Political junkies looking for an excuse to avoid organizing their sock drawers will be gathered ’round the tellies and laptops this evening to watch the latest GOP presidential debate. You can watch it on MSNBC or streaming on Politico. Festivities kick off at 7:00 pm CST though there’s sure to be pre-game coverage beforehand.
Tonight’s debate will feature 8 candidates and because of the Crowd’s remarkable connections, we can give you access to the last-minute advice each one is receiving from their handlers and debate coaches about what needs to be achieved, what needs to be avoided and how to get there. Let’s listen in:
Michele Bachmann: “…what we really need tonight, Congresswoman, is for you to show that you’re still relevant to this race. Yes, we’ve lost all the momentum we had coming out of Ames. Yes, we’ve lost our campaign manager and our #2 manager this weekend. Yes, there’s a danger every time you open your mouth, but your job this evening is to own the stage like you did at the New Hampshire debate in June (boy, doesn’t that seem like a long time ago?). We’re trying like hell to get the moderators to ask you a ‘gotcha’ question about Marcus or the counseling or the farm so you can do the moral outrage thing again, but we can’t count on it. Ignore everyone except Romney and Perry and attack them whenever possible: Romney’s a flipflopper, Perry’s governed Texas for 11 years by selling it off bit by bit to his buddies. Steal Palin’s ‘crony capitalism’ line if you see the opening to use it. Hit Obama as often as possible – it might be time to bring back ‘gangster government.’ And, please, please, please…try not to knock us off-message with a ‘freelance’ answer; if it isn’t in the briefing book, please don’t say it. Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. After all, he’s from Iowa like you!”
Herman Cain: “Herman, just go out and enjoy yourself tonight. Our best guess is that this might be the last debate you’re invited to; your polling numbers are down there with Gary Johnson. Because of that, the moderators are probably not going to give you a lot of openings so you’re going to have to jump in whenever you have a chance. You’re articulate, you’re good on your feet, so just roll with it. Who knows, we might get a “this is my microphone Mr. Green” moment that will keep us alive another month or two. Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. You were both on the radio!”
Newt Gingrich: “Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what to tell you to do. I mean, just a month ago I was a volunteer in your campaign’s New Hampshire office and now I’m your campaign manager so I’m a little over my head here. I guess you could talk about your ideas…you always have really cool sounding ideas…and maybe quote some Greek philosopher… that always sounds good. Does your wife have any advice? Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. After all, he was out of office for as long as you before he won the presidency!”
Jon Huntsman: “Governor, we really see this as your first appearance on the national stage. Our polling tells us that a good percentage of likely Republican voters have forgotten you’re running for president. Even worse, among those who do they don’t like you much because you’re seen as too moderate or are out of the consideration set because you worked for the Great Satan (Obama). Tonight, you’re going to have really show a little leg in the sense of showing the base you can hate Obama and what he’s done to our country as much as the craziest, most jingoistic candidate out there. You know who we’re talking about. We need you to be aggressive and energetic – here take a couple of these…no, they’re perfectly legal (somewhere) – and to work as many of these words – “failure,” “bankrupt,” “traitor,” “un-American,” “disaster” – into your responses as possible. Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. After all, he was a governor just like you!
Ron Paul: “Congressman, we’ve seeded the audience with as many supporters as we could get into the building – our guys have been standing on line for two weeks to get seats in the hall – so you can count on applause every time you open your mouth. Hell, they’ll cheer if you break wind! Just keep doing what you’ve been doing at every debate – tell the truth that we’re bankrupt as a country, that drugs should be legalized, that we should pull every troop back to the U.S. border, that the Fed ought to be eliminated and the gold standard readopted – and it’ll be great. You can’t count on the moderators giving you equal time – remember how they ignored us after Ames – but let’s all remember that we’re really setting you up for the 2020 race. Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. After all, for years people thought he was an extremist just like you!
Rick Perry: “Governor, I know you don’t like debate formats so I know you’re not looking forward to tonight. And, you can expect that everyone will be gunning for you. Even so, our goals for tonight are easy: no mistakes, no gaffes, no scary language. Keep your answers short, serious and to the point. We’re lapping the other candidates in the polls among likely GOP voters so this approach will also help us with another long-term goal; persuading moderates and independents you’re a viable choice. Work the brush fires into a couple of responses – how brave the people of Texas are, how resilient they are, how much they represent the best of America, something like that – but remember – as hard as it is to believe – not everyone loves Texas. We’re also trying to position you as the outsider who can go to Washington and fix what’s wrong there, but this is a fine line to walk; the more we talk about that, the more we remind people of George Bush. Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. After all, he used to wear cowboy boots just like you!”
Mitt Romney: “OK, let’s all get on the same page here: the ‘running as the defacto nominee’ strategy is no longer working. As page 17 of the Powerpoint clearly indicates, GOP voters are still ‘unenthused’ about the Governor as the Republican nominee. Accordingly, if you’ll flip to page 27, we’ve set ought a 5-point plan for tonight’s debate: 1) be less scripted; 2) make more use of pre-screened one-liners to convey spontaneity; 3) include at least two key messages from focus group testing in each answer; 4) smile between 1.5 and 3 times per answer depending on content; 5) attack Governor Perry as unelectable, dangerous and clone of George W. Bush. Oh, and claim that you’re the one true heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. After all, he ran for president twice just like you!”
Rick Santorum: “Honey, you know the kids and I are behind you 100 percent. We love being with you in the RV, we love all the Motel 6s we’ve stayed at when we could afford them and – if it were up to us – you’d be the nominee in a walk. After tonight, though, maybe we could take a couple of days off? See Disneyland? Take the tour here? Then we can claim you’re just like Ronald Reagan. You could get a pin from the gift shop.”
For those looking for something to do between the guffawing and sputtering, let’s do this: let’s count how many times each candidate says “Reagan” and let’s put our bets down about how many minutes will pass before someone invokes Nancy Reagan as an American heroine. I’m guessing 12 minutes in and it will be Perry.
– Austin
The Same Rowdy Crowd 