Posted on 10/18/2011 7:08:00 PM PDT by smoothsailing
Bryan Preston
October 18, 2011
There were two Ricks on debate stage tonight, and both came in loaded up and ready to hunt. Rick Santorum threw a blizzard of punches at Mitt Romney early over his claim that as president, Romney, the author of RomneyCare, would repeal ObamaCare. The punches landed and the damage showed on Romney’s face. Rick Perry came in loaded up to speak aggressively for his energy plan, and spoke with an energy and conviction that has not come through in previous debates. Romney came under the most intense fire he has faced in any of the 2011 debates and while he handled it well, the criticisms of his record are legitimate and will sting. Romney’s red face as he tried to to redirect the examination over to Newt Gingrich revealed that he knew the night wasn’t going well for him.
Herman Cain also faced the toughest questioning of any debate so far, regarding his 9-9-9 tax plan, and handled it mostly with his usual humor and wit. The former talk radio host can engage in an open debate with the best of them, but his lack of depth showed in spots. He didn’t seem to know the details of his 9-9-9 plan early on. Cain did do well when discussing his ideas for reforming health care: No mandates, but focus on market-based reforms like allowing purchase across state lines. Nothing new, but nothing wrong with any of it either.
Perry also hit Romney directly for “hypocrisy” for having hired illegal aliens. Romney laughed and denied, but the story has been out there since 2007 or thereabouts. Romney lost his cool, for the second time. Perry scored another direct hit, and Mitt turned red again. The ice man melted.
Perry also did well on the question of securing the border: It’s about a fence, plus other security measures including technology and boots on the ground. Bachmann got in a jab about the president’s illegal alien relatives who keep popping up in the news, before moving on to declare that she would build a fence along the entire border. There is actually less policy daylight between most of the candidates on the border than the stage arguments suggest, but the arguments drew out some personalities, and it’s hard to see Romney benefiting from the exchange.
Tonight’s was the most lively debate, and does have the potential to change the race a bit. Perry came to fight and from tax policy to spending to funding the UN, showed that his issue knowledge is broad. Romney wasn’t prepared to take hits from so many other candidates. Romney’s packed supporters in the audience and other blogs provided some soundtrack to back their man up but I doubt it did much good. Romney’s cool broke too many times for his own good. His whining about being talked over, when he isn’t shy about interrupting others, was entertaining but revealed a thin skin. Romney probably had his best moment during the religion debate, but that’s such tired ground now and Romney has so overreached on that issue that it’s unlikely to make any difference.
This was Perry’s best night. He took control when he needed to, threw the president’s and his competitors’ words against them at opportune moments, and showed a strong and knowledgeable presence going toe to toe with Romney. Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann also had good nights. Gingrich can speak brilliantly on any policy thrown at him. His brief closing statement showed that he is among the adults in the room. Santorum spoke very well on values. Cain and Romney took sustained fire and handled it unevenly. Cain was at his worst on the question of whether he would contemplate releasing terrorists held at Gitmo in exchange for an American hostage. There is simply no way to justify his answer to Wolf Blitzer, earlier today. Ron Paul was, infuriatingly, Ron Paul, capable of saying things at the edge of brilliance but coupling them with statements that make little sense or betray a hole in his moral thinking. While I admire his logical mind, I don’t admire some of the places it takes him.
The clear winner tonight was Rick Perry. He looked like a seasoned leader who has found his voice, at last. Newt Gingrich came in a strong second, Cain and Santorum follow him and Romney follows them. He was strong in spots but had trouble keeping his cool, an d had no good answers to explain his own policy history. Passion is one thing; all of the candidates brought that tonight. Edging close to revealing a Hulk moment is something else.
There was something else different about tonight’s debate. In past debates, Romney’s press team has easily outpaced all of the other campaigns combined in the number of press releases they sent out while the debate continued. Not so, tonight. The Perry press team must have rolled over the Romney team 8 to 1 or more. From the top on down, the Perry team is moving with a new energy.
The author Bryan Preston must have written this horse shit way before the debate was actually over!
Try again Bryan!
The Winner! :)
Yes, I believe that was Perry's finest moment tonight.
I wish he'd had time to elaborate.
Perry answered first and said “No”. Everyone else had some weasel BS.
“Rick Santorum threw a blizzard of punches at Mitt Romney early over his claim that as president, Romney, the author of RomneyCare, would repeal ObamaCare. The punches landed and the damage showed on Romney’s face. Rick Perry came in loaded up to speak aggressively for his energy plan, and spoke with an energy and conviction that has not come through in previous debates. Romney came under the most intense fire he has faced in any of the 2011 debates..”
Yahooooo! It’s about time they hit Romney!
Perry seems to be bullheaded with a short fuse.
Mitt seems to be able to assassinate people with words.
They were both appalling, IMO.
My wife and I noticed that and she commented on it.
“Governor Rick Perry hit the ball out of the ball park when he said, we must defund the UN.”
It was a good point by Perry, but not a “home run”.
Unfortunately Perry’s policies would use the money we save defunding the UN to subsidize and incentivize illegal aliens coming into the country.
You are correct. I set the parameters and goals for FR, long ago and have to re-post them occasionally for back sliders.
Here’s one of my recent re-posts:
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One more time:
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Sorry, Saundra, but Mitt Romney’s RINO liberal/progressive record of pushing, advocating, sustaining and defending Roe v Wade, gay rights, gun control, global warming, big government anti-liberty socialist programs like RomneyCare, TARP, bailouts, and the PORKULUS package disqualifies him from any consideration whatsoever from this pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun, pro-liberty conservative organization for the presidency. RomneyBots who cannot live with this fact are free to post elsewhere. Those who continue to defy my wishes, continue to insult FR, insult our members, etc, will ultimately find their welcome run out.
Watch the whole thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7OQoBxZZPqU
Right On. Some above thought Bachmann was so good. Not. I totally agree with you & for your reason. Perry was way over the top & looked at times childish. Newt won.
Romney lost the debate, but Perry sure didn’t “win”. He again needed a case of Red Bull, as he continued his maddening habit of losing his train of thought halfway through his points. He would not do well against Obama in a debate. Newt would be zerO’s worst nightmare.
UH huh. So wheat growers will not pay tax. Flour processors will not pay tax. Bakeries will not pay tax.
Grocery Stores will not pay tax. Just little ole you going in to buy your loaf of bread will be paying tax.
IT’S A VAT TAX, PERIOD.
You are responding to the wrong poster.
Jonrick 46 made the "home run" analogy.
However, I agree with what Governor Perry said and find arguements about semantics to be unnecessary.
In my previous post, I did say that Perry did better than other debates. However, your post is ridiculous for real. Perry will NOT be the nomination no matter how much you sugar coat it or wish for it every night. His campaign will be the Fred Thompson campaign. I suffered through the Fred Thompson fan club last round where after every debate they thought he won. It was so sad. When you are a fan of someone, you get blinded by reality (everyone does). I was pleasantly surprised by my candidate tonight Cain....however, he did not win the debate. I am honest enough to say that. I do believe he will end up the nominee though.
“Um..sorry. As much as I appreciate Perry and could support him for president, any honest appraisal of the debates is that, once again, Newt has carried the night.”
Newt can carry any debate any place, anywhere, in any decade. He is a familiar government wizard and we’ve turned to him for a comfort fix in these horrible times. I think he’s earned any position in government he wants when the new president takes over.
I appreciate Rick Perry and hope he can convince the public that debate is not the whole picture. It would be a make or break moment if he would hint at a running mate.
A bad typist trying to type too fast...
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