I took 4 pages of notes as the debate wore on. Charlie Rose is a total bore and horrible as a moderator.
Entire debate was about jobs and the economy, and two hours is just too much. Candidates were repeating themselves and the crowd was asleep – only one or two mediocre rounds of applause.
Basically, there was nothing new. Everyone was gunning for Romney and he was prepared with canned answers. One funny response was Cain’s 9/9/9 plan vs. Romney’s 59 point plan and who’s was the simplest! NOT Romney’s!
All the candidates had their stock answers, and since I’ve watched all the debates to date, I’d heard it all before.
The closing question gave them all a chance to 'out poor' each other - Romney and Huntsman must have grown up wealthy because they didn't join in on that
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY TO CONNECT WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE to say you feel their pain?
Bachmann: parents had divorced – grew up poor – has 23 foster kids – solutions close to home – care on a personal basis you don’t need big government
Cain – was po before he was poor – dad had 3 jobs – has a record of a leader working on the right problems – surround yourself with the right people! Yaaaaa – good answer
Newt – army brat – moved – relatives out of work – sense of pain – hire you to solve the problem – all there are more likely to solve those problems than Obama
Paul – promotes liberty – free market system – humanitarian program – welfare and socialists states backfire
Santorum – steel town kid – manufacturing left – people skilled workers
Huntsman – presided over a state that had lowest unemployment in the country – yada yada
Perry – son of tenant farmers and Air Force member – has CEO experience from working with private sector - needed to pump his experience more
Romney – we're in a crisis – people wonder about kid’s future – America needs leadership – and will make military second to none - a line he's used before
IN CONCLUSION:
Paul – makes strong points and then drowns them in nutty soup – he’s only still in because he has the resources to bus in his people to vote in straw polls – his money will run out soon and he can go home
Perry – he’s toast – the good ole Texas boy isn’t gonna cut it and his answers all night were rambling – he does not think well on his feet
Romney – nothing new but said it better – and he got way more time than any of the others – poor management by the moderator who lost control a couple of times
Bachmann was a rerun of a broken record….. I think she’s done
Cain stood his ground, got a few laughs, and sounded very comfortable and confident – best line all night was he would surround himself with good people – that’s a MUST
Newt scored but didn’t get much face time – but made VERY strong points and knows the opponent is Obama – I think Newt will withdraw soon – and I hate that because for a change, Newt is focused on Obama as the target
Huntsman – same old stuff and too clever by half.
Santorum used his small amount of time wisely but don’t know if he made any inroads – probably not
Basically the debate was boring, the questioning was laborious and the answers even more so.
Give this one to Romney, but I think we are in a 2-man race now – Cain and Romney.
