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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Ashland Calendar, Thursday, Aug. 13 ... Our View: Just some oily dirt ... Ticket availability ... Ashland Calendar, Thursday, Aug. 13 ... Our View: Just some oily dirt ... Ticket availability ... LOCAL TAKE What did you make of the Republican debate? Comment By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Aug. 10, 2015 at 8:51 PM Updated Aug 10, 2015 at 8:53 PM By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Aug. 10, 2015 at 8:51 PM Updated Aug 10, 2015 at 8:53 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Should boulevard median use artificial turf? • Local Take: How are you coping with all the smoke? • Is BSA right to allow gay scout leaders? » Social News The 2016 Presidential race got its big kickoff Thursday with Fox New’s Republican debate between the top-10 polling candidates, with a “happy hour” of the remaining seven before that.  No one can say America didn’t get a head start on this quadrennial engorging of the body politic, which now will proceed for the next 15 months, as bit-by-bit, the candidates are tested in endless primaries, with the less dazzling hopefuls dropping out week by week — or perhaps hoping for the vice-presidential slot on the ticket.  The debate, amazingly, got more viewers than any presidential debate in history, with potlucks and parties thrown around it in Ashland. Some even played debate bingo, scratching out squares such as “John McCain is a war hero” (designed to scathe Donald Trump, who bashed him) and “I haven’t finished” and “revoke Obamacare” as well as “on my first day in the White House.”  Candidates stood in a rank across the stage, uniformly dressed in presidential dark suits, half with red ties (courage, strength) and half with blue ties (wisdom, patience). In the middle of them was the top-polling candidate of the moment, financier Donald Trump, who has never worked a day in elective office, but is well-known for possessing more wealth than Croesus and therefore, being free to speak the truth, if there is such a thing on the national stage.  Notable by their absence were women. It was all guys and Fox anchor Megyn Kelly called them that: Guys. The debate did begin the relentless process of tossing the chaff into the wind, leaving the hard kernels of wheat for viewers to examine more closely. The buffoons and hot air bag labels were quickly and relentlessly applied by the chattering class and the average person. Most candidates marched to the tune of the Tea Party, while one, that Kasich fellow from Ohio, ventured into Republican quicksand, saying he just went to a same-sex wedding.  We asked Ashlanders, a huge percentage of whom boasted no TV and no interest in politics, what was their takeaway from the debate — does it all start too soon and, especially, what they thought of Trump.  Chuck Rhine — It was so like watching a carnival of the absurd. It was like a surreal novel of insanity, a train of clowns. When there’s so much of that insanity, you begin to wonder what is real and what is not real. You do reality checks on yourself. You don’t wonder about your own sanity because it’s so patently absurd. You want to critique everyone but to critique, you have to have something intelligent to work with. A buffoon like Trump might have a morsel of intelligence, but it’s backed up with such premises that you can’t work with.  David Winston — Yes, of course it all starts too early and costs so much money, all wasted on big egos with such shallow messages, while the rest of us struggle day-to-day to make ends meet. Trump is an entertaining bumpkin, much too volatile to be president. They’re all so damn slick and smooth and it’s hard to know what’s true and not true, but my guess is it’s all BS.  Jeff Golden — It starts way too soon. We have way too much total information and not much relevant information. The Brits do this in a few months. Our system is a gold mine for the media. Trump challenges us to try and make sociopathic behavior acceptable. He says he’s being candid by increasing his wealth by buying candidates and doing bankruptcy. People say it’s wrong and he says "get over it" ... For him to praise the hateful remarks he’s made about women as somehow refreshing candor, do we buy that? What I saw did not address what I care about: the environment, atmosphere, disappearance of the middle class, the difficulties of people just trying to survive. They didn’t seem to be on a planet where that’s happening. There was a lot of chest-puffing about who could carry the biggest stick in the Mideast ... and calling people sissies because military force backfired. That seems pretty foolish. I saw no reflection on how we dug ourselves into this hole in the Mideast. Rubio was the smoothest communicator. He has a lot of parallels to Obama. He knocked 'em over with a certain kind of articulate, energetic behavior. We’re going to hear about him for a long time. I hope, in this election, people pay attention to what people say, rather than how they say it. The format was like a horse race instead of about issues. This takes us further from what an election should be: what we want this country to be.  Teresa Safay — It was absolutely ridiculous. We elect a president for four years and only two years in, they have to campaign for the next election. It should be limited to six months. Trump is a joke and might be a plant from the Democratic party. He is candid, yes, but not refreshing. He’s crude and rude, a buffoon, a wealthy orange buffoon. If that’s the best Republicans can put forward, I find it shockingly sad. Of the entire group, Kasich was the only one who seemed head and shoulders above the rest, able to be president. The rest are a joke. Kasich seemed to have a head and heart. John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]. By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Aug. 10, 2015 at 8:51 PM Updated Aug 10, 2015 at 8:53 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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