“Why no questions about immigration? A sop to Perry?”
Perry screwed up enough on his own without needing another gotcha question. He missed the opportunity on Solyndra when the compost reporter changed the subject to Texas. He should have refocused on Solyndra. He seemed very ill at ease, but his overall performance was slightly better than the previous three.
My ratings for the debate (not worth much I know but I’m gonna share them anyway).
1. Romney - wins again with prepared, polished, detailed, and quick answers and showed a sense of humor. To be sure he sucked much of the air out of the place (re questions) but that didn’t detract from his performance.
2. Gingrich - took on the press again; a real polibot; but again too much baggage for #1 spot.
3. Bachmann - finally had something to say IN ADDITION TO 28 kids, Tax lawyer, small business, and stop ObamaCare. She had moved up to bi or maybe even tri dimensional.
4. Santorum - had a few good points but it won’t do him any good.
5. Cain - his 9-9-9 is starting to come across as one dimensional; while the plan has some merits, others (Bachmann being one) correctly pointed out that the current problems involve more than just tax policy. He actually does better in a forum where flaming libs are going after him (ala O’Donnell).
6. Perry - he seems spooked (not talking about the hunting lease here -is that too deep or not deep enough); he’s like the deer that needs to stay out of the senderos during daytime and the bright lights of the highway at nights. Like Cain, he was rather one dimensional mentioning energy policy but seemingly without much knowledge of anything else. He didn’t have his plan for tackling unemployment ready (sounded like Obama). Rush is hawking him so he’s not DIW yet, but that quicksand is up to his neck right now.
7. Huntsman - serious as usual with one or two one liners (one of them surely to arouse all the LDS haters residing herein); otherwise nothing concrete and being a China suck@$$ not good.
8. Paul - must have taken his Elavil and tranxene; just wasn’t the same crazy grandmother that got sent to the insane asylum that we had gotten used to.
A lot of pundits are writing off Cain (flash candidate with no money or organization). Perry is likely to continue his slide (debates are part of the game - if you can’t handle ‘em well you could be headed for Boot Hill. Romney excelled whether you like him or not (I don’t, but he is better than Obama). He supported numerous conservative values across a wide spectrum (was he lying?)
The bottom line is that I predict he will improve in the polls because of the Christie deal and his debate performance, so hard core conservatives better unite behind a single candidate or, as Kitty Wells sang, “It’s All Over But the Crying”. (If you don’t know Kitty Wells, you don’t know nothing.)
Analyzing the current conservative candidates, I believe Cain is the only one that can beat Obama but he will need to expand his horizons beyond 9-9-9 dramatically. We Palin lovers are wandering in the wilderness waiting for the knight in shining armor to show up to save us (from Romney first, but most importantly from Obummer).
Well I don’t believe Cain can beat Obama. I’m not even sure Perry can now after what’s been thrown at him. But as long as Perry’s in it I’m sticking with him.
Good analysis - Romney seems like to guy to beat now.