Yesterday's Republican Presidential Debates on Fox News

Yesterday all seventeen major Republican candidates for president faced off in two debates.  The ten making the "cut" were onstage at 9 PM on Fox News, while the other seven held their pee wee debate earlier at 5.  The idea of having such debates this early in the campaign season makes little sense...until you realize what may be the main force driving it: big money campaign donors.  And why not, with no restrictions on political contributions anymore after the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision a few years ago, equated spending with protected "free speech".  If you happen to be a politically active tycoon, you are going to wait until the field of candidates gets whittled down to the point where the more viable candidates who represent your interests are left...no point in figuratively flushing your money down the proverbial toilet, after all...

This morning the folks on Fox News were all giddy about their debates, and discussed who did well and who didn't.  The consensus view seems to be that Marco Rubio came across better in the prime time debate while Carly Fiorina stood out in the other.  As for the others, somebody said that Jeb Bush seemed to struggle a bit with his answers while another regarded Rand Paul as looking too "sour".  As for me, I find this spectacle to be a bit on the hilarious side...both the debate and the analysis.  Not only is it way too early in the campaign to hold debates like this, but with our cyber-technology in 2015 anyone can get access to information about the candidates just by punching in a search on their computer or cellphone.  Not that they would, mind you...most folks are terribly apathetic about politics, even when we're talking about the presidential race.  After all, when 40% of registered voters sit out a tight presidential election, the idea of trying to lure their interest fifteen months before the next one with debates between seventeen contenders approaches the ludicrous...unless, as I already pointed out, you're someone looking for a promising candidate to fund with your fatcat money...