The Debate That Wasn't

As many people did, I watched the debate last night. I wish I had my two hours back.

If the purpose of the debate was to depress a libertarian-leaning Republican, then mission accomplished! Similarly, if the purpose was to excite establishment Republicans, then the debate was a success.

Some takeaways:

Could the Fox News panel have been any more anti-Trump?
Only way to contain the man seems to be limiting his comment time.

Could Fox News have been any more pro-Bush?
This may be the only reason the man is polling around 13%.

Huckabee actually looked and sounded the best up there.
And that's scary, because the man is a compromise waiting to happen.

Rubio and Cruz looked pretty darn good.
But it seemed Fox wanted to ignore Cruz.

Christie showed passion.
Now I understand how he got elected in New Jersy. Make no mistake though, he is a raging Socialist Democrat. And that showed, too.

Carson was flat, and ended strong.
For the low to medium IQ, low-information voter. This is the largest voting block, but Carson cannot keep this momentum with this group. He's too intelligent... they will get turned off at something else he says down the road. Mark my words.

Rand Paul. Great ideas. Great passion. No leadership.
I wish we could bottle Rand Paul's convictions and Donald Trump's  charisma and Alpha-male leadership into a single man. This person would win. Rand Paul is too nice, and it showed.

Scott Walker is overwhelmingly average.
This could be to his advantage. If he can stay in the upper part of the middle pack, and watch as the other candidates self-destruct, then he could be last man standing by the time the nomination is up for grabs.

Kasich was in his home court.
The man would not have been on the stage otherwise. Make no mistake, he's as liberal and willing to compromise as Christie, Huckabee, and Bush. Having the home crowd cheer for you can make you sound better than you are, and that happened last night.

Best exchange
Christie vs. Paul on national security. Sadly, Rand seemed to back down, and Christie got fired up... and the thousands in attendance largely cheered the loss of American freedoms under the pretense of security.

Best quip
Tie to Carson and Huckabee.

Huck started on a laundry list that appeared aimed at Trump, and the punch-line was Hillary instead. Brilliant move. I predict Huckabee plays spoiler more than once before next August.

Carson pointed out he was the only man on stage who had removed half a human brain, but from the looks of it, someone in Washington had beat him to it.  Great line.


Note
The "conservative" media is saying Trump lost badly. The liberal media is saying he may have distanced himself even more from the field. Let's see who is more accurate.