Damn, thanks for taking one for the team!

But have seen many on-line clips this morning and read blurbs in the NY Times and Washington Post. Trump was not the main topic of conversation and that alone is an indicator that he's falling off.

Most people tune in to watch the freak show, but the "Chief Freak," Trump, was dormant for the most part. The very angry people with pitchforks and torches were no doubt disappointed in him and will probably start looking for someone who can whip them into a frenzy.

Perhaps they'll go to Cruz who lives to spread viciousness and hatred.

I watched two of them and that was enough.

memorize some shit that sounds like he knows what he's talking about?
Why do you think that is? Surely, surely there is someone advising him that says "Ok, Donald, sit down for 1 hr and I will teach you all the ins and outs about Syria" Like they did for Palin (ha. tried to do)

Why is this? He says no? Others think he's better off sticking with big picture? It really shows in a debate setting - his lack of depth. He's an educated, successful man - why doesn't he get this? And if says no, I don't want to learn, doesn't that make him extremely intellectually lazy?

Wharton at the U. of Pennsylvania. He majored in business, mostly real estate. That kind of education can help you get very, very rich, but it teaches zero about world affairs, history, philosphy, or anything that would provide a comprehensive world view.

In short, Trump studied to be exactly what he is and nothing more. However, his vanity and aggressive nature, make him believe that he's more than capable of handling all that world "stuff" with no problem at all. Much of it is just details that his flunkies can handle.

We've seen the total moron, George W., occupy the oval office and the result was that his "flunkies," Cheney and Rumsfeld, "handled the details." That didn't work out to well.

he notices that the others can talk on a deeper level about issues than he. But - he does nothing to deepen his knowledge. He must be telling others "no need" to educate myself - I am on top without it?? Would love to be a fly on the wall to understand this strategy.

Trump is driven by the most mammoth ego in the world. His narcissism is unmatched which puts him in a league with Idi Amin, Mohammar Qaddafi, and Bill O'Reilly.

But Trump is also a huckster/carnival barker and knows how to market snake oil. And there's a snake oil buyer born every minute. (Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are proof that people will eat any bowl of crap that's served up. Imagine either of them with actual power over other human beings.)

He just wants the attention from running for President.

And he's already mentioned he would stop his campaign if his numbers in the polls start dropping.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5611856fe4b07681270265d5

"I'm not a masochist," the entertainer and Republican presidential candidate said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And if I was dropping in the polls, where I saw that I wasn't gonna win, why would I continue?"

[Snip]

"I believe in polls," he said. "How many elections do you see where the polls were wrong? Not that many."

He's preparing his exit strategy. He likes the attention, but he just doesn't want to work that hard.

The candidates are Rubio, Kasich, and, yes, Bush.

My money's on a chaotic start to the GOP primaries, with Kasich pulling a big win on Super Tuesday after a strong second in New Hampshire and some additional momentum in South Carolina.

... until the "also rans" start to drop out in bigger numbers. His 25% of the base is pretty rock solid. As long as he's competing against 10-12 other candidates, he's going to stay near the top just because of the math.

They care about his positions.

If debating skills mattered, Ted Cruz would be the far and away frontrunner. Thank God he's not.

... anytime soon. Cruz is a mystery to me. He almost seems to be trying to straddle the traditionalists and tea party factions, and coming off milky in the process. But he does have debating skills better than the rest. I'll give him that.

People who have a strong interest in politics already know who they're going to vote for and "confirmation bias" tells them that this person won, regardless of how well they performed.

People who don't have much interest at all in politics aren't watching the debates.

... But you might be surprised at how many republicans ARE paying attention already. I have a lot of republican friends (I live in the South), and most of them are tuned in. I think it's a "we have to beat Hillary" motivated interest, but it's there. Most are undecided or flip/flopping with the flavor of the week. No Trumpers, though. They are looking at Bush, Rubio and Kasich - with a couple of Christies and Cruzs on the side.

herding the dogs back into the house, and I heard some Republican say 'If I really believed that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help the American people, I'd be for it.' (slight paraphrase, I didn't write this comment immediately.)

The 'best' way? You're only going to support 'the best way'? What's wrong with simply supporting a minimum wage hike because it WILL help poor folks, even if it's not 'the best way', whatever the heck you think that is? Go ahead and do it, even while you're still working on 'the best way'.

People toss around that 'good being the enemy of the perfect' line all the time, but here's one of the few places I think it's really applicable. If it's not 'the best way' to help people, Republican candidates say they won't support it.

... you consider that it's just an excuse for not doing it. They're not looking to help - only to justify/rationalize their refusal to do so.

which really irritated me...

This was in the very first segment of the debate, where minimum wage was the topic. Trump said that wages in America were too high, and that's why we can't compete with the rest of the world. He really all but stated directly that we have to be in a race to the bottom with every other country paying slave wages.

Given that his base is primarily angry white blue-collar workers, I don't see any way in which this helped him.

There are people living on welfare and the minimum wage who support The Donald. Underneath it all, many of them feel like they kinda deserve to live in poverty.

being in bad economic shape and how it would be damaged further economically and would fall behind competitors...

He actually showed a bit of regret, while the others just talked numbers...

workforce to their desks and put up suicide prevention nets..

He wants us to work like that too.

I think you might be relying too heavily on the assumption that his supporters are capable of recognizing the nuances indicating "toastiness" that you highlight here. One can only expect so much when dealing with dim bulbs.

and he just didn't throw them very much last night. Those Trump backers are like vampires that must be fed their daily diet of red blood.

Ted Cruz, on the other hand, throws tons of red meat out there on a full time basis. It's part of why he's the most hated man in congress. (The other 99 senators would pay a lot to see him undergo "enhanced interrogation" at Gitmo.) Not only because of the "red meat," but because he does everything possible to piss off his "colleagues."

And when Trump exits, as he soon will, Cruz is well-positioned to pick up the "angry-hater" voters.

red meat is a reflexive prompt, that's all it takes.

If they turn on him, he is toast. They have pushed him and Carson constantly up to this point. They hate Jeb and Rubio.

Ted Cruz is bugshit crazy and as such, he has always been the fallback guy for the haters.

Cruz went to Princeton and then Harvard Law School. The fact that you can graduate from both, and turn into Attila the Hun, is proof that education cannot cure religious fundamentalism, or a total lack of conscience, empathy and humanity.

Have a debate audience who boo n hiss and Mrs. Fiorina had to keep talking over Trump to try to shut him up. She was rude and very un presidential like only a Bagger can be.

I think that behavior will only piss off Trump more and make him less likely to Quit.

it'd be nice, but it ain't happ'nin anytime soon