Debate winners and losers, including CNN and Fox

Debate Winners & Losers, Including CNN and Fox

The View from the Middle

Let me give you a very top line winner from yesterday’s debates and that was the American people.  15 of the 16 candidates came across as knowledgeable and articulate with a firm grasp on the issues.  They may have differed in approach at times, but even the stances I disagreed with were thoughtful and sound.  This did encourage me as to the strength of the bench in the Republican Party.

For those who weren’t willing to invest four hours to catch the undercard debate, the real winner was Lindsey Graham.  He was articulate and humorous, like when he suggested they would do more drinking in the White House if he were President, using Tip O’Neil and Ronald Reagan as a model.  But also, his message was clear and concise.  We need to kick ISIS’s butt no matter what it takes or else they will be here soon.  I’m not sure if this performance was enough to elevate him to the main event next time, but I think he was the clear winner of the early session.

In my opinion, Chris Christie was the winner of the main event.  He was tough but humorous and quick on his feet.  His line that Ben Carson “must have been talking about some of the other guys” when Ben questioned the motives of career politicians was classic and delivered with a smile.  He did have a theme thoughout that started in the very beginning.  He said this debate was not about him or any of the other candidates, but about the American people, and I liked that.

Carly Fiorina put in another solid performance.  Her grasp of the issues is impressive, and I love her drumbeat that government is too big, too corrupt, too inefficient, too complicated and it is crushing the average American.  Her connection of the Iran nuclear deal and government support of Planned Parenthood was very effective.  She said the Iran deal is about the defense of the security of this country and eliminating support for Planned Parenthood is about the defense of the character of this country.  She also challenged Hillary and Obama, very emotionally, to watch those videos and defend their support of Planned Parenthood funding.

The support for Donald Trump still mystifies me.  If his words had come out of any other candidate’s mouth, it would have been considered an implosion and probably the end of that candidate’s Presidential aspirations.  His personal attacks on Rand Paul, Jeb Bush (and George W), Governor Pataki, et al, are childish and impudent, and his knowledge of this issues is thin at best.  Despite all this, most people think that he won the debate.  I’m not a Trump hater or lover, but if I’m honest with myself, his performance last night was mediocre at best.

The biggest loser was CNN.  They made the debate way too long because they could sell the advertising and not because it was the best thing for the candidates or the American people.  They also tried to turn the debate into a Jerry Springer style slugfest by pitting the candidates against each other at every opportunity.  Thankfully, the candidates resisted more often than not.  Finally, because of their planned format they lost control of the event quite often and annoyingly interrupted the candidates when they felt their time was up.  Annoying being the key word.

The final loser this morning was Fox News as they tried to criticize CNN for doing exactly what they did in the last debate.  Generally, I’m a fan of Fox, but I have to call them out when they are out of line, and trust me, they did no better job in the last debate than CNN did last night!!