Tuesday’s #GOPdebate is LIVE at 9 PM EST on CNN.com

The main event of Tuesday's #GOPdebate starts at 9:00 pm on CNN.com.

Ignore the hype and spin of CNN-- 

So what time does Tuesday’s Republican debate start? CNN doesn’t seem to want you to know. - The Washington Post: "On CNN.com, a weekend news story bore the headline, “What time is the #GOPDebate? And everything else you need to know.” This allegedly helpful explainer article told readers that “CNN’s coverage of the first debate will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET and coverage of the second debate will start at 8:30 p.m. ET.” It even mentioned that “CNN will also offer a live stream of the debate on CNN.com’s homepage and across mobile platforms from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.”... The main event with leading candidates including Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson starts at 9 p.m. [EST]"

#gopdebate Tweets

Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, Trolling

"How Ted Cruz Trolls Obama's Foreign Policy," by The Daily Beast's Eli Lake: "One way to understand Ted Cruz's foreign policy, particularly if you are a Democrat, is through the prism of the social media phenomenon known as trolling. The best trolls are provocateurs. Their language is meant to expose a fallacy or weakness in the opponent's position as opposed to offering a constructive alternative. ... [But despite] the barbs and the major differences between Cruz and Obama, the two politicians both agree that America should be out of the nation-building business. ... Ted Cruz is an American exceptionalist who is wary of [trying to remake] remaking the world in America's exceptional image." via Politico (my edit and emphasis)

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What were Ted Cruz and the Tea Party Thinking?

I like Ted Cruz, I really do, and I think he and his wife are truly impressive.  But I don't get, and never will, what the heck he and his compatriots in the House were trying to do with the shutdown over Obamacare (and I said so at the time), but I see Ted is now trying to justify the stance he took--

Unabashed Cruz in Iowa defends self on ObamaCare fight, against GOP establishment | Fox News: ""One of the things we accomplished in the fight over ObamaCare is we elevated the national debate over what a disaster, what a train wreck, how much ObamaCare is hurting millions of Americans across this country," Cruz said at the Iowa GOP's annual fundraising dinner in Des Moines. “Senate Republicans didn't stand together. Had we stuck together, the outcome might be very different. The House does now, but I'm confident that the U.S. senate will in time listen to the American people.”"

Problem is, Ted and his House compatriots were trying to stop a train wreck that was, and is, to their political advantage to let happen, and was going to happen anyway (they had no hope of either stopping or delaying it at the time). Obamacare, a term I prefer over "Affordable Care Act" since the program is far from "affordable" for most Americans and is an unmitigated disaster on controlling health care costs, is a slow-moving train wreck that will hang most Democrats come November, 2014. So Ted, for now, just shut up. I don't think even you have any idea how bad this thing is going to be--let it come to full fruition. Hold your fire, you don't need to tell anyone how bad Obamacare will be, and how the Democrats really stuck it to most Americans with this Obamamess. When the time is right, they will know, they won't need to be told.

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Why Are Ted Cruz and Tea Party Republicans Trying to "Save" Obamacare?

I try to spend as little time as possible on dysfunctional Washington these days, but I caught enough about Ted Cruz and the Tea Party Congressman trying to defund or delay Obamacare to wonder: "Why do they want to save Obamacare?" The fact that Obamacare is, in the words of one Democrat, "a slow moving train wreck" is, in my opinion, beyond dispute: 11 Pieces of Obamacare Conventional Wisdom That Shouldn’t Be So Conventional - Bloomberg; and
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoodman/2013/09/25/obamacares-insurance-exchanges-will-foster-a-race-to-the-healthcare-bottom/

So why try to "save" it by delaying or "defunding" it temporarily? Just let the train wreck happen. Then fix it or repeal it. Until Obamacare goes into effect and proves it is a disaster, alienating Union members and other Democrat Party constituents, you will never get a bill through Congress fixing it or repealing it.

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Ted Cruz: US Is Not 'Al-Qaeda's Air Force'

Ted Cruz: US Is Not 'Al-Qaeda's Air Force': "On Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz distilled the current debate over possible military action in Syria to its essential dilemma. While Syrian President Bashar Assad is certainly a ruthless dictator, the forces aligned against him are dominated by jihadis and elements of terrorist organizations. Cruz noted that Americans didn't enlist in the military to "serve as Al-Qaeda's Air Force.""

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