Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Some Impressions from the Second GOP Candidate Debate

CNN and the Tea Party, together at last? Shirley, it's a sign of the apocalypse.

Perry got pounded on his cancer-virus immunization program, even after he admitted he made a mistake. Bachmann's continued attacks just made her look petty. Perry appeared unfazed, but there was more criticism to come for his promotion of in-state college tuitions for illegals. That's two strikes against him.

Newt continues to surprise me. He did very well in the first debate, especially when he confronted the bias of the moderators. He appeared to be the peacemaker then, last night, not quite so much. After his early self-inflicted wounds, he's rebounding nicely. He still has a way to go to get my vote, though.

Herman Cain is impressive as well. He is more focused on specifics such as his 9-9-9 plan to revamp our tax code. He's upbeat, intelligent, informed and would make a great Commerce Secretary.

Bachmann got some applause early, especially every time she mentioned the Constitution. As I mentioned earlier, her continued attacks on Perry were petty, considering the timing. She would make a good VP though, with her experience in Congress.

Romney tried, but continues to appear to flail about, trying to keep up with the pace of the moderation. One minute replies don't seem to work well for him, but even if you give him more time, he doesn't elaborate very much. This is a detail-oriented time for the country, vague platitudes and overall statements aren't going to suffice. Voters want specifics, and Mitt seems reluctant to be forthcoming with his. He continues to tout RomneyCare, the biggest strike against him.

Santorum appears out of his league, struggling to keep up as well. He's not very good at tooting his own horn, which he did a lot of last night.

To Huntsman I say, dude, just give up. You aren't doing yourself or the country any favors by continuing your quest. If he's in the next debate, I'll be surprised, although the thought of Harley 1 being in the Secret Service's garage is nice.

And now to Paul, the GOP's crazy uncle. On domestic issues, he's not terrible. But when it comes to foreign policy, he's absolutely batshit crazy, as the country found out last night. He would have us abandon Israel and withdraw all our troops from everywhere in the world. Although there is a strong undercurrent in the nation that wants us to no longer be the world's policeman, he's doing it wrong. And his irresponsible, immature statement that the US is "occupying" other countries should pretty much disqualify him from serious consideration for president. Ronnie, we aren't "occupying" any country, as we are there with the full cooperation of their governments. What was amazing to me is how no one else called him out on that. But, I guess that's what crazy uncles are supposed to do, while everyone else rolls their eyes. At least they make Thanksgiving dinner, shall we say, interesting?

Overall, in my opinion, Perry lost just a bit of luster, Romney sorta held his ground in second place, Newt's making his way forward, Cain continues to say a lot of what needs saying, Bachmann's losing ground, and the rest should just go ahead and withdraw.

At least Wolf Blitzer tried to contain his bias more so than Brian Williams did last week. The Fox-sponsored debate is on the 22nd, if I recall. Hopefully, they'll be a bit better and show the other sponsors how to do it correctly.

What say you?

1 comment:

Ima Wurdibitsch said...

I had class last night so I didn't get a chance to watch it until this morning. I agree with a lot of the points you made.

Ron Paul is much like the crazy uncle. My daughter and son-in-law are Paulbots (the shame!). With the first (I think - it was pre-coffee) question asked of him, he actually started to give a reasonable answer that wasn't rambly, cranky, crazy, old man. He was cut off. Several years ago, when I first became aware of him, I thought he had some good ideas. I didn't agree with all of them but love the small government stance. I think his foreign policy beliefs are ridiculous and would put every American in danger. When I heard what was said about his 9/11 post, I went and read it. He will never get my vote. Ever.

Huntsman and Santorum need to step down so that the next debates will allow more time for the higher ranked candidates to answer the questions in more detail.

Romney performed well. Performed. I don't trust him. I think he's creepy and untrustworthy and more of the same old GOP. We're not going to succeed with more of the same old stuff.

There are things I really like about Perry. There are also things I really don't like about him. I like the way he acknowledged that the way he handled the Gardisil issue was a huge mistake. I like the way he's tough and doesn't back down. The fact that a legal citizen in Las Cruces, NM, would have to pay more for tuition at UTEP than an illegal immigrant pisses me off. His response that at least that's better than the illegal immigrant being put on the government dole is horseshit. Why the hell are any US tax dollars going toward feeding, housing, or medically treating illegal immigrants? What is it about the word "illegal" that people don't understand? (I'll stand down from this topic for now because I'm getting extremely irritated and will need to be sedated with gin and I can't do that at lunch while working.)

I think Bachmann was tightwalking on a very thin line between being petty and needing to stand up and be noticed since she did not do very well during the last debate. I like her ideas; I think she's smart and strong and will be a very effective force in our government - just not as President this time around.

I've never really cared for Newt but he has impressed the hell out of me in the last two debates. No, he's probably not going to get the nomination but I love the role he's playing in these debates. He's the elder statesman and, more importantly, he is the smackdown king and handler of the media. He's not letting them get away with as much of their normal shenanigans. He has gained much new respect from me.

I think we'll have a new name in the ring soon. My guess is this Friday but if not then, it will probably be by the end of the month.

Um. Wow. Sorry about the long response, BB. I probably should take the time and update the content on my own blog... :-)