OK...from the middle. Here's my synopsis.
Looks like they all received that Reagan commandment; "Thou shall not trash a fellow republican"...not an exact quote...but you get the idea. I was prepared for Gingrich to attack Romney after all of those negative ads by some PAC that is allegedly is comprised of Romney's Wall Street buddies.
Romney was definitely the winner from what I saw here in the middle...Santorum tried to put him down by saying CEOs aren't leaders. Romney turned it around to make Rick look like a non-business guy who has been in Washington and maybe even lobbying too long.
Gingrich brought up Baine Capital (spelling?)...some company Romney led...but he didn't hit it home. He didn't explain it well enough for us to understand. What does it mean? Why should we care.
But nobody took on Romney.
Was Rick Perry there? He had the best hair of the night, but he seemed absent and when he had the chance to say something he sucked up to the Christian right by saying he would stop the bigotry against Christians in this country...what? Isn't like 90% of this country Christian...or is that just here in the middle.
Santorum was the loser...I guess because he basically tied in Iowa (time and hard work pays off I guess as he visited every county in Iowa)...and he just seemed all over the place tonight. I can't even remember anything he said except being rude to Ron Paul when the buzzer went off accidentally. Rick Santorum said, "the buzzer went off because you're lying again" or something like that...it was muffled, which was even more annoying. If you're going to be snarky, go big...or don't go at all. One should never "half-ass" snarky!
When Santorum decided to perk up and take on Romney for real, it was about the distinction between middle class and middle income people..."We don't have classes in this country. I'm not going to play to that class warfare. If I'm the nominee, I won't allow the word class in the lexicon" I perked up because it was the most animated he had been all night and then he wastes my time by banning the word "class" from the lexicon!
And this whole anti-gay marriage thing. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have no idea why we're focusing on this issue. I think it was Santorum who said something about heterosexual marriage being the institution that is central to our country's founding. What?
Gingrich was a loser because he is supposed to be such a great debater, and he seems intelligent and knowledgeable about a lot of issues, but just didn't have much substance tonight.
I heard more from Huntsman than I recall during this whole process. He made some sense but then started speaking Chinese (trying to hard to look smart...or pro-China...don't think they get to vote though). I agree with him that taking on China isn't as simple as Romney makes it sound when it comes to leveling the playing field. But here in the middle, Romney spoke to us by giving us a list of all the things China has been doing---all the things they have been doing to cheat! Stealing our patents, copying our products, hacking our computers, depressing the valuation of their currency (and he explained without making me feel stupid, why the currency thing matters).
Ron Paul always entertains. "Freedom is just another word for having nothing left to lose"....he just says what he thinks and it's kind of liberating. He has some good points and some shortcomings but I feel he really respects the Constitution and understands the connection between economic health and our country's national security.
As for our commentators, I thought the NH reporter did really well. George Stephanapoulous was good. I have always admired Diane Sawyer so much...what happened? Did someone tell her she had to act perky and silly and dumb? Am I the only one who thought that she appeared really ditzy and silly and then she went on and on about George Stephanapoulos doing the This Week show on Sunday. I'm all about trying to create the good ole girls network, but not at the expense of being honest. Maybe the botox they made her inject in her forehead affected her behavior. While on the botox, what did they do to Mary Matlin (spelling)...the lady who is married to Carvel. She's so botoxed up she has no expression. I can't understand the emotion behind what someone is saying if their muscles are so paralyzed by botox that they can't move their forehead.
I'm sorry this isn't a very scholarly review of the debate. I just wanted to type the stuff that came to my mind...sitting here in the middle. Now, I can listen to the news people for a couple days to see what I should have thought...ha ha.
Thanks for reading. What did you think about the debate?
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