Ken Berwitz
Here is my overall impression of last night\’s first-tier presidential debate on CNN and – in the order they stood on stage from left to right – the candidates and how I think they made out.
Overall, I did not like the debate format. With 11 people on stage and all of them going against the front-runner, Donald Trump, you cannot allow it to be a free-form free-for-all. Not if you want a serious debate. Because the front-runner will respond to each of those attacks when they are made, and wind up with a hugely disproportionate amount of time compared to everyone else.
But since CNN was treating this like an entertainment show rather than a debate – including the asking of a number of frankly stupid questions designed to get candidates into shouting matches rather than to explain their positions on issues, I probably should not have expected more.
Regarding the individual candidates:
Rand Paul: One of the several candidates who got little speaking time because CNN decided to make this the Trump-Vs.-The-World show. Made his points about not going to war, and little else. He is nowhere, and going nowhere, except back to the Senate.Mike Huckabee: Little speaking time. And, other than his very spirited and logical attack on the Iran “deal”, and his concept of religious freedom as superseding the law, made no headway. Does Fox News have another time slot for him?Marco Rubio: Intelligent, articulate, young, photogenic, and answered very well – especially by pointing out his “from the people” background (is there anything in the world more ludicrous than Hillary Clinton trying to do the same?) One of the night\’s winners.Ted Cruz: What you see is what you get. An honest, plain-spoken, hard right candidate – the Republican answer to Bernie Sanders. His support is what it is, and I doubt he either helped or hurt himself.Ben Carson: Understated, deliberate, reasonable, but sounding neither like a knowledgeable candidate nor an outsider who would shake things up. How I wish he had stayed out of this, and kept his legacy as the world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon he is. (That said, however, recent polls show Carson gaining ground on Trump, which suggests he might be the new “flavor of the month”…possibly in line to supplant Trump as Republicans\’ favorite outsider, before voters get serious about the real candidates.)Donald Trump: A disaster. Yeah, I know he\’s going to “win” the debate” in most polls. But what he\’s actually winning is that he is very good at getting the last word in an argument – even when he is being personally nasty (the reference to Rand Paul\’s looks) or contradicting himself (telling Carly Fiorina she is “beautiful” after insulting her face). CNN clearly decided that it would keep its cameras trained on Trump throughout the debate – and what we saw was an arrogant, bloviating, hugely egotistical man who thinks that it is his job to judge – usually very negatively – everything everyone else says rather than offer serious ideas that solve problems. Incidentally, Trump lied about his efforts to push casino gambling in Florida. But saying one thing one day and the opposite the next day is no surprise when it comes to Donald Trump, it is a way of life to him. I think he is now at his high point and about to take a major tumble.Jeb Bush: Did much better this time than last time. Came across as more forceful and articulated his positions more forcefully – including the “he kept us safe” line about his brother…which Democrats, I assure you, will try to debunk by blaming his brother for 9/11. He gained ground, and probably gave his big donors at least a temporary respite from the dry heaves they had before this debate took place.Scott Walker: – Walker got relatively little air time, but did well when he spoke. Forcefully disputed Trump\’s assertion – which happens to be a BS Democrat talking point – that he put Wisconsin 2.2 billion dollars in the hole instead of extricating it from fiscal mess it was in when he took office. Other than that, nothing especially memorable. I doubt he helped himself much.Carly Fiorina: – Another one of the winners – maybe the biggest winner of all. Fiorina was poised, articulate, sounded knowledgeable and generally acquitted herself very well. She scored points by putting Trump in his place when she called him out on his obnoxious, mean-spirited, small-minded insult to her looks (after which Trump came across as even worse by then telling her she looked “beautiful”, which not only was completely opposite of his original insult, thus BS, but again defined Ms. Fiorina by her looks, which will (correctly) be seized upon by feminists as chauvinist garbage. On the negative side, her comment about a Planned Parenthood video with a live baby on a table ready to be cut up and harvested was wrong. Ugly though Planned Parenthood\’s behavior was in those videos, that particular baby was not being harvested. Overall, I think Fiorina helped herself a lot last night.John Kasich: A loser, and a surprisingly big loser at that. His “I was the only one who…” routine, even if it had truth to it, sounded exactly like the kind of political blah-blah-blah voters are sick of. Also, for what it\’s worth, Kasich may have the single worst haircut in the history of politics. Even James Traficant\’s fright wigs looked better coiffed and more sophisticated. A sinking ship.Chris Christie: A winner. Got relatively little speaking time, but made the most of it, and may have resurrected his candidacy, which had been falling by the wayside. In my opinion, Christie got off the single best line of the night – and there was plenty of competition – when, after listening to Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina engage in a CNN-provoked mini-debate on the success level of their careers, he said this:“While I\’m asentertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history ofDonald and Carly\’s career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in thataudience tonight who doesn\’t have a job, who can\’t fund his child\’s education,I\’ve got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, theycare about theirs. Let\’s start talking about that onthis stage and stop playing — and stop playing the games.”
In one fell swoop, Christie not only gave CNN the business for how it was running the debate, but showed voters he knew what they really cared about. Tremendous.
One other thing: if I never see Hugh Hewitt on a debate stage asking questions again, it will be fine with me. He is a flyweight, whose major contribution was “proving” his personal conservative credentials rather than asking meaningful questions in a professional way. I don\’t agree with Donald Trump on a lot of things, but his assessment of Hewitt as a “third rate” show host is right on target.
