The 2012 Republican Primary thread, early edition

[San Juan Sun]

Biggest loser tonight?

Jon Huntsman. He boycotted the debate and no one even noticed.

[CJF]

I'm very surprised that the post debate analysis thought Perry did well. I thought he was brutal. He just comes across as someone who has been coached to hit certain issues regardless of the setting and then he fails to make the point. Bauchman was very similar but with her, she can at least complete the sentence. Perry struggles to do that well.

[old_gregg]

The fact that one can still consider casting a vote for Rick perry after hearing him speak is baffling. Dude is dumber than a bag of hammers. Herman Cain also got gangbanged over 9-9-9.

[venkman]

This is so amusing to watch. You have literally one person who can mount a serious challenge to Obama and he's the person the base least wants to nominate. Then you have the rest of the candidates who are all varying degrees of crazy and who apparently believe that out-crazying everyone else is the one trait that will win them the nomination.

High comedy.

I miss the "all conservatives are crazy" antics of CaliCoug.

[old_gregg]

I can't think of many phrases more offensive than "anchor baby."

[Moliere]

I never watch these debates, but just for fun I watched the highlights on CNN. It's obvious to me that Romney doesn't believe a lot of what he says. He's a pragmatist over anything else, which is very attractive to me. I was on the Huntsman bandwagon because the guy is definitely a pragmatist, but he's just awful at running a presidential campaign. Romney on the other hand seems to know what he's doing. He's avoiding catering too much to the Tea Party so we can move back closer to the center when the general elections comes along (if he gets the nomination).

In short, I'm liking Romney more and more. I think he's much more centric than he leads on and I like that.

Perry is W part deux, only W was actually somewhat well-spoken before he won in 2000.

Cain is likeable but all the guy has is pizzas and a horrible tax plan.

Bachmann is a loon. She wants to build a double-walled fence across the entire border . I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to fill it with tigers and lions ala the Colosseum back in Roman times.

Santorum needs to drop out quick. Pretty soon they'll just move his podium to a point on the stage behind the curtain so he can be properly ignored.

Huntsman was not there tonight so has he dropped out?

Paul cracks me up. He's like the great uncle I never had.

[Moliere]

This is so amusing to watch. You have literally one person who can mount a serious challenge to Obama and he's the person the base least wants to nominate. Then you have the rest of the candidates who are all varying degrees of crazy and who apparently believe that out-crazying everyone else is the one trait that will win them the nomination.

High comedy.

You said much more eloquently what I tried to say.

FTR, why do you say no one wants to nominate Romney? He's been the leader for a long time and being the leader tells me people want to nominate him.

[YOhio]

You said much more eloquently what I tried to say.

FTR, why do you say no one wants to nominate Romney? He's been the leader for a long time and being the leader tells me people want to nominate him.

He's been a leader who can't crack 30% in the polls.

[oxcoug]

He's been a leader who can't crack 30% in the polls.

As was pointed out though - 41% of Republicans think he is the most electable in a national election - by far the highest percentage in the field - that number suggests that a lot of the undecideds are leaning toward him.

And he won over Wayne Newton tonight (no joke) so he's got that going for him.

[falafel]

Was Bachman wearing her Navy dress whites? WTH?

The segments I've seen made Mitt look like a very good candidate. Rick Perry is an unprepared idiot with an unfortunate part in his hair.

[YOhio]

And he won over Wayne Newton tonight (no joke) so he's got that going for him.

Every time I hear of Wayne Newton I always think of how much he was loved by Balki Bartokomous.

[Moliere]

He's been a leader who can't crack 30% in the polls.

A good point, but is that an issue? I wonder what would happen if Bachmann and Perry both dropped out tonight. Would it be lights out for Romney as the Tea Party would move to support solely Cain? I really don't know since I don't typically watch debates. They are way too idealogical. Give me a list of how a candidate voted and I'll pick which one I like.

[calicoug]

I miss the "all conservatives are crazy" antics of CaliCoug.

All? No. Just the ones running. Come on- even you had to think that after watching this train wreck of a debate tonight. Mitt's the only one who isn't crazy and that's actually hurting his chances in the primary.

[San Juan Sun]

reading post-debate reaction across the Interwebs. It's amazing to see the vastly different conclusions people come to regarding winners/losers from watching the same debate. People truly see what the want to see.

I've spent all my waking moments since the debate ended reading various takes on the winner/losers from last night's debate. I'm amazed at how starkly different conclusions people can come to After watching the same debate. People actually think Rick Perry won!


What I saw:

- a desperate Perry try to engage Mitt in order to blunt memories of his previous lackluster debates (and take Mitt Dow a notch).
- I saw Mitt get angry, nut not nessecarily in a bad way, and generally block jabs from other candidates well.
- Santorum seems angry, but hurt Mitt the most on Romneycare, but that will get overblown by the Perry/ Romney dustup. Also, everyone knows about Romneycare, and Santorum's attacks won't erode Mitt's base of support.
- Cain's 9/9/9 took a beating, and his gaffe on trading prisoners with Al Qaeda wasn't good. He's likable, but his meteoric rise will fall back to earth.
- Ron Paul is Ron Paul.
- Michelle Bachman used to captain the Love Boat with that uniform.
- Huntsman was the big loser tonight. He boycotted the debate, and no one noticed.

[LA Ute]

I'm very surprised that the post debate analysis thought Perry did well. I thought he was brutal. He just comes across as someone who has been coached to hit certain issues regardless of the setting and then he fails to make the point. Bauchman was very similar but with her, she can at least complete the sentence. Perry struggles to do that well.

Seems to me that most people thought Perry did better than he has in the past, which tells you a lot about just how poorly he did in the past. So far the only people who think Perry won (a small minority) are Perry Kool-Aid drinkers.