Conducting a debate with 11 people at one time is a tough job, and I would not wish to volunteer for it. That said, CNN did, and it was a complete dumpster fire. There was far too little Hugh Hewitt and far too much Jake Tapper. Most of all, there was far too much focus on the front-runner, whose time speaking doubled some of the field, and when he wasn't speaking, he was being referenced.
The big story of the night was Carly Fiorina, and justifiably so. Her performance was strong, very strong, and she had some of the most memorable riffs of the night, including this bit on Planned Parenthood.
Although I am biased of course, the punditti seem to agree that my man Rubio came in second. I was concerned with how quiet he was in the first hour, that his strategy of not being the springbutt was backfiring in this format, but he came on strong throughout most of the night. Here is one of his very strong moments from the debate.
I thought both Jeb Bush and Chris Christie helped themselves last night, and Mike Huckabee once again showed how light he can be on his feet in debates. Ted Cruz just plain bothers me--we aren't connecting on many levels, even though I agree with him on several subjects.
There are two huge surprises thus far in this race; the first is the identity of the front-runner, and the second is the prolonged fade of Rand Paul. He had some real moments of lucidity last night, and if you want a candidate who projects a more careful and less adventurous foreign policy, he's your man. But he simply is nowhere to be found. I truly believed he would come in second place in this race, and I said it many times. It looks like I will be wrong on this, as in many other things.
Ben Carson. I really like the guy. Someone on Twitter wrote last night "Ben Carson for My Next Door Neighbor". I think that sums him up. I'd really like to have the dude as a friend. Less sure of having him as my President.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
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3 comments:
I think that Rubio helped himself, and Fiorina will be in it at the RNC. Where both of them end up is anyone's guess at this point. There were too many people on the stage and three hours is far too long. I think that CNN's constant direction toward Trump in the first half of the debate didn't do anyone including Trump any favors. Trump landed on his feet and was "Trump", which is to say that he's not a Republican and that's why he's popular.
If the GOP wishes to remain valid, they need to take lessons from both Jindal and Trump in my opinion. While Ted Cruz doesn't appeal to me as a politician, he is true to his values and is an irritant to the country club Republicans. For that reason alone, I liked that he was present on the stage.
A Fiorina/Rubio Rubio/Fiorina ticket would be interesting, if for nothing more than to silence the absurd "war on women" rhetoric and that everyone paints the Republicans as a white-only political organization.
Well, I have a surgeon friend who was Ben Carson's resident. Was not a fan, and considered him to be a very high wattage egomaniac even among surgeons. That he is Dr. Humble in this crowd says something about about the other people in the room, I suppose. Or maybe it is all an act.
Ted Cruz is too much the appellate litigator, and insufficiently the trial lawyer. He makes cerebral arguments that sound very complicated even if very well expressed, but does so in a way that strikes many average people as condescending and harsh. He seems to have a poor sense of the jury, at least in this context and others that I have seen him in.
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