Republican Scorecard and Debate Review.

So the Republicans had a debate. I decided to assign them letter grades based on completely subjective factors. But it should give you an idea how the debate went.


Mitt (B+):

Romney came out strong with some incredibly boring points punctuated by some nearly fatal missteps. First he tried calling for a private 'bailout' of banks which he quickly corrected to a 'private solution.' Then there was his disastrous answer to health-care questions which lead to him haphazardly defending Romneycare. I will admit that I didn't catch everything Romney said because even in short format, Mitt tends to put me to sleep. His problem is that he is nice and boring, which voters (at least 23%) seem to like, so it may not hurt him. In fact being boring in this debate was a huge plus to him.

Romney's pluses for the night include agreeing with other candidates. He seemed to be making bedroom-eyes at Newt, which seemed to me to indicate that he considers Newt to be VP material. But I think Romney should worry more about what Newt thinks of him, as Gingy is far more likely to be selecting a VP in the near future. Other debate commentators praised Mitt's ability to stay 'on message' although his message is so complicated that I don't consider this a plus. But Mitt did not flub many lines and was able to look somewhat cool.

Cain (B):

In firm contrast to Mitt's snooze-fest was Herman Cain's BOLD solutions (He said it was BOLD about 26 times). Herman Cain is a man of few ideas. Tonight he solidified his status as a one trick pony, as his solution to all political problems seemed to be 9-9-9. He had no response but 9-9-9 and 'not guilty' to any question asked. Well... that's not fair. He did mention HR 3000, but that was only to give himself a health-care plan. And he did mention privatizing Fanny and Freddy (Although given that they are semi-private like the FED, I don't know about that solution). But 9-9-9 is his legitimate baby (ba-dum-ching). Even when moderators said "The Answer is not 9-9-9" he responded that it was a panacea.

Some have criticized Cain for his "Princess Nancy" comment (Headline: Cain attacks 5th woman!). But I have to admit, I laughed...then cringed when I realized who had said it. Cain appears to have realized that as well. Also, I keep hearing from him that people should not be tried in the court of public opinion...unless they accuse him of sexual harassment. Then I guess it is ok to make attacks on their character with no evidence.

Paul (A):

Good Lord, talk about the man with the ideas. First their was Gingy stealing his FED audit, then Romney stealing his HSAs, then Santorum claiming he invented HSAs, Gingy again stealing his Social Security Privatization, almost everyone stealing his block grant Medicaid and SS, and then there was Perry stealing his idea to cut cabinet level departments (I'll get to that latter). Paul is clearly the man with the ideas that everyone wants, and yet he seems to not get much traction. Ron seems to be such a great idea man that Gingy seemed to be making eyes at him I was a little disappointed in Paul for a bit here. He has the great ideas, but he keeps harping on monetary policy, which wasn't great for a short format debate.

But he did get some great ideas out, mostly through other people. His talk about the doctor-patient relationship was the most innovative solution to the problem of health-care. I would love to see a restoration of Doctor-Patient relationship for most healthcare with some kind of catastrophic insurance policy that only covers extreme health events. I really believe that would lower everyone's cost of health-care. Dr. Paul M.D. also made some great points about spending and the hidden taxes within it (see my article on the FED).

Gingy (B+):

Yes, I gave the former speaker a Pet Name. But only because it would make him furious. I still don't like Gingy, mostly because he is still a slimy politician. But I cannot much fault his debate performance. Ok, I lied I can.

Gingy got one out-of-the-blue question, and he flubbed it. He was asked about his 'consulting' with Fanny and Freddy, and he claimed that he was hired as a historian! Of course I don't think that his short period as a History Professor at North Georgia College in the 70's was why major mortgage buyers wanted him on their team. It was far more likely that they wanted him to lobby congress. But this is nothing compared to his claim that he predicted the housing bubble! Which he then proceeded to do nothing about.

Newt's (a.k.a. Gingy) also reverted to attacking the moderator. The fights were sometimes entertaining. When he responded to Maria Bartiromo's question with "30 second is not enough" only to have her counter with "Take as much time as you need" was a great little tiff. Also it gave him the opportunity to talk about his favorite issue "LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATES!" I'm sure that spending time talking about debate formating to a public that is loosing jobs and home value might seem callous, but I would kinda like to see that.

But Gingy did have the best debate. He had some innovative ideas. Like referencing the College of the Ozarks, which wasn't really a plan, but it sounded like he was moving to a work-study model for colleges. Also he seemed, and I say this lightly, the most presidential. He really sounded like he knew what he was talking about on most issues. Even if he is a slimy politician, he does understand policy better than Cain or Romney. I would not be surprised to see his poll numbers go up after this.

Perry (Incomplete):

OH GOD!!! WHY!!!

If you are ever a campaign manager, and you have a candidate like Rick Perry, do not let him ever go off cards!

Perry was doing alright. He really was. He gave really short answers. Like 10 seconds apiece. While some others were fighting the timekeepers, Perry never really used his full time for most of the debate. And he was getting through! He was milking his simple messages and sound bites for all they were worth (Plant a Big O'l Flag! America is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!). I thought Perry was going to make it...he almost made it...almost.

And then..OH God! It was awful. As he tried to explain his abridged version of Ron Paul's plan to cut federal agencies. And then...well you can watch...




I don't need to explain anymore. In fact...I can't talk about this anymore. Perry might want to consider getting out of this.

Santorum (C-):

Santorum must have Gingy's gift for foresight as he foresaw both the housing bubble and the health-care crisis. But his new issue is American Manufacturing. While everyone was saying that government shouldn't pick winners and losers, Santorum was picking a winner! Himself. Santorum sees in manufacturing a chance to rally the troops in his home state of Pennsylvania. Bring back manufacturing so that people who aren't smart enough for college can do something, that is is the Santorum way! He wants to cut subsidies to all industries...except manufacturing. And he wants to end regulation that costs more than $100 Billion Dollars. This seems like a weird number, I am sure that he has some regulations in mind. But I have no idea what those regulation ARE because he did not explain.

Bachman (C):

Bachman sounds like she is hoping to get a current events show after this whole Presidential race thing. Every answer seemed to begin with a recitation of current events. But that was likely a plus as I would rather her talk about anything but policy. First she attacks the 1986 Tax Code Simplification signed by Ronald Reagan. And then she starts talking about bankrupting Fanny and Freddy (Which she just admitted holds 90% of American mortgages). But Bachman seems to understand her base better than anyone but Dr. Paul, as she was constantly pandering to the 65+ crowd all night by talking about how much she likes Social Security. Maybe they will watch her Fox show after she drops out of the race.

Huntsman (B):

John is a great guy, who is going to go nowhere. John is the guy who feels your pain, but can't do much about it. He is the one candidate that admits that enacting sweeping legislation won't be easy, but that is not a strong message. He doesn't seem to realize that he cannot connect to voters by saying that government needs to 'keep doing what it's doing' as most people want significant changes in government. He did get in good digs at Romney over the US manipulating its own currency. But John all your ideas are better in Ron Paul form, just endorse him.