[americanophile]

Caught the replay. My 2 cents:

* Panel as a whole sounded good

* Winner: Romney. Sorry, I know he's despised here, but he's manifestly the best at this. Unflappable.

* Loser: Ron Paul. Goes off the rails completely with the border fence and trashes Reagan's legacy. Why Ron?

* Thumbs up: Perry - proves he's a better communicator than Bush (thank God), takes plenty of jabs, but does reasonably well despite (slightly disconcerting) slow/halting pace of speaking and clunky overreliance on notes. Gives refreshingly honest assessment of Social Security, despite the obvious political risk (which I trust (hope) is principled candor and not political naiveté).

*Thumbs down: John Hunstman - liberal car salesman routine with smarmy view of conservatives/man of the world routine becomes even more grating. Bachmann - Couldn't breakout and was marginalized; $2 gas claim still absurd. Gingrich - Tough guy routine losing its spontaneity; ignored for most of the debate. Cain - Likeable and good slogans, but appears to be lacking in substance. Santorum - irrelevant.

Just my opinion.

[07Jack]

Agree with every part except for Cain who gave me the exact opposite impression. Cain actually proposed solutions while every other candidate just kept repeating how bad things are and how ineffective Obama is. On a “time prorated” basis, I thought Cain offered the most substance.....now whether one agrees with his proposals is a completely different argument.

[rodguy911]

I would disagree although Perry is not my first choice he clearly won the debate when he had the guts to go against the DBM host Brian Williams on the death penalty and he told the truth about SS.

None of the rest have that kind of guts---its called leadership. Few of the others except maybe Newt have it.

[McGruff]

I agree with most of what you posted.

Biggest loosers, Obama, MSDNC, Ron Paul for going off his meds a couple of times, Huntsman for being a uniter not a divider.