And I agree,
Perry missed a huge opportunity to shine though.
He should have gutted the Romney attack by proposing an outline to save Sicial Security.
Michele was ranting. Guardisil something…
Perry defended, but only in a very polite and reserved way.
He should have countered that his opt-out was big enough to drive a truck through, and his order requiring it was a de-facto order to make insurance companies accept the cost for those that chose to go ahead with it.
Newt was Newt… always great fun, a wonderful debate contender, and a seasoned and commanding speaker. Too bad.
Huntsman is speeding toward the cliff.
Santorum is starting to sound a bit desperate. He had some points.
Paul, god bless him, he does have some points too.
I had higher hopes for Cain as well.

Anyhow, Romney can’t find anything to attack Perry on, why he decided to pick up the SS battle is far beyond me.
He has realized he has a serious problem, but so far, he has no idea whatever to do about it.
My advice to him… Shut up. Be nice. Smile a lot.
Then, either define yourself or just wait and hope for a real issue.
He finally spent some money… on that ad… and that was a waste.

mistake that Tim Pawlenty made during the first debate.

Tea Paw silently sat by and failed to attack Romney, the then frontrunner. Because of that, the media branded Tea Paw as “soft in the middle” and his campaign fizzled out.

Romney finally has a real challenger. Romney can’t be all smiles and giggles while Governor Gardasil eats his lunch.

Romney had to look tough and he did so.

Romney is to the right of Perry on many issues including immigration, individual rights, parental rights, etc.

Romney has more appeal to independents and Democrats than Perry does.

Romney can send Obama back to Chicago. Perry would win the Tea Party vote but lose the general election to Obama.

PPP shows Perry lost five points in 3 weeks, and is now down by 11, where Romney is stable and down 5.

New Rasmussen poll confirms that Romney is head to head with Obama and remains stable, while Perry has fallen behind.

This data is based on opinions before the last two debates hae sunken in. Fervently toss red meat to the base and delude yourself all you want, but it will destroy you in a general.

I’m very disappointed in the other debate participants.

Vet Perry? Sure, needs to be done across the board for all of them. However, that’s not happening.

Right now I have a bad taste in my mouth about the current crop. All the bandwidth spent beating each other up, not in arguing policy and philosophy but rather closer to slime throwing.

Why are they attacking each other and not comparing and contrasting their policies and positions against the problem in the White House?

This saddens and disgusts me.

That Perry is really the only candidate.

Romney is Mr. Flip-flop. His comments on Hannity about Social Security and “You can’t say those things and win a general election” smack of dishonesty and bait and switch. Makes me think that he’s nothing more than another professional politician who will say whatever it takes to get elected and then do whatever he wants. That’s just how I see him.

Ron Paul, while libertarian on many issues is downright wrong on anything and everything foreign policy. matter of fact, on those issues, he aligns himself more with the left than the right.

I personally like Herman Cain. Not afraid to have different ideas, but really would like it if he held some kind of elected office first. Seems to lack foreign policy knowledge.

Huntsman is Huntsman.

Newt is great on the debate stage. If only he didn’t have the baggage from his troubled personal life, or the attacks against Paul Ryan. As far as a policy guy goes, Newt is great. But I can’t see him winning a general election due to the baggage.

Michele dug herself into a deep hole in my mind. I was really upset with her after the debates for the way she tried to make herself look better by tearing everyone down.

Santorm is a nice guy, good social conservative. but if he lost his most recent election in his home state, how can he win a national election when his home state voted him out?

That leaves Perry. He has his warts like they all do. But he is a proven executive. He’ll admit his mistakes. He’ll stand his ground when he’s right about something. He won’t back down from a challenge. he is a social conservative. He means what he says and says what he means. I can’t see voting for anyone else if my state had a real primary.

If the others want to gain on him, they need to spend less time attacking him and more time showing how they’re different. Every time they attack him, the attention goes back to Perry. That’s why he had more face time in the debate than anyone else.

I was disappointed in the debate because it became the pile on Rick Perry show. Piling on someone does nothing to help your cause if you’re trailing. Candidtates need to show how they differ from one another without slinging mud at one another. All that does is give the left more ammo in the general election.

While I think Perry is clean, I must confess that I do worry about the “Bimbo Factor” with him. I don’t worry about that with Romney, Bachmann or some of the others. This is the guy who thought that taxing strip clubs would suffice for funding local school districts. At this point, I don’t care about the schools, it’s the other part of the thought that makes me worry. The guy is a disciplined candidate, and is both a good broadcast and retail politician, but it only take one authentic bimbo to bring a guy like Perry down.

I strongly believe we need a former governor, who has experience leading a state government, and who has consumed his own cooking, meaning he got re-elected based upon his own track record. Perry makes the grade, even though it was a 3-way brawl. I don’t know, I can go for Perry, but I’m not sure I’d close off all the other options yet … strikes me as a bit too early to do that.

I kinda like some of Bachmann’s spirit, Romney is not perfect but acceptable, Huntsman has a good economic plan, but clearly all three have some issues. Bachmann does have appeal, but I’m not convinced she is a disciplined enough candidate for a big-time national campaign … and she also hasn’t been a governor. I dunno. That is two strikes, but I still kinda like her.

Perry 29%
Romney 20%

The significance of this poll is that it was taken after Monday night’s debate. Looks like Perry is holding on in spite of all the negative attacks against him.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/09/15/poll_perry_leads_gop_field_in_florida_111335.html

The good govenor has shown that he can take some punches, admit he has made mistakes and stand his ground when he feels he is justified. It is now time to settle these outstanding items.
1. Produce a plan to solve the problems with social security. While I am fine with killing the program in a generation, most americans seem to like it. He needs to deliver a simply explained step by step to save or replace. This will not only end the punching bag routine of calling it a ponzi scheme (which it is) but also give the voters certainity regarding his plans.
2. Settle gaurdisil, the “mandatory” made it affordable, the opt out was a simple print and sign form online. Not quite the same as obomeny care. This would serve the dual purpose of putting the “Tarder” out of the race and allowing us all to move on to more relevent topics.
3. Produce a printable, defendable and explainable first hundered days plan. Let the folks know in writing what a President Perry will focus on out of the gate and get this conversation back on track.

I believe these simple steps will bring the focus back to a Perry versus Obama conversation. This should be the goal, after all. We all agree Obama must be a one termer and like it or not Perry is the best chance to unify our splintered party and take the fight to the true enemy.

Playing right into the media’s hands.