Last Night's Debate

When last night's Republican primary debate in Houston ended, my immediate conclusion was that John Kasich came across as the most presidential (in spite of his limited time) and that Marco Rubio looked the weakest.

That shows how much I know about politics.

The conventional wisdom among the pundits is that Rubio was the biggest winner for his attacks against Donald Trump. Actually I thought Ted Cruz proved the more effective debater in the sparring. As it was, Cruz and Rubio were doing a tag team on Trump while Kasich and Ben Carson spent much of the evening twiddling their thumbs. Trump, as is his wont, conducted himself like some sort of Mafia don, which his followers love.

As for CNN's befuddled Wolf Blitzer, he clearly lost control of the debate as Trump, Rubio and Cruz at times appeared to be doing a male imitation of The View. According to the rules, if one candidate slams another, that allows the latter to respond. At one point, Carson drew the loudest laughter when he called out, "Will somebody please attack me."

In my opinion, the only ones who came across as presidential were Carson and Kasich, but they don't seem to be long for the race. As it is, I have pretty much thrown up my hands in disgust at what once looked like a strong field of 17 candidates. To me Kasich would make the best president of the bunch though I don't think he would attack Hillary Clinton as much as she needs to be attacked in the general election.

So I must stand corrected as to who really won the debate. The experts tell me it was Rubio. Perhaps, but he didn't look presidential doing it.