Random, bullet thoughts on today’s super-sized Meet the Press which doubled as a Republican Presidential Debate…
- For a debate that involved Facebook, I sort of expected more integration. It’s only the largest social network in the history of civilization.
- Logistically, NBC gets a D for planning an event like this in a city like Concord NH. The Capitol Center for the Arts was a great venue for a debate, but there were no decent facilities for everything else that supports an undertaking like this.
- David Gregory was a great moderator and, at times, was far more passionate than any of the candidates. The first half hour was great televsion and, honestly, only Tim Russert could have done better. I’m sure he’d have been proud.
- Mitt Romney took a lot of shots today, but that’s what happens when you’re up over 20 points on your closest competition. It was not his best performance of the campaign and there were times when he seemed like he was on the ropes and not knowing how to respond. If Mitt is the nominee, he’ll have to get it together because it’s not like Barack Obama will go easy on him.
- Rick Perry might as well have not shown up today. He was a non-factor–even if he IS hoping South Carolina will resurrect what slim chance he has at the nomination. Two ugly performances by him in less than 12 hours. I know he says he’s not a great debater, but he could at least not mail it in.
- Rick Santorum painted a target on the second place Ron Paul over the last two debates and just kept firing salvos at him. It was, by far, Santorum’s most passionate and best performance of the entire pre-NH debates. I don’t think it will be enough to knock off Ron Paul, but he showed some fire–something I’ve criticized him for repeatedly.
- Jon Huntsman is the favorite candidate…of liberals and moderates everywhere. Why? Because he just doesn’t run as a conservative. More succinctly, it’s like he runs screaming in the other direction from conservatism. After spending a solid year in New Hampshire and skipping Iowa, he has to resign himself to the fact that polling at less than 10% is what his campaign is. If he makes it to Super Tuesday, it’s largely because he’s stubborn, I’m guessing.
- Newt Gingrich came across as Angry Newt today and, while that’s great for me, it’s not great for him at the polls. Condescending…sarcastic… adversarial…professorial…it doesn’t win the hearts of New Hampshire voters because, we figure, we’ve got that in a President already. Why should I trade one person who thinks he’s better than me for another? For someone who wasn’t going to “go negative” last week, he’s sure done a bang up job of it.
- Ron Paul suffered defeat after defeat in the last two debates. He was unable to defend himself against the attacks of Rick Santorum because the truth hurts. I’m just surprised it took this long for Paul’s hypocrisy to get called out into the open. He may be second place right now in New Hampshire, but his stock will continue to fall as the other primaries play out.
At the end of the day, this debate wouldn’t have helped any undecided voter make up their mind on anything–aside from changing the channel.
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