A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
The best way to make sense of last night’s debate probably was watching the rerun with the sound turned off while reading the transcript. I wasn’t smart enough to do that.
Some takeaways:
Ben Carson. His voice is so steady and soothing that people get lost in the melody and don’t hear the lyrics. Shame on the moderators for not grilling him on the deviations from the truth in his life story.
Donald Trump. He’s running on style, not substance, presenting himself as a take-charge trouble shooter who will know what he needs to know when he needs to know it. Last night he needed to know that China was not part of the TPP, but didn’t. Rand Paul did.
Rand Paul. Like everyone else on stage, he had a tax “reform” plan that depended on magic asterisks and divine exemptions from Christian charity and the laws of economics. But he did well on foreign policy. Unlike Marco Rubio, he doesn’t believe in shooting first and trying diplomacy later.
Marco Rubio. Of all the debaters, he was the most skilled at avoiding a straight answer to a straight question. At times I thought he was selling war bonds. And like Jeb Bush, he needs to restart the Cold War so that the world makes sense again.
Jeb Bush. A new persona. He spoke more rapidly and with greater self-assurance, the result, no doubt, of extensive (and emergency) media training. He still comes across as a man who wants to govern but not campaign.
John Kasich. He didn’t help himself with the audience, but he may have with voters by arguing that facts matter and that government has a duty to help working Joes on Elm Street as much as gambling Joes on Wall Street.
Ted Cruz. He’s a hard metal man. He’d prosecute the gambling Joes on Wall Street, then return the country to the gold standard. He clearly hasn’t read Barry Eichengreen’s Golden Fetters. As befits a man from Texas, home of Rick Perry, he could only remember four of the five cabinet departments he’d eliminate.
Carly Fiorina. Turn off the sound. She looks and gestures like a Stepford wife. Read the transcript. She’s clueless. Her big moment? She one-upped Trump on knowing Vladimir Putin. She also presented herself as an expert, experienced executive. That took chutzpah (but not shame; she has none).