Last night was the final Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary election.\u00a0 It started with mind numbing incompetence.\u00a0 Ben Carson didn\u2019t hear his name, so he kind of hovered off stage while the other candidates just calmly walked past him.\u00a0 The moderators didn\u2019t even notice he was missing.\u00a0 Donald Trump showed up and decided that he would stay by Ben Carson.\u00a0 I am not sure why.\u00a0 Eventually they did announce Carson loud enough so even he could hear and then announced Trump.\u00a0 Incredibly, one of the other candidates had to remind the moderators they had also forgotten John Kasich.\u00a0 This looked like a bad SNL parody of a debate.<\/p>\n
There was a little dust up between Cruz and Carson, but it didn\u2019t matter. The problem for Carson is that he made it easy to understand why the Cruz campaign thought he was toast.\u00a0 If he wanted to make Cruz look like an evil creature from the dark side, he came up a bit short.\u00a0 Instead, Carson looked pettish, weak and pathetic.\u00a0 This will have little impact on Cruz.<\/p>\n
Christie took on Rubio and both lost big time.\u00a0 Rubio was humiliated and had a Quail\/Perry moment.\u00a0 He literally kept repeating the same talking points right after Christie ripped him for repeating talking points.\u00a0 It was awful.\u00a0 I think the image of Rubio as the smooth campaigner who can beat Hillary Clinton was shattered into oblivion.\u00a0 Christie, on the other hand, came across as an ass, and this probably hurt him almost as much as it hurt Rubio.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump was hammered by Bush with regard to eminent domain and it stuck.\u00a0 At one point Trump was literally booed.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that was all Bush supporters.\u00a0 Trump already had unfavorability ratings north of 60%.\u00a0 Odds are they are even higher after last night.\u00a0 If the pundits don\u2019t think Trump was hurt by this, they were not watching the same debate.<\/p>\n
Trump is at his maximum.\u00a0 The only place he can go is down.\u00a0 The only question is how far.\u00a0 Rubio lost big time and he is likely to shred support.\u00a0 Cruz is likely to gain the most; Kasich is also likely to gain some.\u00a0 The remainder of the candidates will either stay the same or drop even further.<\/p>\n
The pundits are in a state of shock.\u00a0 They cannot believe what is happening.\u00a0 To them, Ted Cruz is the ultimate nightmare.\u00a0 They just don\u2019t like him.\u00a0 They can\u2019t understand why anyone would like him. They do not grasp the level of anger and frustration at the Republican establishment.\u00a0 They know Trump is damaged goods.\u00a0 They know Rubio is unlikely to recover from being humiliated by Christie.\u00a0 They keep hoping that one of the governors will surge to the top because deep down they know that right now everything is pointing toward President Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n
The pundits also missed something else.\u00a0 Only one man on that stage looked and acted Presidential.\u00a0 That was Ted Cruz. \u00a0He was the only adult on the platform.<\/p>\n
TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last night was the final Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary election.\u00a0 It started with mind numbing incompetence.\u00a0 Ben Carson didn\u2019t hear his name, so he kind of hovered off stage while the other candidates just calmly walked past … Continue reading