CNBC Debate

The list of 8 YouTube videos here.

It didn't take too long for the question about Cain to come up.  If it showed anything, it showed the intense dislike of the question.  There was plenty of booing and the moderators moved away from that topic quickly.

Republican Presidential Debate Oakland University 2012 pt.2

Cain answered the question okay.  Overall, Cain may seem a bit light on substance, but he also seems determined to stay on that message.  Later in the debate, Cramer asked about the unfairness in the markets, and he went back on his 999 talk, to the laughter of the audience.  Given that everybody knows about 999, it may be helpful to Cain if he went a bit deeper into the issues.

Huntsman got an opportunity to fire up the crowd, right after the Cain's sex harassment question- but missed it.  The crowd was waiting for someone to knock it out of the park.  It is my opinion only, to be sure, but a little red meat could have been called for here.  Huntsman did point out that he addressed the health care issue while governor of Utah.  Wikipedia says he supports cap and trade.  He worked in Obama's administration.

Gingrich's first question had to do with tax reform, in which one of the moderators, Maria Bartiromo , called "pap".  I would have liked to see him attack that characterization, but he went after Bernanke instead.  But this was before the Cain question, so the antagonism for that question had not been aggravated yet.  As for me, I was loaded for bear.  I wanted the moderators to get slammed.  He did slam the media in general which drew a follow up from Baritromo

What is the media reporting inaccurately?  Gingrich: Whaa?

The crowd loved it.  Gingrich is on the way up.  Gingrich can talk as well as Romney and may end up in the top tier before long.

Perry had a memory lapse, which doesn't help his reputation.  In fact, it pretty much seals in concrete his reputation as a poor debater.  He actually asks Ron Paul for help in answering one of his questions.  When he does manage to get a few words out, he can make some sense.  But it won't be enough.


As a contrast, Santorum is a good speaker and solid conservative.  He can take up the position that Perry could be about to lose in this race.  Or will Perry get another chance?  If not, Bachmann can compete in this conservative space as well as Santorum.  Amongst those three, Santorum has not been the flavor of the month yet.  It may have been the time for him to get his chance.  However, in this debate, which offered them the best opportunity to go after the media, none of them, including Santorum, said a word.


Ron Paul talks very well on the issue of the economy.  This night was favorable for him, as it didn't get into foreign policy, where he has his biggest problem.  How many Republicans would be willing to support a guy who is left of Obama on foreign policy?   Being to the left of anybody on the left is not the place to be when the left is trying to take out the front runner.

All in all, Romney lost no ground.  He also made no gains.  Gingrich may have moved up because he can articulate his views clearly, as opposed to Perry.  Also, he capitalized upon the antagonism toward the media, while winning some of the loudest applause of the evening.  Cain survived, but needs to expand upon his ideas better.  The rest are like Cain, just hanging on.  Huntsman and Perry could be out soon.