First GOP Presidential Debates

Was up till the wee hours last night watching the debate along with analysis and chosen sound bites afterward. And what a debate and night it was! Never a dull moment. Not one. So much to say about it all,  but so little time.

Here are my thoughts.

First, let me say since I regretfully missed the 5 o'clock debate, I can't really comment. Though I hope to watch it in it's entirety online sometime soon. What I do know is that most commentators, even those from the left,  thought Carly Fiorina hit the ball out of the park. I'm happy about that.

She's been one of my  favorites ever since I saw her speak at the 'First in the Nation GOP Leadership Summit in NH' held this Spring. She was sharp, articulate and wasn't afraid to say what needed to be said. She also wasn't afraid to point out Hilary's flaws. No doubt she'll remain on my favorite's list after I watch the earlier debate.

Moving on to the 9 o'clock debate last night.

I have to commend Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace and all those who put it together. Considering that there were 10 candidates, thus not giving much time for each one, they managed to hit all the major issues, pack a lot in and give each candidate a chance to articulate how and where they stand on various issues.

Next I have to say that every candidate, whether I liked them or not was impressive in one way or the other. All EXCEPT Donald Trump. Yep, that's what I said. Regardless of overnight polling that says he won the debate by far. When I saw these results, I was stunned to say the least.

Why?

In comparison to the all the other candidates, he did not seem to have a command of the issues. All he did was repeat the same talking points about how he'll fix this, that and the other thing. How China and Japan and illegal aliens are a problem. Not once did he give any specifics on HOW he would fix the border, trade issues, the economy, the VA problems or the Middle East situation. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Basically he just complained.

Add to that a very negative and defensive attitude and he blew it for me. Not that I ever really considered voting for him, but I did feel that he was somewhat of a wake up call to the rest of the field about how angry and frustrated the average American is with today's politics and politician. In fact I wrote about this in a post a few weeks ago, title Clarion Call.

All the other candidates, even Rand Paul, who I'm not a big fan of, were class acts for the most part. Sure they argued, debated, etc. but that's what it's all about. No one else got down and dirty and just plain ugly as The Donald did. Not my idea of someone who would make a good president.

So who do I think did well and has a real shot at the nomination?

Very hard to choose. But as of right now, I still like Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Marco Rubio. Next in line would be Scott Walker, Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee.

My least favorite, other than The Donald is Rand Paul. There's something bitter, nasty and petty about him that I can't quite put my finger on. In fact I felt this way when first hearing him speak at the GOP Leadership Summit. Even when we shook hands, I felt he was just going through the motions and really didn't like mixing with the crowd. Very strange...

The rest are basically off my radar.

That's about it for my initial thoughts about last night's debate. Definitely more to come when time allows. Much more !!!