Rick Perry fails to impress in GOP debate

washingtonpost ^ | 09/07/2011 | Jennifer Rubin

[free me]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry needed to show in tonight’s debate that he is presidential, substantive and ready for prime time. While he made no major gaffes, he certainly did not stand out in the crowd. He took hits on his views on Social Security and on mandatory HPV testing, and unsurprisingly did not have convincing comebacks. At times — on foreign policy and on global warming — he seemed to search for words. He will need to lose the frozen grin as well. His best moment came near the end of the debate when he gave a measured, tough-minded defense of Texas’s high rate of executions, explaining the circumstances under which you will pay “the ultimate penalty” in Texas.

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann turned in solid performances. Nevertheless, it was largely a Romney vs. Perry affair.

[free me]

The post’s house “conservative” Rubin’s take on the debate

[mylife]

I think he is luring them in.

This aint his first rodeo.

[DRey]

I think Obama is in deeper doo-doo than he realizes.

[xjcsa]

He took hits on his views on Social Security and on mandatory HPV testing...

"Testing"? If you're going to write about this stuff, you should go to the trouble of having some idea what you're talking about. In reality the HPV thing was neither "mandatory" nor "testing."

[mylife]

Virtually every contender on the stage could lay Obama to waste

[South40]

While he made no major gaffes, he certainly did not stand out in the crowd.

I agree with that statement.

[mylife]

It is a NON issue.

[DRey]

Not sure about Paul, but I despise Romney and even Romney looked good to me. Every one of them (even Paul) is better than McCain. Going to be a fun 2012!

[hosepipe]

I am not for Perry but he was impressive..
The author Rubin is delusional.. (eyeroll and head turn)..

Newt killed AGAIN!!!!..

[South40]

This aint his first rodeo.

Actually, on a national stage, it is.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The false claims are going to be the harder problem for him. In another thread a freeper insisted Perry had forced mandatory STD testing on little girls, and when I pointed out the error, he told me I was wrong and that Perry had even apologized for it.

[Chgogal]

Oh, I don't know.

SS is a Ponzi Scheme and saying it loud and clear without fear, well I thought that was memorable. Just sayin.

[DRey]

True that. Neither testing nor mandatory.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

It's kind of funny though, that being this was his first debate and there were 8 candidates standing on the same stage, the entirety of the theme was about Rick Perry, who fought back quite handily. Especially against Goofball Paul.

This was the introduction and Perry came across as cool, calm and intelligent. The next debate will be much better and the focus will be even more pointed his way. The bottom line is, the audience walked away knowing that Perry can handle himself well, even with all the guns pointed at him.

[Chgogal]

Hey, you and I saw the same debate. ; )

[mylife]

He only fought off all the long knives, yup he was lame.

The moderators and the other contenders piled on and he survived.

I’ll Say this.. I think Newt hit a major nerve when he Attempted to call off the attacks on Perry

[South40]

Opinions vary.

[Lazlo in PA]

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann turned in solid performances.

Good to see Rick get noticed. He is going to break out as soon as attrition starts setting in with the rest of the pack.

[Chgogal]

I hope Newt hangs around a bit. I love how he punches out the "journalists".