Trump, Rubio and Cruz. AP Photo.
I just finished watching the 5th Republican debate, and I have a lot to say. This was a very good debate and I think I learned a lot about where the candidates stand. It was also a very entertaining debate, with many fights and engagements. I think it was the best debate so far, and it really helped me decide who I want to support. There are a few that talked themselves out of my vote, and more then a few that made a fool out of themselves.
I did watch the undercard debate. It was a mess. Only Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum said anything good. Pataki was mostly a non-factor, but I didn't like what he had to say very much. The worst was Lindsey Graham. He seemed completely unhinged, and at one point it looked like he was crying. He also seemed like he wanted to go to war with everyone and, quite frankly, he scares the hell out of. Well, he would if he had anything like a real chance of getting elected. He's at zero percent in the polls, and as far as I am concerned that's too much. I'm actually to the point where I am concerned about his mental health. He might need some serious mental help, and he should really drop out of the race for everyone's sake. I did like Huckabee and I was sad that he was in the undercard. As far as I am concerned he won the undercard.
I also watched, with growing horror, at how many people wanted to go to war with Russia over Syria. Many candidates wanted to set up a no fly zone and many people said they would actually shoot down Russian jets. That is, quite frankly, COMPLETELY INSANE! Rand Paul was right, when he called out Chris Christie and said that doing so could cause World War III. But Christie, Fiorina, Kasich and Bush, and everyone in the undercard debate except Mike Huckabee, said they want a no-fly zone. All of those candidates talked themselves out of a voter. If they are the candidates, I will be voting third party, because Hillary Clinton would do the same thing...
Now, on to the candidates:
Donald Trump:
Great night for Trump. As expected he was hit hard by many of the candidates. Jeb Bush and Rand Paul hit him hard, while John Kasich and Carly Fiorina had a few jabs at him as well. Trump shrugged it all off and defended his political positions, which are pretty far from the establishment, effectively. He utterly destroyed Jeb Bush in their conflict and made him look like a fool. Jeb was trying to hit him about the Muslim issue, but Trump just laughed it off, and made Jeb look stupid while he was doing it. Rand Paul did a bit better against him, with a stronger criticism, but I think Trump managed to hold him to a draw.
I don't think it was all good for Trump though. Ted Cruz had a pretty good alternative to his ban on Muslims, and his position on hitting the families of ISIS members was attacked by multiple people. I think both positions are more defensible then people realize, but that's not going to play that way in the media. I do think that Paul won about the Internet, on performance if not on the facts. It sounded like Trump just wants to keep ISIS from using twitter and other apps to recruit people, but Paul was able to turn it against Trump. He didn't explain it very well at all, and Paul took advantage. I think that if Trump had explained his position better he would have won that engagement but as it stands right now, he didn't.
Still, overall I think this was a good night for Trump. He won most of his battles and had some decent points. He also didn't say anything stupid that will hurt him before the first elections in Iowa. I also think he showed quite a bit of solidarity with Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, which should help Trump if either or both drop out of the race. Both are good vice presidential candidates for him. I also think that he scored points by saying that he won't run as a third party, which was always my main concern with Trump.
Ted Cruz:
Tonight, Ted Cruz went up in my personal ratings. His performance was very strong and I think it will help him at the polls. He completely destroyed Marco Rubio in their fights about the NSA and Immigration. The fight between the two the them dominated the debate and I think that Cruz handled the fight so successfully that he may very well have knocked Rubio out of the race. Cruz caught Rubio in a bald face lie about the USA Freedom Act. Rubio claimed that the bill undermined security but it actually just got rid of a useless and unconstitutional metadata program. Fact checkers and Rand Paul backed Cruz up on this so as far as I am concerned Cruz won that fight.
Cruz also beat up Rubio about immigration as well. Rubio admitted that he is in favor of amnesty. He took a long and rambling path to admitting it, but he did admit it in front of millions of potential voters. Cruz pointed that out and showed that he wasn't in favor of it, and also gave a more mainstream alternative on his Muslim bans. This will hurt Rubio and help Cruz quite a bit.
Ted Cruz also seemed to take a more moderate path when it comes to foreign policy. He doesn't seem to want war with Russia, and he seems a lot less likely to get us into a war in Syria or Iraq and agreed that taking out Basah al-Assad would be a mistake.. I also loved how he wouldn't raise to the bait to attack Donald Trump, even though the CNN moderators were desperate for him to do so. Overall I think he did a good job and his political arguments convinced me that he is an acceptable candidate. If anyone won the debate tonight it was probably Ted Cruz.
Marco Rubio:
Very bad night for Rubio. He got beat up all night by just about everyone. And unlike previous debates I don't think he won a single one of them. Ted Cruz just completely destroyed him, and he wasn't the only one to attack him. Rand Paul roughed him up, winning his fight against him. Chris Christie attacked as well, but his attacks pretty much fell flat.
He was also wrong on the issues. Sure, some people like the NSA and support amnesty for illegal immigrants, but most of those people aren't Republican primary voters. His positions are unpopular and he pretty much lost me as a potential voter. I still like him, but I don't think I want him to be president. And I think a lot of people are thinking the same thing, after this debate's performance. His support of immigration amnesty more then anything else will hurt him and hurt him bad.
The only thing Rubio got right was his point about the Nuclear Triad. It almost seemed like Donald Trump was, forgive the expression, stumped when he was asked about it, but it was clear that Rubio knew what he was talking about. Rubio explained what it was and why it was important. That was about the only victory he had tonight.
Ben Carson:
Other then a persistent and annoying cough, this was a good night for Ben Carson. He was hacking up a storm during the debate, and I can feel for him since I got a cold myself. Despite that, I think he did very good here. In the past Ben Carson has been criticized for not getting foreign policy, and he has had some pretty boneheaded things to say in the past on the issue.
All that changed tonight. He did very good in explaining his positions and talked about things that I haven't heard any other candidates talk about. He talked about hitting ISIS economically and attacking Raqqa and Mosul, which are the capitals of the caliphate. He also talked about making a safe area for Syrian refugees near Hasakah. Though the city is still dangerous, there are areas in the region that could serve that goal.
I think that Ben Carson really helped his campaign and his smart answers will help in him in the polls. It's clear that he did his homework and I think he really improved his performance compared to other debates. He also had a great moment where he effectively shammed Hugh Hewitt for asking him a really dumb question about killing children. It was a terrible question and I think that he was right to complain a bit about it. Hewitt's point is valid, Carson might be too much of a good guy to fight a war, but he could have asked the question better. Overall though, I think this was Carson's best debate performance by far and I really liked what I heard from him.
Jeb Bush:
How is he still even in this race? Trump shut him down yet again and he had a pretty piss poor performance. He also wants to go to war with Russia over the stupid no-fly zone and for the most part I disagreed with everything he said. The only point he made that I liked is when he brought up China's hacking of Americans data. I'm a victim of that attack, and I would like more candidates to focus on it.
Other then that though, he had a pretty bad performance. Even if you agreed with him on the issues or like him more then Trump, you have to admit that he didn't win his fight against him. He also didn't do very well as a speaker. He was stumbling on words, stuttering and generally not speaking very well. I don't think Bush did very well, and I can't imagine him being a candidate much longer.
Chris Christie:
Not a good night for Christie. All he seemed to want to talk about was 9/11, and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And he also wanted to go to war with Russia over Syria, along with quite a few other candidates. I'm no fan of Christie but I am finding even more reasons not to vote for him. I just don't like his policy. Going to war with Russia would probably result in my death, and I can't vote for someone who is going to get me killed. Plus he's a RINO when it comes to gun rights, so he was never a guy I wanted to win anyways.
In the past though, Chris Christie had decent performances on a purely technical level. He always had a couple of good quips and made some decent points. That didn't happen tonight. The only quip he had was about Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio fighting. He tried to make it sound like they were both young wiper-snappers, who didn't know what they were talking about. I didn't see it that way at all. Even if I didn't agree with Rubio, I think both him and Cruz were talking policy, while Chris Christie was only talking about himself. It was a turn off and I didn't like his point at all. The only point he made that I did like was when he said that women are a security threat as well. The San Bernardino attacks showed that isn't true, so at least Christie was right about something.
Carly Fiorina:
Once again, I am not a fan. She wants war with Russia and I think she completely flubbed all the foreign policy questions that were sent her way and the way she repeatedly tried to interrupt people to get more time was pretty gross. She had a poor opener and a poor ending too. All in all I thought it was a bad night for her but I made up my mind about her in the last debate when she said we shouldn't talk to Putin. She kept at it tonight so I'm still sick of her.
She was right about Obama destroying the officer class. That is not something that is talked about and she did good bringing it up. That's the only good thing I will say about her.
John Kasich:
Not much to say about him that hasn't been said already. I haven't liked a single thing he has said since the first debate, and that continued again tonight. To be honest, I pretty much tuned him out when he started talking. The only moment I really remember was his call to enforce a no-fly zone. If you take nothing else from this post, you should know I disagree with that strongly.
Rand Paul:
Very good night for Rand Paul. I don't think it will help him all that much, but what are you going to do. He did pretty good against Donald Trump, and he made some great points throughout the night. His quip about Chris Christie wanting to start World War 3 is going to play well among his supporters and may even convince people that getting into with Russia over Syria is not worth it.
I think he also scored points on the NSA issue and immigration as well. While the Rubio/Cruz fight gathered most of the headlines, Rand was wading into the battle and I think he did pretty well. He did a very good job showing how he is different from the establishment. Still, he is so far back in the polls I don't see him doing much.
Conclusion:
Overall a pretty good night I think that it was mostly well run, other then one really stupid question, it was moderated ok. I am not sure if there were any knock out blows, though Marco Rubio came close, but I do think that some candidates did very well. I don't think anyone won, but some people certainly lost.
I also think that it's clear that I will not be supporting Kasich, Fiorina, and Bush at this point. I'd put Chris Christie in that group too but he was their a long time ago. Their support of a no-fly zone in Syria, or even shooting down Russian jets, is just completely insane. It's not worth going to war for...
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