The Republicans had another debate last night. It was on Bloomberg TV. Who even knew that existed?
Would someone please explain why the GOP thinks it is such a great idea to have a liberal network and liberal hosts, handle their debates?
Charlie Rose kept pushing the Republican candidates on “compromise” and tried to take a Reagan quote to get the candidates to bite on tax increases. Karen Tumulty looked like a slightly younger version of Helen Thomas, with a personality to match.
There were winners, losers and non-factors.
The biggest loser was Rick Perry. The only good news for Perry is that he did not have another rambling, incoherent answer like he did at the last debate. Another one of those could have sunk his campaign. The bad news is he was treated like a second tier candidate. Well, now he is a second tier candidate. Despite his massive fundraising, he is falling in the polls faster than an out of control NASA satellite.
The non-factors were Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Huntsman remains creepy, though he seemed better prepared. The only question is which cabinet position he is running for. Santorum pops up with a good comment every now and then but mostly complains about being ignored. Perhaps there is a reason why you are being ignored Rick. If you really want to get your voice heard, perhaps you should study Newt Gingrich. He jumped in, often without being asked and delivered devastating points.
Mentioning the Federal Reserve is like catnip to Ron Paul and he went off with the predictable reaction. He remains a non-factor. He has his supporters and will always have them. But he is not making any progress with the rest of the electorate.
Michele Bachmann turned in one of her best debate performances in a long time. Romney’s softball question was a bit puzzling unless Romney thinks by keeping Bachmann afloat he can drain support from Cain. With her campaign on life support, this may have been too little too late or it may have been an audition for the VP spot.
Mitt Romney did not lose, but that does not mean he won. He has plateaued at about 25%. Most of the Republicans do not want him. Despite the best efforts of the GOP to say there is none, there very much is a Republican establishment. It is real and he has their support after their hopes that a less flawed RINO might jump in and steal Romney’s thunder. Romney repeats his talking points and tries to avoid tough questions. The question about Bain Capital is a preview of what we will see if the GOP truly screws up and makes him the nominee. One thing that is very obvious from the debates is Romney believes in being the manager of big government. He does not see big government as a problem, only as something to be well managed.
Herman Cain was everyone’s target last night. He is rising in the polls and he acquitted himself well last night. His 9-9-9 plan remains seriously flawed and some of the other Republicans danced around the flaw with the exception of Michele Bachmann. She alone pointed out that Cain’s plan opens the door for another tax while allowing the government to maintain it’s current tax system.
Cain is a great orator, though not such a great debater. The one thing that was never fully explored was the idea that Cain can get his plan through Congress unchanged. He believes he can have Congress enact a provision that will require a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. That is a great idea, but as we have learned too many times in the past, Congress will take the popular parts of a plan, enact it and forget some of the important things. Handcuffing Congress on taxes and spending is something that will not happen. They love their power too much.
Then there is Newt Gingrich. Newt remains the smartest guy on the stage and probably the most tactically shrewd. Charlie Rose tried to pin him down and that just was not happening. Periodically, Newt would pop up with, “let me say something here.” Then he would launch into a really great point that would leave the other candidates simply nodding in agreement. Gingrich’s strategy may be keep-doing showing well in the debates and then as the field starts to get whittled, his stock will rise. Since the early Republican primaries are not going to be winner take all primaries but proportional primaries, he does not have to win the early states to remain viable. All he has to do is come in with respectable showings.
Who won?
There really was no clear winner. Cain did well. Newt did well. Bachmann did better than she has been doing and Romney did not screw up. It is pretty obvious they will be the final four. The real question is going to be which of those three conservatives will be the last one standing to take on Romney.
The real answer is we need a real conservative to take on Obama and that is definitely not Romney.
Tags: 2012, bachmann, cain, debate, gingrich, gop, paul, romney, santorum
Permalink Reply by L C on Chris Christie fell a ton of notches in my book when he came out and endorsed Romney right before the debate. I guess I no longer view him the way I did before - it's all politics.
I would really like Newt and Herman Cain on a ticket together. While 9-9-9 needs to be fine-tuned and I wish Cain would go back to just pitching the Fair Tax as he was previously doing, I still believe the two of them are the best ones in the line-up.
Romney? No!!! If the RINO's name him as our candidate, we will all have to struggle with the fact that the only thing we're trying to do is get Obama out of office. But no real changes will come of it.
Permalink Reply by Dave Mason on I think Romneys question to Bachmann was obvious.
Bachman is so far down, there's no chance she's going to recover. As a result, throw her a softball question, she answers it, few if any really care what she says at this point, and Romney appears to be "above the fray" and McCain-like in avoiding "dirty politics".
Permalink Reply by Victoria R. Hall on 
Permalink Reply by Agi Yaeger on I believe that the reason the left asked fluff questions of Romney is because they are desperate for the GOP to nominate him to run against Obama. It is during the one on one debates between the two, that Obama will then have the opportunity to cream Romney on his Romneycare. Obama will propose that he simply copied his "wonderful" blueprint from Romneycare. We can already see succumbing to that, when Romney insists on just wanting to give wavers to states from Obamacare, instead of repealing it. That's dangerous. The signs are all there.
Try as best as he could, Romney will not be able to defend his actions because, his health care is a debacle and Obama has involved Romney to his side. He will have to stay mum on that.
Ultimately, it's his MA healthcare that will do him in. We must not let Mitt become the nominee for that reason. He will be handing the presidency back to Obama on a silver platter. This is what Obama is banking on and the push to have him run against him.
He will hammer that home to the public, until the true conservatives will stay home on election day, which we already can see from some of the bloggers here, thus giving the devil a second term.
Wasn't it also so clever that Christie, the darling of Ann Coulter, the great conservative, just happened to chose the same day as the debate to endorse Romney. Everything is happening for a reason. I hate to say this Judson, but we are on the losing end this time. However, we did try our best.
Just remember there was a prediction made by someone well known, I forget his name, that Obama will win second term and this person hasn't been wrong in the last 6 presidential elections.
Permalink Reply by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on 
Permalink Reply by Barry W Gaugler on Agi,
Great minds think alike. It looks just like something I would write. Thank you.
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Permalink Reply by Darlene Black on Permalink Reply by Eugene Wakefield on Permalink Reply by Darlene Black on Permalink Reply by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on © 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
