Not sure how many more of these I can watch...
The chances of me voting for a Republican in the next Presidential election were pretty slim to start with and they're getting even slimmer as we go along. Tonight's debate left me quite cold. I thought the responses were mostly weak from the candidates and I thought the moderators, Brian Williams of NBC and John Harris from Politico asked solid questions but gave way too much face time to trying to gin up a confrontation between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Its natural to try and pin those two against each other, but the unabashed way Williams/Harris went about it was dreadful. Candidates Bachman, Santorum and Cain got some attention, but not much.
A few comments about each candidate...
Mitt Romney-Once again, he avoided any direct hits so come this Sunday, he will remain my #1 ranked candidate for the GOP nomination. He clearly wanted to attack President Obama more than anyone on stage with him. He was, however ready to respond when Gov. Perry criticized his performance creating jobs. Countered Perry's "...let's get rid of the ponzi scheme otherwise known as Social Security" with a stronger message of lets not get rid of social security, let's fix it...
Rick Perry-Perry survived and then some Wednesday night. He took some shots, he gave some. His best moment was his answer defending the program to give HPV shots to young girls. His worst was when he dropped Galileo into the conversation about climate change skeptics. His second worst moment may have been when he said he wanted to end social security. I think he can do better, but I don't think his strength is discussing the nuance of various public policies. He's better at the one liners and zingers. Oh, and executing people. He's very, very good at that.
Michelle Bachmann-Not Bachmann's best night. Attacked Obama early and often, but nothing really new here. She's stiff riffing on "I'm a serious person" theme, which is wearing thin. I felt she was being ignored by Williams/Harris but couldn't decide if that was hurting her or perhaps helping her? Her example of Reagan getting screwed on a deficit reduction deal was a rather odd one to use given that she was standing in the Reagan Library and Mr. Reagan's widow was sitting near the front. For all the "Hail Reagan's" we heard ad nasuem throughout the evening, THAT was a tad refreshing. She's doomed...
Ron Paul-I ran out to the gas station to try and buy some gas for a dime but it didn't work. I know, I know, I needed a real silver dime. Wants to get rid of the minimum wage to help poor people. Wants to get rid of the TSA, the Federal Reserve and FEMA, too. Mr. Paul, you've served this Country a long time and we have some nice parting gifts for you. Thanks for coming by...
Herman Cain-His 9/9/9 plan sounds like a pizza deal, doesn't it? "Hey!!! A 9" pizza with 9 toppings for just $9.99" Mr. Cain is pretty charming but isn't gaining much traction as a upper tier candidate. His reminder that he fought with Newt Gingrich against "Hillary-care" is some classic bullshit given that he declared the individual mandate is unconstitutional. One of their weapons in the fight against Hillary care was, you guessed it, trying to get them to include that long standing Republican idea...the Individual mandate. Go figure. Didn't make up any ground last night and he can't afford not to. I think its just a matter of time and money before he gets on with his life's work...
Rick Santorum-Rick who? He seems like the little kid at the dinner table who tries so hard to be treated like an adult. But fails. He didn't say anything great, he didn't saying anything terrible. Like Mr. Cain however, he can't afford to not gain ground on these debates. He's probably gone by Christmas...
John Huntsman-Tonight's "adult in the room" winner. He was able to stand on his own two feet more so than any other candidate on the stage. I like that he values science, I like that he wants to end the wars. I like that he took shots at both Romney and Perry. I don't like that he's planning on repealling Obama care. All told, his best performance by far. A few more of these and he might move into the spot Bachmann has been holding once she leaves the campaign...
Newt Gingrich-Maybe he was mad because Allan Grayson called him fat on the House floor once, who knows? Mr. Gingrich did not appear to be in a good mood tonight. He went after Politico's Jon Harris for trying to start a fight between the various GOP-ers,. which in my opinion was pretty lame. I saw it as a stunt to try and look like a leader and felt it fell flat.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/us/politics/08republican-debate-text.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
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