3 hours worth for the “adult table” with 11 Prez Wannabees with a liberal moderator that often seem more intent in starting squabbles on stage than actually asking questions that conservatives want to hear on this issues was almost too much even for me. No, no posting here but I did do a lot of tweeting / retweeting of others. While I prefer to do long form writing, but can do short when I concentrate, 140 characters encapsulating a single thought is a much better medium to capture events like a debate. And this time, I spent ALMOST as much time watching other peoples’ impressions as I was watching the debate myself. You can see them here at our Twitter feed, @GraniteGrok (along with tweets announcing our latest posts).
Back to a quick take on the stewardship of GOP debates. After last cycle’s disasterous debates, this is the legacy that Reince Prebus is going to leave AFTER declaring last time would never be repeated? That the moderators would be conservative and get to the points that REPUBLICAN voters want to hear and issues discussed that are of interest to US instead of Democrats with bylines trying to show off to THEIR Leftward base how Smart they are by screwing up (and over) those evil Republicans? And then we get a debate not much better than warmed over versions of those past debates projected to last night? Jake Tapper is generally is more up the middle than most, but not last night. The “moderate Hugh Hewitt” and leftist Dana Bash got, what 6-8 minutes of questions in 3 hours? If I were them, I’d demand my evening back – Tapper pretty much made himself the show and spent that show:
https://twitter.com/GraniteGrok/status/644336084596473856;
Here’s a better look at Brit Hume’s tweet:
Look, there were some very good answers and spots – no one did “badly” in terms of hitting themselves in the head:
- Bush – this debate did him no good. He put himself into Trump’s territory in arguing with him…and lost. He proved he can’t play Trumps game on Trump’s terms and those few minutes shadowed the rest of his night.
- Carson – lost in the crowd and had nothing like the last debate summary for himself
- Christie – finally showed up why his YouTubes go viral; his best was berating Trump and Fiorina.
- Cruz – good when he got time – he just didn’t get much. Best was when the topic swung to the Judiciary.
- Huckabee – best on Kentucky county clerk Davis, the Right to conscious and The Rule of Law.
- Kasich – why is he still talking about his past as if the conditions were the same today? I see him trying to bring back Compassionate Conservatism which is dog whistle for more Big Government. As an evangelical, I really dislike Kasich insistence on a social gospel that makes Government mandatory to carry out that which should be an individual responsibility and I resent the continued push to all but force an outsourcing / crowd out of that.
- Paul – while I do like his stances on slimming down the Govt, I am even more tentative about his foreign policy. Given the events in the Middle East and now in Europe as the EU is looking like its nations look like they’re all about to go rogue over the Muslim invasion from the ME and Asia in numbers that were NEVER thought of.
- Rubio – much better than last time, a good command of the subject and spoke well in the time frames he was given.
- Walker – well, I don’t think this helped him much in stemming his slide in the polls.
- Trump held his own during the first few minutes as Tapper turned him into a pin cushion, courtesy of his questions to the others – Trump only faded once things went to more detailed policy areas instead of his grand pronousements
and my take on the winner?
Carly Fiorina
Hands down. She earned her way to the adult table and it showed again. No one else showed the level of having prepared as well as she had, no one seemed to have a command of details over the range of issues she did. Every point she made seemed to have multiple audiences at the same time – like with her micro-speech that combined Iran and Planned Parenthood:
https://twitter.com/GraniteGrok/status/644315185201709056
And as others have noted, no other male on that stage had been able to verbally smack down Trump. She did – with a stiletto. Multiple times. And it was noticed:
https://twitter.com/GraniteGrok/status/644311461016281088
That link goes to an old Samsphere buddy of mine, Emily Zanotti who said:
I can’t decide whether Carly’s blue suit reminds me more of Maggie Thatcher or Agent Carter.
#GOPDebate#SpectacleDebate
Yep.
