The Republican Debates

Ok, I am not very good at the instant punditry, therefore, feel free to demand your money back. That said, I provide my quick and rough take on the debates.

Too many candidates for it to be a real debate. Time constraints made it mostly just a quick sound-bite competition. Not always, but most of the time.

The first round of debate, where the low-poll number people were concentrated, was actually the better one. I have to agree with the media consensus (Horrors!) that former HP exec Carly Fiorina "won". She was focussed, had a good command of facts, quick on her feet, articulate, witty, and tough. It was an impressive performance. I think she did herself a lot of good and if she sticks with it will get promoted to the Major League. As noted before, in the campaign against the Dems, she might be handicapped by her controversial tenure at Hewlett-Packard, and would find herself having to defend that record from all sorts of real and crazy accusations. I think, however, that whomever gets picked as the GOP candidate could do worse than have her as VP. Also in the Minor League debate, I thought that Gov. Jindal did well. I was disappointed in Governor Perry's performance: he needed a home-run and got nothing close to it. He still comes across as awkward and almost tongue-tied in these debate settings. That is unfortunate because he is actually a very good politician and a thoughtful person.

Turning to the Major League debate, Trump didn't disappoint those who wanted a bit of a show. Right off the mark he was the one who refused to take the pledge to support whomever is nominated. He would not swear off the possibility of a third party run, a run that would, in all probability, ensure another Democrat in the White House in 2017. He obviously had done little to no homework in preparation for the debate and relied on his abrasive style and cutting one-liners to keep him going. I continue to believe that he believes in nothing except Trump. He is way too thin-skinned for my taste and would prove a personally vindictive sort of SOB were he in the White House. Do we need another one of those?

None of the other candidates made major gaffes although I thought that Senator Rand Paul came off a bit weak and even hysterical in his exchange with Governor Christie. If anybody got hurt last night, I think it was Paul. Dr. Ben Carson proved a delightful change of pace and had some funny comments. He seems a genuinely smart and nice man, one who would get eaten alive in the piranha infested waters of Washington DC. Jeb Bush, blah beyond belief. He seemed uncomfortable and awkward and did not get the breakout that some think he needs. Bush continues to stumble on the Iraq question. I thought Governor Walker was good, took some tough questions and turned them around nicely. Senator Rubio seemed to me to be the most articulate and passionate and he might have done himself some good. I found Senator Cruz a bit off and not as lively and engaged as he is at other times. Governor Huckabee seemed the most comfortable as befits his long experience with these formats. His closing statement was clever as he managed to take swipes at both Trump and Clinton. Governor Kasich? I know some are impressed by him, but he strikes me as a Democrat-light when it comes to spending and government activities.

That's enough of that. We are going to hear so much more about all this, that we all will want to tune out and go find that perfect classic car . . .