Watched the debate last night.
I prepped hard for it. Pulled out a 2 inch thick ribeye, injected it with secret marinade, and slow grilled it to a just turned to med rare state. Coarse ground salt and pepper to taste, splash of Lea and Perrins’, and you have a dinner fit for a hungry guy.
On to the debate, I had hope that the Fox panel would not be a bunch of douches like the two prior sets of moderators had been. And they weren’t for the most part. Where they, and everyone else has failed so far is to not let Perry and Romney dominate the debate.
It’s just pandering to the GOP establishment, and it’s bullshit.
This is the set up to the ordination of Romney as the candidate who is vanilla enough to not offend most voters, but still represents the base enough so we will hold our noses and pull the lever for him, like we did with McCain. That is old school thinking, and will be the death of the GOP. Not to mention it puts candidates like Santorum, Cain and Bachmann on the back burner waiting for their chance when and if the kingmakers deign they are ready for primetime.
Perry and Romney spent their time smacking each other around and ignoring the others on the stage, and that does not speak well of them, or the GOP brass.
On to the others on stage, (which are far more interesting to me, anyway).
Newt: Still dogging the moderators, and proving that anyone who would not include him in their Administration would be fools. He will not be the nominee, and rightly so for he is disconnected from the real world, and virtually unelectable given the current anti-establishment bent of the country.
Gary Johnson: A Libertarian, in the mold of Ron Paul, who has no chance of winning the nomination at this time.
Ron Paul: The Godfather of Libertarians, putting the flag out there, but his defense and foreign policy stands do not translate into viability for the nomination. We do owe Ron a debt of gratitude for bringing the tenets of Libertarianism into the mainstream, but often he is undermined by his rabid base of supporters.
Michelle Bachmann: The rookie in the crowd, and being plagued by rookie mistakes. Continuing to drag out the Gardisil play to whack on Perry is a non-starter. She does best when defining herself as an alternative to the same old RINO foisted on us by the power brokers in the GOP.
Jon Huntsman: I don’t know, this guy just strikes me as slime. Too slick, smarmy, and glib. Reminds me of a used car sales manager.
Rick Santorum: Coming on stronger as time passes. Would love to see him go one on one w/ Perry and Romney separately for an hour apiece.
Herman Cain: Herman continues to impress as the guy who gives answers to questions, not just general policy positions. Gets better every time he is up there. Out of the available candidates Herman is the outsider, and deserves equal time on the stage.