As expected, the team of MSNBC's Brian Williams and John Harris of Politico tried to get the candidates to fight each other. Newt Gingrich again put them in their place by telling them that they should stop trying to get the candidates to fight each other. They were all dedicated to getting President Obama out of the White House.
I thought Mitt Romney handled himself well and in a professional manner. He will appeal to a lot of moderates if he gets nominated.
I also thought Rick Perry did OK. He didn't come across as a wild cowboy as the Dems like to paint him. He also did a good job of putting Williams in his place when he (Williams) tried to upbraid him over the fact that Texas leads the country in executions (audience applause). Liberal guy Williams was taken aback by the fact that the audience applauded.
* As I write Rachel Maddow is blasting each one of them on MSNBC. Now Chris Matthews is blasting Perry for sticking by his guns on Social Security. In actuality, Perry reiterated that Social Security will be there for older folks, but that if anyone told young people that (as currently constructed) it would be there for them when they retire, that would be a lie.
In addition, Rachel is now leading the "expert" commentary by the "balanced" team of Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Eugene Robinson and Lawrence O'Donnell.
I don't know why anyone bothers to offer commentary at this point. Its a pack of wannabees, and the significance of it all will appear about a year from now, in a much narrowed field. Let the boys and girls have their fun. But nobody, especially MSNBC should be inflating their sense of self importance.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry Gary! No one really listens to MSNBC, as their ratings are in the basement. Only far-left, extremeist, radicals listen to that cable network.
ReplyDeleteSquid
Won't watch MSNBC, especially now that they have given Sharpton a national platform for his hatred.
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch but saw a short clip of the applause for having the most executions.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a moral objection to the death penalty. I live in California and have a problem with the cost of enforcing the death penalty and think that money could be better spent.
But if there was a death penalty and people were executed I wouldn't applause. I get a bad feeling when people celebrate death.
I'd agree with Gary that Romney would attract more independent voters than Perry. Romney gets that and is trying to go that route.
- wejomerv
"As expected, the team of MSNBC's Brian Williams and John Harris of Politico tried to get the candidates to fight each other."
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the exact point of a primary??? They can't all run against Obama together, so they need to duke it out between themselves, first.
Seems you had the same problem with the recent debate hosted by Fox News, a network that is overall VERY friendly to conservatives. Do you really expect the hosts to just lob softball questions at the candidates and let them give their rehearsed stump speech answers?
Actually, people who all belong to the same party, if it has any sort of common principles, ought to be able to run a primary campaign by soberly saying "We have different visions for the party. I stand for this. I disagree with ####'s vision because... But we all agree on the following core principles... and we are all united in believing that any of our visions for how these core principles should be implemented is far better than what The Opposition offers."
ReplyDeleteI've never seen either party manage it, but it would be the way to go. It would be refreshing to see a whole panel of candidates who could stick to that, and stick it to the pundits who just want raw meant to raise their ratings and inflate their egos.