GOP Debate

I taped the GOP debate and watched this morning with my coffee. I'm just a regular guy (a simple country preacher) but here's my take on each candidate in bullet point form.

• Herman Cain—people liked him for a week or so. He is flamboyant and I like his fire. He has never been in government and while that may be what we need it won't be what we get.
  
• Rick Santorum—I liked him more than I thought I would. He had thoughtful responses and as I've read other's reviews he seems to have helped himself a bit.
  
• Ron Paul—I think this is his 15^th run for the White House. A Libertarian is a good critic of government (and we need that) but cannot run it. Government needs to stay out of a lot but not everything. We need a lot less regulation but not 'no' regulation.
  
• Newt Gingrich—really I think he did the best job answering the questions. I think the short answer format was good for him, but I doubt he can be nominated.
  
• Michelle Bachmann—I came in wanting to know more about her. I like her a lot, and while she didn't 'wow' me, she didn't turn me off either. Can she win the nomination? Stranger things have happened, but I really want to think of her as a VP candidate, depending on who wins.
  
• Tim Pawlenty—I really liked his economic plan when he introduced it, reading it in some detail. I could understand it and it makes sense. I watched his interview with Chris Wallace on Fox Sunday and liked how he critiqued Rominey care and coined the term "ObmaneyCare." But when he had a chance to hit Rominey on the issue he backed away. I was disappointed. I really like Pawlenty; we'll see.
  
• Mitt Rominey—the clear cut front runner and winner of the debate (winner in the sense that he did nothing to hurt himself and no one else tried to hurt him). I HATE that he will not just say his Mass health-care plan is a dyna-whoppin failure.
  

  
   

Can I just say I hated the format? I did. It was cool and for CNN I thought the thing was fair. But the cool wore off on me pretty quickly. Also sometimes it takes more than 30 seconds to answer a question. Of course, that's just the musing of a country preacher. John King did a credible job handling the debate. It is way too early to know who will wind up the nominee, and there's no way we can write off anybody at this point. There are still some wild cards like Palin and Perry. Everybody I see and read says Palin won't run; they've NEVER been wrong have they? As far as Perry is concerned, he is a social conservative with a record of creating jobs in Texas. I was not a big fan when I lived there. I thought he was a "W" wannabe, but he's grown on me. He will have money to run if he decides to do so; after all, he's a Texas governor.

 

Here's the answer to THE most important question of the evening: Elvis or Johnny Cash? Of course it is Elvis!

 

That is my humble but accurate opinion.