I expect Newt's bubble to burst soon as well.

    I say Fox because most of these candidates were on the Fox payroll before the election. It seems that Roger Ailes is orchestrating this "reality show" to some degree, but I would have to think he is none too happy with the results so far. If the aim was to find someone other than Romney, he isn't left with anything at this point if the best man he can put forward is Newt Gingrich.

    The way the polls have jumped up and down has really been something. As far as I know, Newt has virtually no ground forces in Iowa, or NH or SC for that matter, and is relying almost entirely on media attention to keep his campaign rolling.

    He's in for a big shock in Iowa, as you have to have ground forces to get voters to the caucuses, something Hillary learned the hard way in 2008. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Bachmann pull the rug out from under Newt in Iowa, where she has invested a lot of time, money and energy and has the ground forces to mobilize voters. Plus, the religious right she appeals to is much more likely to go to the caucuses than the neocons who Newt appeals to.

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  11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKnHJ7gz4uk&feature=g-feat

    Cain: thanks for the memories ~ hilarious!

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  12. Funny to read Romney is having no part of the Trump-hosted debate,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=59PXiVYBrQg

    but Newt is warming up to the creep like the mother frog. Newt has run his entire campaign on free television appearances.

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  13. Looks like someone has been "Newtered,"

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/gingrich-met-yasser-arafat-150943604.html

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  14. Newt has such a questionable background that if he does run that wicked past is going to be brought out and he'll be toast.

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  15. Even the CONservative news rag "National Review" says no to Newt:

    http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/285787/winnowing-field-editors

    ''We fear that to nominate former Speaker Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner in the polls, would be to blow this opportunity ... Gingrich himself has never run for a statewide office, let alone a national one, and has not run for anything since 1998. That year he was kicked out by his colleagues, the most conservative ones especially, who had lost confidence in him. During his time as Speaker, he was one of the most unpopular figures in public life.''

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  16. It is amazing how Gingrich surged in the Republican polls, but he is already fading. Seems Ron Paul has caught up to him in Iowa and the Arafat photo should be the final nail in his political coffin.

    I don't think he ran to win, but to make some kind of statement. What it is, I'm not exactly sure.

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  17. What it is, I'm not exactly sure:

    Buy my books and movies.

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  18. Herman Cain: ''God told me to run for the White House''

    Rick Perry: ''God told me to run for the White House''

    Michelle Bachmann: ''God told me to run for the White House''

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  19. George Bush: God told me to invade and occupy Iraq.

    I'm sure God spoke to Mitt as well.

    Seems like the Republicans hear voices, not a healthy sign for someone responsible for leading a nation.

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  20. God also said to beware of false prophets ; )

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  21. Speaking of false prophets:

    http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/god-tells-robertson-radical-obama-will-bring-down-america

    I think the problem with America right now is clear. We are influenced by a bunch of real crazy people, and for some even crazier reason a lot of them get elected to office.

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  22. It is really amazing how the media so freely gives these yahoos airspace to shoot around one absurd notion after another. It seems the political process has become a reality show with virtually anyone able to run for office and literally everyone, no matter how insane, offering an opinion. There seems to be no vetting process among Republicans.

    Here they are seriously considering Santorum, who has to be the most absurd storiy yet in this cracy political campaign. If Trump, Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich weren't bad enough, this guy has virtually no ethics, not to mention personality, and here he shoots to the top of the polls because the religious right wing can't stomach a Morman as their nominee.

    The racism, sexism and bigotry in the Republican party hasn't been this palpable since the Civil Rights and Equal Rights Movements. They literally want to take the US back to before 1964, which Santorum has openly said.

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