Okay so this really isn't an official recap but this can give you a little insight into the people that are running for the Republican nomination and for president against President Obama next year.
All of the nominees were in attendance at the Ronald Reagan library. Everyone except Sarah Palin, though she has not officially thrown her hat into the ring. I seriously doubt that she will since Rep. Michelle Bachmann is running. There were some definite winners and losers on the night. Some people surprised me in a good way but for the majority it was the same rhetoric and talking points coming from everyone.
The most surprising and most compelling nominee is Utah governor Jon Huntsman. He made some great points and refused to get caught up in all the bashing and slick talk that the others willing and at times voluntarily participated in. Even when directly baited by co moderator Politico's John Harris to directly name someone on the panel that he had earlier problems with (Governor Rick Perry). When he refused to give in to the high school bully tactics, John Harris tried to flip Gov perry into talking about Gov Huntsman but he saw right through it.
Even though I feel like he was the most compelling and best suited to challenge President Obama based on his record as governor of Utah as well as his demeanor, I don't think that he will win the nomination because he is not a strong voice. He is more of a voice of reason and refuses to get into the cattiness like the others. This shows great moral character but will relish him to the sidelines alongside Herman Cain, and Michelle Bachmann.
Michelle Bachmann's stock has seemed to plummet. She has been called out by a number of talk shows. Every time she goes on one she seems to contradict something she either said earlier in her career or on another show. She needs to get her story straight and stick to it. And on a side note her hair looked horrible! I know that may be sexist of me to focus on how she dressed rather than her political views but her stance changes so much it's hard to keep up. Her hair is a constant mess! When a person does not look put together I can't put my faith in them. If you can't do anything as simple as combing your hair down or even dressing yourself properly or look presentable how can I have faith that you will know how to do anything else? Anyway, she was all over the place with her responses and even contradicted herself a few times.
Ron Paul made some interesting points every now and again. When he wasn't bashing Gov Perry. He always comes off as one of those old men at the senior home that has lived to see just about everything. every now and again he something that is compelling and totally on point but the other 80-85% is just gibberish and off the wall comments. I just think he's too old, this is his third time running for president. Give it a rest.
Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum gave much of the same. In Santorum's defense he was only asked a few questions and pretty much relegated to watching the rest of the candidates debate from his podium on the stage.
The biggest draw of the night was Romney vs Perry. The two front runners squared off and went jab for jab as they attacked each other on everything from Mitt Romney's less than stellar jobs creation initiative when he was Governor of Massachusetts to Rick Perry's poor decision to make an executive order for his state to administer the HPV vaccine to 12 year old girls in schools. Perry was clearly the target of the night as almost all of the candidates took shots at some point, except for Jon Huntsman.
The one thing that they could all agree on was there dislike for President Obama and anything that he is trying to get accomplished. They are all in agreement that "Obamacare" is not good and that the country is worse now than it was before he was president.
There were some things that was said that were not entirely true. Mitt Romney claimed to have created more jobs in Massachusetts during his time as governor than The president created for the entire country. Not true in the least. it's not even close. Mitt Romney has created between 47,419 to 60,000 jobs during his time as governor. President Obama's stimulus package has created over 2.215 million jobs alone. Of course this lead Rick Perry to throw the first jab saying that Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than he did. Romney fired back that Bush created at a faster rate then Perry. After a few unh huhs and nuh unhs they were able to stop and get back on track. The fact is that Romney is correct. Bush did create more jobs and at a faster rate than Perry did. And the fight began from there.
Overall this debate really didn't give me anything that I already didn't know. If I were to vote right now based off of that debate I would go with Jon Huntsman because he seemed the most level headed and sensible. This is going to be a long race and it's just getting started.
Just my thoughts
Sincere
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