Posted on 09/22/2011 9:10:58 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Mitt Romney is an incredibly vulnerable Republican candidate, from his numerous policy reversals to his championing of the Massachusetts health care law that served as the basis from Obamacare. But for him to lose, somebody else has to beat him. And like Tim Pawlenty before him, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is blowing his chances to exploit Romney’s weaknesses.
The defining moment in this debate may well have been the point at which Perry went on the attack against Romney for being a flip flopper. As I noted earlier, there’s a long file to choose from. And Perry had clearly rehearsed such an attack – you can tell he was starting to go through the list of issues Romney had reversed on, and even used the “for it before he was against” phrasing, a not-so-subtle reference to the infamous Massachusetts flip flopper, Sen. John Kerry. But the exchange came toward the end of the debate, and as has been his habit, Perry began to fade as the debate wore on. During this particular answer, he wrestled for words and stammered. He couldn’t finish his sentences. If you weren’t a political junkie who knew all of the background, you’d have no idea what Perry was mumbling about. And Romney's smooth response made him come off as more steady and reassuring, even though on substance, Perry should have owned him.
The rest of the debate was hit or miss for Perry. But when he received an admittedly difficult question about what he would do if he got a 3 a.m. phone call informing him that Pakistan’s nukes had been taken over by Islamists, he struggled. He ended up giving an incoherent answer that was more of an information dump of random stuff he had been briefed on about the region. It was not very reassuring for those of us who are waiting to see if Perry can prove his dissenters wrong and come off as someone substantive, capable of beating President Obama, and of running the country competently.
Romney remains vulnerable. And unlike Pawlenty, Perry is starting from a stronger position in the polls, so he certainly has a good chance of ultimately winning. However, he’s going to have to step up his game by showing a better grasp of the issues, more stamina in these debates, and by being able to take apart Romney’s endless contradictions. In short, Perry has not blown it, but he is blowing it.
Our second tier conservative candidates successfully eviscerated the front running conservative (who was woefully unprepared to fight off their attacks).
Of course, that all but hands the nomination now to Willard Romney. Look for lots of exposes on scary Mormons, discussions of RomneyCare being the model for ObamaCare, and a credible third party challenger from the right after the nomination has been formally secured.
We have taken what should have been a slam dunk election against the worst President in history, and have utterly blown it.
I suggest some of you guys drink heavily and celebrate the Perry implosion now, because the Obama hangover that is coming next fall might just finish us all off.
Romney will win:
new hampshire
michigan
arizona
vermont
maryland
connecticut
rhode island
and Perry will win everything else, mark my words. This will be a repeat of the 2000 primaries with Perry playing the part of Bush and Romney playing the part of McCain.
Ummmmm. Can someone remind me how many REAL debates obama engaged in? How did he handle the press during the primaries and more importantly after Hilly bowed out?
At this point, I see that as a very real possibility.
I agree. This debate doesn't matter in itself. However, Perry needs to prove he can play, sometime in a debate.
Perry has plenty of time to regroup and get prepared.
Lets all remember the terrible performance Reagan had in debate #1 against Mondale in 1984? He was an old man who recovered nicely. Perry can too.
lol
The mormon Romney will win South Carolina right after the sun stops shinning for good.
I do take it personally, I am heartless unlike Obama who he has “high respect” for.
Finally, someone remembers how poorly many of our past winners have performed in debates.
They really are not that important, about one step above giving a single speech to a crowd.
Perry sucked tonight. Okay, we move on.
One question. Does anyone know why Perry didn’t appear with Hannity after the debate? Was he pissed off or something? I know he was on last night with Sean. But this seemed very odd.
What really matters in these debates is not giving your opponent any new additional fodder they didn’t already have for future ads. Because it’s all about the ads folks. Perry will have all the chance in the world articulate and clarify his positions and to hammer Romney till he looks like the bag of RINO crap that he is.
Perry is getting hit with what he was going to get hit with regardless, nothing really new has come up, and thus nothing has fundamentally changed, except for some to realize that yep... Debates are not Perry’s strong point.
Perry is not a Leader. He wants to educate all illegal children at bargain basement rates. Race to the bottom with Perry.
you have to keep in mind that we need the latino vote to win big,perry may be losing some of the white vote,but will still carry a chunk of the latino vote. I think it’s going to be very close in the end.
I would have to say reasonably well, with an asterisk next to it.
The Governor of Texas is kind of a unique job. The legislature only meets every other year, and the governor has relatively small amounts of power. In my opinion, when the decisions have been his to make, Perry has made the correct calls. By that I means conservative. That thing with the vaccine was kind of bungled.
The biggest complaint I've heard from many conservatives down here is that he's kind of a Punxsutawney Phil. When it's time for election he's out there, saying and doing all the right things. After he's elected he kind of disappears into his stump until it's time to wake up again. I'm not sure I really hold with that because the Governor of Texas really has limited power, so I'm not sure there is a lot he could do if he wanted to.
Perry has had a pretty sympathetic legislature to work with all the time he's been Governor. I really don't know how he'll perform when he has to get in there an mud wrestle with those scumbags in Congress. (At one time I thought maybe 2012 would give us a solidly conservative congress, and maybe it will. For some reason I'm starting to have my doubts).
>>>Romney for being a flip flopper
I wish Perry would be a flip flopper on illegal immigration.
Especially during this time of HUGE UNEMPLOYMENT among legal citizens of all income groups.
Why is he not against illegal immigration? Why? Why?
He was an embarrassment, I watched the debate to hear him for the first time amidst the others. He was far worse than I even thought he would be. Wooden, inarticulate, wrong, pandering, and I gather he told a bold faced lie about the Gardisil episode.
He was also the only candidate booed tonight, and he was booed twice, deservedly so.
Perry would go after Romney more effectively in real face to face campaigning with the voters, speeches, and of courses political ads. These have much more impact on winning elections and are much more effective than the debates.
Exactly. The political junkies are all obsessed with debates as if they are the most important thing to win elections when in reality there are rather minor. Political ads, face to face campaigning with voters, and speeches are the way to win elections as proven historically.
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