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Quick Take on the GOP Debate
I’ve just watched a 90-minute undercard debate followed by a three-hour mainstage debate. I never want to hear the terms “birthright citizenship,” “shining city on a hill,” or “yuge” ever again. However, as your faithful servant, I will offer my quick takes on the winners and losers of tonight’s debate.
Winners
3. Gov. Chris Christie
The normally brash New Jersey governor was thoughtful, self-deprecating, thorough, and seized his moments with aplomb. He ranks in third place for my winner’s list.
2. Sen. Marco Rubio
Wow, does he shine at these things. Utterly unflappable, polished without looking plastic, and connects with the audience on a heart level. A second solid performance.
1. Carly Fiorina
“Lady Liberty” wins the night in a walk. Coming into the primaries I wondered why she was even running. But Carly exudes gravitas. She’s compelling. Even when I don’t agree with her, I want to hear her out. That’s political star power.
Losers
3. Gov. Scott Walker
Walker didn’t do anything wrong, but he didn’t distinguish himself either. With his numbers plummeting in Iowa and his money-men getting nervous, he really needs to step up and soon. (I almost chose the somnambulent Ben Carson for the three-spot, but his fans seem to like his low-key style.)
2. Gov. John Kasich
In the first debate, Kasich seemed to be seizing the squishy moderate crown of Nerf from Jeb. But the Ohio governor spent most of the second debate defending Democrats’ programs and failures. Out-of-step with the national mood, not to mention the GOP.
1. Donald Trump
Wishful thinking on my part? Perhaps. But the frontrunner always enters a debate with the most to lose. Standing amid the accomplished GOP field with Reagan’s jet as a backdrop, The Donald looked petty, small and out of his element. He improved as the night wore on, but I’m wondering who sat through until the end.
Beyond the candidates, the biggest loser of the night was CNN. What a shameful, disorganized, and unserious presentation. The majority of questions were directed to Trump. Those that weren’t, were questions about Trump. And often when another candidate responded, even on a non-Trump topic, CNN had a split-screen showing Trump’s dramatic reactions to their answers.
CNN’s intention was not to inform voters or discuss ideas, but to toss scorpions in a bottle and watch them fight over side issues. I’m quite shocked that the normally excellent Jake Tapper and Hugh Hewitt agreed to this silly format.
UPDATE: Interesting Twitter stats…
Published in GeneralTwitter’s debate data pic.twitter.com/JkVwk9y6Mo
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) September 17, 2015
I would agree with most of your assessments but mostly with your BIGGEST LOSER. What an awful format and so poorly managed. Sad to see that this is what CNN has devolved into over the years.
I’d like to hear the words “birthright citizenship” a whole lot more, given the seriousness of border security and immigration.
As for winners and losers, I think Carly Fiorina did come out ahead, but I wonder how much the make-up of the race will be affected. I guess we’ll soon see. I would also add Cruz to the winners list.
I toggled back and forth between the debate and the Cubs/Pirates game. The clear winner? The Cubs: 3 to 2.
I think people are overdoing it with Fiorina winning. She had that great comeback at Trump about women listening, but she didn’t make the case to me as to why we should elect someone with no political experience. She wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think she was spectacular.
I agree on your losers, though I would add Carson.
CNN sucked, if I can use that word.
{sarcasm}Yeah, well my Indians won against the Royals 5 to 1, so they’re a clearer winner.{/sarcasm} …why do they always have to get hot at the end of the season when they’ve dug themselves too far a hole…
…oh this is a thread about the debate. Whoops.
At this point, I’d take a Rubio/Fiorina or Fiorina/Rubio ticket. They’re the two candidates that to me have both style and substance.
I thought Jindal did a good job in the JV game, but nobody is talking about him. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part.
Winners/Losers
1) Fiorina
2) Rubio
3) Christie
4) Paul
5) Trump
6) Cruz
7) Huckabee
8) Bush
9) Walker
10) Carson
11) Kasich
According to the Drudge Report poll, Trump won the debate handily.
The best political commentary of the night:
I like Jindal and wish I watched the JV debate. Maybe Jindal will take Paul’s or Kasich’s place in the first tier.
Yeah…and that’s pretty reliable. This is the same thing that happened when Ron Paul ran for President. All the Paulites kept voting over and over again for him.
Really John Kasich, you can’t talk both about how Hillary is wrong for the country at the same time you talk about how you’re right for the country? Carly seems to manage this.
Reince is responsible on some level for the debate fiasco. CNN enjoyed the Trump show because it’s pretty obvious Trump has a psychiatric disorder and they’d love to make him the face of the GOP. Carly, Rubio, Cruz, Christie all did well. Bush was OK some of the time but I’m sure the Goldman Sachs employee was getting tired holding those puppet sticks for three hours.
Goldman Sachs should have hired an illegal alien to do it instead.
NBC has just announced that it feels sorry for taking away The Apprentice from Donald Trump and based on tonight’s debate performance they’re offering him another reality TV hosting position: The Biggest Loser.
Trump has tweeted that he would consider it, as long as they change the name of the show to The Yugest Loser.
I don’t think Walker was ever going to break through in the debates. He’s not an orator. He needed to keep himself in a place where he didn’t need to. But that said, in the past month he has set out two very serious and so far unique policy proposals on issues that matter very much to Republican voters — neither of which came up tonight. I cannot believe we talked about marijuana in-depth, and Obamacare not at all.
I made the case on the other thread, but I had to count Bush as a winner. Not on substance, and not because he outshone the others. But because I could suddenly see him defeating Hillary. He was human, decent, occasionally forceful. And when the dynasty issue is overplayed — as his brother’s nastiest bitterest enemies will overplay it — the attacks will seem personal and nasty and may well backfire to his benefit, if he responds effectively as he did tonight.
Fiorina is a good debater, and evidently a conservative one. That is not a sufficient (or even necessary) qualification for the presidency. But if that’s what knocks out Trump, I will take it.
If she surges because she’s “not an establishment politician,” though, I will laugh my heart out at the irony. No shame in this for her, but the only difference is that she didn’t win.
Carly won just by being the only candidate promoted from the kids table to the main stage, and by putting in another strong performance and getting lots of air time. I agree she wasn’t spectacular, and I agree she is too inexperienced for my taste, but a lot of people saw her tonight who’ve never seen her before, and I’ll bet at least some came away impressed.
She’s not a
successfulestablishment politician.My takeaway was simply that liberals enjoy watching republican presidential debates for the same reason they enjoy doing crossfit; so that they can post that they’ve done it to everyone on social media in a somewhat pathetic attempt to feel superior and/or engage with their liberal friends in a group orgie of condescension, which, for ordinary people would result in something of a hangover, but, as with most addicts, is something to which their bodies have become a bit too tolerant, requiring ever more volume and overt contempt to achieve that same old high that they used to feel simply by turning their noses up at women who change their names upon marriage and people whose garbage can is not at least 10 times smaller than their recycling bin – to say nothing of those people with no recycling bins at all.
Yes, wishful thinking. People have seen Trump and already made up their minds, my prediction is he won no new supporters tonight but few of his existing supporters will desert him (yet).
Big loser of the night: Ben Carson. I predict a lot of his supporters will soon defect to Carly.
Jeb’s performance was commendable…but he still looks weak and boring. He lacks the fire and grit that Rubio displayed when talking about our adversaries. In fact, he said something about dealing with our adversaries with civility or words to that effect. No thanks.
Breitbart.com, of course, is crowing about the Drudge Report after debate poll like it means anything. Should have been expected.
If she were the Senator from California, those who dismiss Walker and Cruz as Establishment shills would be dismissing her on the same grounds. They have no more to do with McConnell than she does.
I wish she were the Senator from California. For one thing, she’d have a voting record.
I only had time to watch a bit of the pre-game show, then about the first half hour of the “A Game.” Really, the only concrete conclusion I reached was that the CNN talking heads are utterly clueless about what the citizens of the United States are thinking.
But one remembers short clips, and the clips I remember were good. (Well, other than praising Roberts.) Perhaps his good moments stood out because they were unexpected. He made me laugh out loud with “Energizer.” Trump made me feel more favorable towards Jeb, at least from time to time.
Fiorina will probably eventually fade. We elect senators, governors, and victorious generals. By stealing the limelight she made it harder for anyone else — including Rubio — to threaten Bush. He can survive being overshadowed by Carly.
That’s not what I want, but that’s my sense. Not that Bush gave the best performance, or that he made the best substantial case for his candidacy — he did neither — but that the events of the night work ultimately in his favor.
A voting record is a major liability in modern GOP politics. One vote that someone disagrees with is enough to write you off as a RINO establishment traitor to the cause. The only way to have a 100% pure conservative voting record is to have no voting record at all.
Trump Lied. Florida Casino Died.
That’s the problem with modern GOP politics… and kind of what I was getting at in the first place.
Personally I’d prefer a voting record because it would give a little evidence that she actually means it, and some indication of how she’d handle difficult political issues when you have to do more than talk. I prefer a governing record even more. I realize a large chunk of voters don’t agree with me.
I suppose what gets me is the failure to realize that the desire for power is a sufficient corrupting influence, if a person is corruptible. If they want the office, they’re a politician. If they’ve held office before, we can evaluate how that impacts them. If not, we have… their word. I don’t trust you one penny more because you’ve never held office before.
You kinda, sorta agree with me (your comments in bold)…Jeb may get a slight bump but I don’t think voters will flock to him. On the campaign trail he is a snoozer. I think Rubio actually came off tonight as more knowledgeable, decisive, emphatic and presidential. He never really hems or haws, that guy. I think Rubio is playing a very smart game by not going after Trump directly or by name. Just offering himself up as a more credible alternative…as in, when everyone gets tired of Trump’s antics, I’m still here.
I think Walker’s support starts to erode further. His performance was marginally okay but he needed to really hit a few home runs at bat. I like him but maybe he gets a good cabinet post in a Rubio administration.