Posted on 01/19/2012 4:09:17 PM PST by kristinn
And then there were three and a half minds left campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.
Hosted by CNN's John King at the North Charleston Coliseum.
I wish Romney would stop using reagan’s line about a “shining beacon on a hill”
Though he almost did genuine passion in his closing!
The debate was not what I expected at all. I expected more Newt fireworks but after the first question, things got kind of boring. Still, I think Newt performed strongest in the debate overall. Here is my take on how they ranked:
***Winner*** Newt Gingrich - Not by a large margin however. Newt knocked it out of the park by rocking the moderator on his heels on the first question. The rest of the night, Newt gave competent enough answers to remain in first place overall. His closing statement was sort of strong also.
Runner up was Mitt Romney. Hate to say it but Mitt had a much better debate than Monday night. His only stumbles was over his tax returns and the abortion issue. Otherwise, he had a strong performance overall and also had a very strong closing statement.
Ron Paul finished a strong third. I still think Ron Paul is crazy but he was very likable in this debate.
Rick Santorum...what can I say. Big disappointment and he is finished as a serious candidate. He spent the entire night attacking his fellow Republicans (especially Newt) and came across as a whiny, petulant crybaby. Seriously lacking in charisma and likability. If nominated, he'd lose to Obama in a landslide.
Barring the extreme long-shot of Sarah Palin getting into this in February, these are the four candidates we have left. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are basically finished. So it's between Romney and Gingrich.
I'm going to have to go along with JimRob and throw my support behind Newt Gingrich. He is the one with passion and the intensity that is needed to beat Obama in November. Yes, he has a lot of personal baggage but if the nation can re-elect a scumbag like Bill Clinton who had oral sex in the White House from a intern, then I'm not too worried about the fact that Newt has two ex-wives. I must say however, wife number 3, Callista, creeps me out a little. Still, she'd be an improvement on the current First Lady.
I like his appealing to manufacturing and the advocate he is for the importance of the basic family unit. For me it's not enough to overcome the troubling things.
“Now we’ll hear Anderson Cooper tell us which candidate turns him on sexually the most.”
Perry’s not in the race anymore..
It's like: "I raised 23 foster children and I'm a tax attorney". She might still be in there if she hadn't done that.
Three way tie: Mitt, Newt, Rick.
Do you have any evidence that contradicts Newt’s conversion?
Facts, such as the facts that Romney did a great deal to support abortion services via inaction at a minimum in Massachusetts?
I’d bet Newt is the only one on that stage who even knows who Saul Alinsky was.
Newt was the only one who really had any memorable lines this evening. I think his condemnation of the media will be what people remember the most.
Romney was obviously perturbed by something. I’m not sure what, but he was stuttering, buying time with meaningless platitudes, and saying “I agree” on practically every other answer. I’d love to see a tally of how many times he said “I agree.”
Ron Paul looks good when they keep foreign policy away from him. He seemed, dare I say, lucid tonight.
Santorum is finished. I’m sorry, Santorum supporters, but his performance tonight can’t be considered anything other than an implosion. I didn’t catch his answer on SOPA, but if he even came out as moderately in favor of it, there’s no way in hell he’ll get elected. Opposition to SOPA is so fierce that even Barack Obama caved in and came out against it.
#CNNDebate is over, go to @CNNLive to listen to cheerleading for who will buy the most ads/can be beat by Obama with Jim Acosta.
I understand. Let’s hold their feet to the fire.
I think the trend is good, they’re all signing up.
I agree with you.
And here's Santorum, agreeing with Newt on illegal immigration, several months back.
Roll tape....
GINGRICH: [to Santorum]: We should make English the official language of government. We should insist that first-generation immigrants who come here learn American history in order to become citizens. We should also insist that American children learn American history. And then find a way to deal with folks who are already here, some of whom, frankly, have been here 25 years, are married with kids, live in our local neighborhood, go to our church. It's got to be done in a much more humane way than thinking that to automatically deport millions of people.
SANTORUM: My solution is very similar to Newt Gingrich's. We should not have a debate talking about how we don't want people to come to this country, but we want them to come here like my grandfather and my father came here. They made sacrifices. They came in the 1920s. There were no promises. There were no government benefits. They came because they wanted to be free and they wanted to be good law-abiding citizens.
(My bold)
Not a good debate. The main highlight was Gingrich’s response to the 1st question. The rest has been pretty dull. Santorum did not help himself with this one. Romney as the usual held his own but scored no grwoth points. Newt was good as always. Paul was insignificant as usual.
CNN “forgets” to include Newt’s Epic Bitchslap in it’s Deabte recap.
Gee...
Whodathunkit.
I think Mitt had his best debate but sounded REALLY BAD on his taxes...1st. Newt did well but not as well as Mon... 2nd. Paul sounded sane compared to Santorum ... 3rd. Santorum looked like a drwoning man. 4th
I’m from Pennsylvania and I was surprised at what he said. Didn’t know he liked big gov. so much.
LOVE that Sign!
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