Maggie's Farm

Ah - well, allow me then to fill you in my friend.

I kind of agree with you on CNBC - they made some odd choices. Jim Cramer spent the entire evening shouting at the candidates using his patented hyperbolic personality - bad choice on his part - didn't care for that at all. Bartiromo went for a "debate moment" with Cain's troubles and was really hit hard by the audience. More on that later. Harwood's question to Romney was also soundly booed by the audience. More on that later. Steve Liesman didn't do much better trying to elicit a complicated answer to a complicated question in 30 seconds - then got pissed off when he didn't get the answer he wanted.

Best question of the night came from Caterpillar's CEO Doug Oberhelman. Unfortunately, he didn't get the answer he probably wanted.

Romney: I still think it is his to lose. He looked cool, calm and collected. He made some great points. The moderators tried to hit him hard on qualifications stumbled a little but he recovered nicely. Great answer on Italy. Solid answer on his housing plan being a jobs plan – the two are literally interlinked – and on middle class tax simplification and lowering the middle class tax rate. Great answer on Cain’s “harassment” problem. The moderators tried, but they failed. Not sure about not bailing out the Big Two went over – it seemed to get some positive response, but I’ll bet it didn’t play well in Detroit.

Cain – He did get back on message with 9-9-9 (anybody want to make a joke about 999 being 666 upside down?). He was aggressive, looked strong and confident in his answers, on a single track. Good answer on the allegations of harassment. Moderators made a mistake on that one – glad the audience gave both of them hell for it. He looked relaxed and at ease which is a plus. Not bad performance given all he’s been through this week. I think he muffed the Princess Nancy line – I think he wanted to say Princess Pelosi. I don’t think it was his smartest line, but there it is. He’s not going to be the nominee though. Might be better for him to pull out and campaign like hell for who ever gets it. Maybe a Cabinet position.

Perry – clearly you are not the one we were looking for. I said it at the time he entered – he wasn’t ready for national politics and what plays well in Texas would not play well nationally. He got a decent start, but shot himself in the foot.

Newt – guy knows his stuff, that’s for sure. You can’t pick one thing that Newt answered that wasn’t sharp, detailed and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, I just can’t see him as President. I view him as a Republican Clinton – a policy wonk. I don’t think we need a policy wonk in the White House. The guy is smart as hell though – no doubt about it. The problem is (1) baggage train is really long and heavy and (2) he’s just not likable. He’s the Sheldon Cooper of the Republican Party. Plus, other than the Contract with America, can you name one really good thing he did as Representative form Georgia and as Speaker of The House?

Santorum – spoiled frat boy. Too shrill, too much me, me, me, I, I, I.

Bachmann – just when you think she's a dimbulb, she digs it up and brings it home. A really solid performance – she clearly knows her tax policy, has some good concepts and ideas that came through and shined. She was a little short on the direct questioning but overall did a credible job. She didn’t do a Perry like implode with ridiculous statements, ideas or assertions. Don’t think she is a winner though – I’ve been through my reasoning on that before – no reason to flog it now.

Huntsman – had a good moment with his China trade war answer – hit a homer on that one –scored one against Romney’s answer. Just average on the rest of the issues. I’m not sure why he’s even being considered as a viable candidate. I just don’t get it. He also looks a little crazy.

Paul – Still a Grumpy Old Man. This is his forte’ and he did well. Once again, he’s got some good ideas, but you can’t dynamite the entire government, return to the gold standard and liberate the universe from government regulations all at once – which it seems that is what he wants to do. Anybody but me think he’s getting shrill and more a little…um…cantankerous? He tried playing to the Paulbots with a little tub thumping but apparently there weren't a lot of Paulbots in the audience.

Some general observations:

It seemed that all the candidates decided to hold the line and take Reagan’s First Commandment to heart. Huntsman and Santorum tried to differentiate themselves but failed – at least I think so. I would be willing to bet good money that if you put Santorum and Hunstman’s pictures on a wall and asked random people who they were you might get one out of twenty correct IDs. All the candidates stayed on message, did what they had to do. There weren’t any fireworks (other than the Cain/Romney questions which both men handled with skill and panache) which was positive and good. Perry is clearly out of his element, he’s not a national politician in any sense of the word, he doesn’t seem to have a grasp of just how important these things are. You can excuse the occasional brain fart, but he seems to have a lot of them. He doesn’t sound prepared, he talks like he has a mouth full of marbles and he had a very real deer in the headlights look to him.

So my initial impression is that Perry is toast, nobody cares about Santorum who comes across as selfish and me oriented, Huntsman is only there because the media wants to push a RINO as a candidate, Bachmann isn’t going to be the nominee but I can speculate she’s positioning herself for a Cabinet position, Cain didn’t hurt himself which given the week he had was important – poised, confident and feisty, Paul is what he is - Ron Paul, Romney came across as confident, stumbled but recovered, relaxed, gave good answers and Newt showed his complete and through understanding of the issues.

Best line of the night – Herman Cain: “The problem with Dodd/Frank is Dodd and Frank”. Terrific line and it sounded ad lib. Brought the house down.

Best of the Twitter Feed:

“If Gingrich reviewed movies, he would spend the first half of every review deconstructing the very idea of reviewing movies.”

“You do know Romney is a breed of sheep? I have spun some red Romney fiber into yarn and am threatening to knit some Mitts.”

“First candidate to call Romney "Mittens" gets my endorsement”

“Someone throw a chair – I’m bored.”

“this is the portion of the debate where santorum, making up for lost time, jams in as much bragging abt himself as possible in one answer”

“Perry had a GREAT answer cooking, then brain FARTED so hard & couldn't even come close to recovering. WOW.” Reply: “It could be worse. Perry could've been caught on microphone talking crap about the leader of America's closest ally.”

“Did everyone on stage get the memo from Joe Republican that we didn't want to see GOP Cage Match?”

“Watch for men in white coats, butterfly net coming on stage for Perry ("BUT I DID KNOW IT! I DID! I DID!")”

“Thanks Gov Christie & Rep Paul Ryan for not running for president. We're doing just fine without you. No, really.”

“Ugh. That Perry video is going to be like the MNF footage of Theisman breaking his leg.”

"We were all transported back to high school, when a classmate choked in front of the class"