Five impressions from Fiorina’s debut at CNN’s food fight.
AmericanSpectator- Our readers probably watched the CNN debate Wednesday night and therefore do not need this writer to tell them what they saw. So I won’t bore you with a rundown.
Instead, a few impressions to offer of the 11 candidates scratching and clawing for airtime amid Jake Tapper’s incessant attempts to turn a crowded political debate into a WWE-style food fight…
1. Carly Fiorina won. That’s pretty clear. She won because she gave Republican voters what we want — the aura of a strong leader with passionate convictions who’s not afraid to articulate them with an edge. Fiorina tore Donald Trump apart with a very few words when asked about his insulting comments about her face, she gave one of the best answers about Planned Parenthood and whether an effort should be made to defund it, and her foreign policy answers displayed a knowledge of national security and American interest that for eight years hasn’t even been part of the analysis in the White House. That’s impressive for a non-politician; her fellow outsiders in the race have both suffered fairly significantly from a lack of specificity on policy, particularly foreign policy, that Fiorina has largely overcome.
2. Donald Trump opened the debate by beating up on Rand Paul, but by the end the buzz seems to be that he got taken to the cleaners. That’s what the critics were saying, of course, and the critics have always dismissed Trump. His fans won’t hear anything of the sort, and they’re right to say that he didn’t make any suicidal gaffes outside of perhaps dabbling, though not too deeply, in the anti-vaxxer goofery and after the debate Ben Carson clobbered him for suggesting that vaccines cause autism.
But at some point he’s going to have to move beyond “When I’m president, we’ll have the classiest and most luxurious vaccines you’ve ever seen,” and demonstrate that he has the kind of policy knowledge that Fiorina showed off in her first foray onto the big stage.
3. Ted Cruz gives good answers, but it’s been two debates now in which it sure seemed like nobody wanted to give him any time to speak.
She won?…..did not think that.
She clearly won.
I agree with the Cruz comment…I was watching and was like, “Where’s Ted?”
Trump, love his classic American idealism..
Marco Rubio, a sharp clear talking man..
Carson I think will get a respectable percentage of the black vote because hey…
Bush has an eloquent voice, believe he rides the coat tails of his family, don’t think he’s got
the stuff to lead the nation soley on his immigration stance.
Christie, Huckabee, Paul, Walker, no strong ops
on them.
Yeah – I stopped reading that article after reading item #1.
Seemed to me she did. It also seemed that the moderators kept her out of many of the discussions. IMO And her Planned Parenthood bit was both passionate and persuasive.
(No, my wife did not force me to say this.)
Carly? Not so much..
Nobody won the non-debate-debate. They all just look like craven fools played by the media for entertainment purposes! Hey, puppets, dance to my stupid questions! But then again since we have this innate need to have to name a winner of every human activity we participate in then why not Trump?
Although I’ve liked her, I realized that it was because she was the best at going after Hillary. With this debate, however, her debate style cloyed. I’ve seen her one too many times: Robotic and stern. A little too much of the scold. She has her moments, but personality and humor matter, too.
Yeah she won all right, she won the Biggest Crunt on the Stage Award-she’s grating and really puts me off. It’s so obvious the media is using her to undermine Trump’s support.
She gives the same answer almost word for word in every venue. I went from initially liking her to ashtray through the screen when she was talking.
The most glaring aspect of the debate for me was just how mealy mouthed Ben Carson is. How in the world anyone thinks thus guy has the stones to be the president is a mystery to me.
The GOPe must be feeling pretty shitty having put their eggs in the Jeb! basket, the guy has loser oozing from every pore. I loved his demanding that Trump apologize for some imagined slight to his wife and Trump telling him to piss off(in so many words)
And their back up guy, Rubio, was a close second to Fiorina for that Crunt award. If you want to have a good drinking game where everyone is sure to be higher then kites, take a drink every time Rubio tells a story about his grandfather or father. We Get It Dude.
Cruz, for the small amount of time he gets, easily won and Walker was OK. Christie also was pretty good but his ship left the dock in 2012. Trump by virtue of keeping his cool, also was a winner.
Rand Paul should drop out, his BS has totally worn thin.
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
You velly funny TROLL.
To praise FioRINO and Senor “Citizenship For Illegals” Rubio tells me all I need to know about what has become of The American Spectator.
PHHHHHHT!!
Yeah, she won all right. If the Oscar goes to the one who was best at giving studied responses that were practiced over and over again in front of the bathroom mirror. She’s a natural politician. Her Capra-esque monologue at the end was certainly Oscar-worthy. But she didn’t answer the question. Conservatives are not so cheaply bought by smooth-talking people who think they’ve carefully punched all the right buttons. She came on the scene because Forbes was hard-up for a woman to profile. Trump was right about her tenure at HP and I hope he elaborates on her failures at Lucent. After today’s analysis of her performance by many writers, she will no doubt believe she has been green-lighted to go after Trump with her line of attack about bankruptcy. I hope she does and I hope Trump is up on the facts of her affirmative action rise to the top of the high-tech heap only to leave under a cloud.
This article from U.S. News about her political ambitions and unintentionally implicit motives for making the choices she’s made. An early career in technology sales is a good start for an opportunist of any stripe. http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2014/09/30/carly-fiorinas-medieval-history-major-inspires-young-female-conservatives
(Read my link in the BP about her gushing admiration for Jesse Shakedown Jackson)
She’s not Snow White or Joan of Arc. She’s a smooth-talking pol who would sell her own mother if there was an upside — just ask the 30K people at HP who lost their jobs to what she spun as “Right shoring” (pol-speak for: moving their jobs to another country). So when she talks about unlocking people’s God-given talents she must be talking about those folks in some other country. Don’t even get me started on her views on so-called global warming.
Excellent.
Fiorina is a big supporter of illegals, both with the Dream Act and the disparaging of any talk of eliminating the Anchor Baby scam. She also wants more H1B visas issued to cheap foreign IT workers. As in LOTS MORE. The CofC loves her. If Jeb! ain’t up to it(he’s not), they’ll throw him under the Fiorina bus in a heartbeat
Any conservative supporting her is definitely a lo-fo.
A Cruz Super Pac gave her $500,000.00-WTF was that all about?
Great summation, MM.
Fiorina reminds me too much of Hillary, but without the warmth.
MM — She’s there for one reason and one reason only. And the RNC is foursquare behind (more likely in front of) Zucker’s decision to include her in this debate — despite her average polling numbers (forget what the press says and read the polls). She shouldn’t have been there at all if the rules hadn’t been changed. She was there to attack Trump and used every opening to do so. It was pathetically obvious. If she does a good job for the RNC they will probably reward her with an agency directorship, like the IRS or better yet, IT Czar — so she can wreck that, too.
If you found that what I wrote is funny I’d say that your sense of humor sucks – like that vacuous hole in between your ears. And let me fix your know-nothing assumption (again); I’ve been reading this blog daily for the last 3+ years. I’ve posted perhaps hundreds of comments. But like most “trolls” who visit this site, I don’t comment as neurotically frequent as you, Energizer. I’m not sure how you do it, aside from not having a life, but typing while holding Trump’s pom-poms is surely worth noting. Congratulations. Your butterfaced candidate looked weak and petty last night. But I won’t bash him too badly – I’m voting for the man if it comes down it. Are we clear? Good. Great. Now kindly piss off.
I agree, both debates were designed for televised ratings and NOT to inform the voters. Pretty much Kabuki Theater with biased moderators at both, Fiorina being allowed to constantly interrupt the CNN debate, etc.
By the way, pretty much all of the post debate polls give the win to Trump.
If we don’t get Trump’s immigration policy implemented soon than none of the other candidates positions on anything will matter!
Carly is unelectable and I am with AA. Laughed my ass off when Jeb asked Trump to apologize for nothing. What an ass!
The whole format has bias since they allow the audience to chime in. How many GOPe “Applause’ plants were there to clap and cheer on cue for her!
You’re a poor excuse for a troll, but you DO seem to have your moments. Yours seem to be more like stones one passes after being comstipated, but it’s a great feeling when they’re gone.
So, GO FUCK YOURSELF BACK, jackass!
All of them.
According to the polls I’m seeing, including Drudge, Trump SMOKED ’em. What the MSM lib-tards (and con-tards) think I could give a hot-steaming-pile about.