The consensus seems to be that the two front runners going into the debate are the winners coming out of the debate. There isn’t much difference among the candidates in terms of content: lower taxes, get rid of regulations, Drill Baby Drill. My impressions therefore are on the way the candidates came across to me, a progressive, who is never going to vote for any of them.
Mitt Romney reminds me of a used car salesman. Strategically he positioned himself well when he took on Perry about Social Security. My problem with him is that he always sounds so hesitant when he speaks—like he just can’t get his mouth to wrap around the words. Superficial, I know, but if he wins the nomination he will be up against a silver tongued devil, and the contrast will be stark.
Rick Perry reminds me of the high school quarterback. He is affable, and won’t back down even when the entire opposition team tries to sack him and pile on to make matters worse. I can’t take anyone seriously who is failing science and needs a tutor just to stay on the team. I can hardly wait for the seniors in Florida to ask him about his Ponzi scheme comment.
Michelle Bachmann’s star has been eclipsed by Perry. She reminds me of the prom queen, who is more concerned with her looks than getting the highest grade on the SAT tests. She sticks to message, but the message is shallow. I might have the prom queen analagy wrong, since nobody seems to have told her that women look powerful in red. Had she not dressed as a little brown sparrow, maybe more questions might have been directed in her direction. Nancy Regan understood that. She was in her trademark red.
I seem to be in a minority when I think that Jon Huntsman is the most appealing candidate. In one way he scares me—I believe he could be the candidate that could attract enough independent voters to take the White House away from Democrats. In another way he isn’t as scary as the other candidates—he actually believes in science, and knows about foreign policy—which is the job of a president. I liked his comments about getting out of Afghanistan. The MSNBC pundits think he is ho-hum.
The rest of the line-up just bored me, with the possible exception of Ron Paul. Paul seems like the crazy uncle who comes for Thanksgiving, and has all kinds of crazy ideas, none of which he is able to clearly articulate.
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