Posted on 09/17/2015 12:07:17 AM PDT by Steelfish
ANALYSIS: Carly Fiorina Leads Way as Republican Candidates Shrink Donald Trump’s Shadow By RICK KLEIN Sep 16, 2015
Since nothing seems to have worked in attempts to stop Donald Trump, his rivals tried a new strategy at the second Republican debate: everything.
It didn’t make Trump go away, and nothing is likely to have happened that would make his growing support suddenly crater.
But Trump faded for long stretches -– and seemed more vulnerable than he did at the first debate, in front of a far-more raucous crowd. A tuned-in public saw a frontrunner with limitations in sharp view -– and who seemed to meet his match in the only female candidate in the field.
The pile-on started early, when Rand Paul said he wouldn’t want “someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal,” and called Trump a junior-high bully who calls people “short, tall, fat, ugly.” Scott Walker piled on to say Trump was using Democratic talking points, and suggested he would “take a country into bankruptcy.”
Jeb Bush found a new line of attack for the man who is defining outsider status: He called him an insider who pushed a “special interest” in Florida. He also called on Trump to apologize to his wife. (He didn’t.)
In perhaps the debate’s most memorable moment, Carly Fiorina did the unfathomable –- winning a, well, face-off with a chastened Trump, even after he backtracked to call her a “beautiful woman.”
Trump wasn’t quite neutralized, but he somehow didn’t dominate.
Trump denied, insulted, and attacked right back. While now praising her looks, he called Fiorina a “catastrophe” as a CEO.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I imagine this Fiorina is a Democratic candidate who got the dates mixed up, next week there girlfriend.
Cruz did fine and helped himself a lot.. Trump stood there and took all the crap they threw at him from every direction and he still stood tall.. I think he’s going to get a bump in the polls for that
I thought he was very poised. Needs to sharpen up on some issues though. He and Cruz should get together a few times.
If something crazy happens and Cruz jumps, he’s my first. Then Trump.
I hope we’re down to ten candidates by the next debate (Oct 28th).
“his rivals tried a new strategy at the second Republican debate”
His rivals also included CNN who started almost every question with ‘Trump said this about you so what do you say’. It was the most ridiculously run debate I have ever seen. The CNN panel acted like a bunch of passive aggressive high school bullies. Their goal was for NO ONE on that stage to look good. CNN is the joke this morning.
Carson was just the “not Trump” placeholder. However, he is not going to attack Trump because he isn’t a skilled fighter. The GOPes needed someone to take that spot and use it for a base of attack. So behold the magic rise of Carly.
Notice how the two candidates they pushed to be the Not-Trump are the black candidate (who would not fight) and now the female candidate? Not a coincidence either. It was to provide a bait to Trump to attack and then play the race or gender card. Trump hasn’t taken the bait when it came to Carson. They will try again with Carly.
What the GOPes are hoping is that Carson’s support will fall to Carly cleanly so she can have a stable base. That won’t happen, but it’s their gamble. So look for them to also start to push some of the bottom feeders to drop out and urge their supporters to back her.
It’s still all about giving Bush some cover to sneak by, but the whole plan is a failure from the start as it assumes Trump’s support is malleable, and that he can be knocked out. More of a hail Mary than a winnable strategy.
Great analysis.
Didn’t change my opinion tonight. But the headline readers..that’s a different story.
Cruz is brilliant. Trump is blunt. Great combo.
I thought Trump behaved well tonight. Especially with a fixed audience. He destroyed Carly’s business past with many facts yet got no applause.
-— All those who hate America are calling that iCarly chick the winner. -—
Well, they sure can’t call Cruz the winner. But he should get a big bump from this. Carson should drop a peg or two, as should Trump. The race is wide open.
She's the pivot point of a circle jerk. Nothing more.
When the polls come out, the MSM will sound like Obama economic advisers, 'Surprised & Unexpected'.
...just look at Drudge's post-debate poll.
On another thread, a female Freeper, speaking of Fiorina asked, “is it really smart to alienate most of the male voters by foisting upon them a shrill, nagging, omniscient harpy to vote for?”.......
After watching Fiorina in action, I came away with a better understanding of why many men divorce their wives. To me, Fiorina came across as nasty, spiteful, mean, angry woman. Not what I would want in the WH.
This is the hit piece we expected
If Trump hadn’t “faded for long stretches”, he would have been accused of monopolizing the debate.
He was one of 11 who were supposed to be getting equal time up there, and as it is, often in defense of attacks, he took more time than anyone else.
Okay. Seems vociferous, yet not germane to the debate. Why is that? Are you off key?
Delusional.
The more people see of her, the less they like her.
GO CRUZ!!! Keep it up Trump!!
The others are just vying for cabinet positions.
Win/lose I’m not so sure. But Carly did come across to me as an angry man hating divorcee.
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