The Debate That Wasn’t

"I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can reestablish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very severe and distinct curtailment of our liberty." — President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)

Tonight there was a debate between Republican candidates for the President of the United States. The debate was held at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California and carried on MSNBC — the most pro Obama network in the world. The debate “moderators” Brian Williams of NBC News and John Harris of Political, another Obama and left-wing rooting section.

My first thoughts on the debate after watching for a mere five minutes was that Williams was attempting to create a dust up between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, the two from runners. It was as though they were the only two candidates on the stage. It wasn’t until Newt Gingrich, in his indomitable way, chastised Williams by stating he was not going allow the media to turn one Republican against another and that all of the candidates on this stage were for jobs, smaller government and national security. This brought a thunderous applause from those in attendance.

Williams and Harris continued to focus the attention questions to Romney and Perry and at times injected their opinions into the questioning. At one point when directing a question at Ron Paul about FEMA went off with a soliloquy about those suffering from floods, hurricanes and fires and was virtually chastising Paul for his Libertarian stance on FEMA. Williams then followed this up with another anecdotal example of how Lyndon Johnson, as a young school teacher in Texas was concerned about malnutrition of he school children and inferring Paul was cruel and uncaring for his belief the federal government had no business providing food for school children, it was a state issue. Whether or not you agree with Ron Paul is not the issue. The issue is how Williams injected himself into the debate with his opinions. If Williams want to run for president let him challenge Obama in a Democratic primary

John Harris wasn’t as bad, but you could still see his left-wing beliefs showing through. I guess his should not have surprised me in that MSNBC (or as Mark Levine calls them — MSLSD) was moderating the debate, but I was hoping for something more than Williams attempting to create dust-up between Romney and Perry thus embarrassing both of them to the advantage of Obama.

There was one point where Williams asked either Perry or Romney about corporations that pay no taxes and ship jobs overseas. I wish they would have responded to Williams that they did not recall him expressing much concern over that issue when GE owned his network.

During the debate I kept a few notes on how the candidates were doing. The following are a few of my instant notes.

Chris Matthews will score the debate "round by round" Nothing like a Dem judging a GOP debate

On Job creation

Perry seemed to stumble a bit in his opening

Brian Williams wants to join the debate

Williams is trying to manage the debate

Is it Perry vs., Romney?

Romney correct to delineate his private experience as opposed to Perry career politician

Romney saying "they didn't all work" is very good. Specifying his experience is good

Romney great on distinction between govt service and having been in the economy

Perry should not concede Romney's private sector record

Cute line on Gore invented internet. Good Romney enumerating Texas' advantages

Huntsman rambles

Santorum is hurrying and doesn't look good doing it. Hard to follow him

Cain great answer Could get him back in the game

Huntsman dodged attempt to criticize China. He seems to be appeasing China

I like Paul's answer on regulations

Ron Paul I would love to see the private sector regulate air traffic!

Williams doesn’t know a damn thing about ATC

Bachmann hitting Obama care is key. Number one issue. Her best shot

Bachmann can win over ObamaCare. Romney can't obviously and Perry has jobs as his shtick

Gingrich sounds good on jobs

This debate is rigged by MSLSD

Paul’s answer on drug companies writing the laws is good but anyone knows we need an FDA

I love Newt taking credit for Clinton's job creation. Well, he's entitled I guess

Newt good point on socialistic Obama

Good answer by Perry on individual mandate

Good waiver answer by Romney. 50 state waiver

Romney needed to just attack his own program. By trying to defend it, he's jumping through hoops looks bad

When Perry is talking about state issues (Medicaid) he sounds really good

Perry answer on flexibility did not answer Harris' question about why so many uninsured

Bachmann again great on ObamaCare. good point on executive leadership for repeal

Great move in owning the ObamaCare issue by Bachmann. Her unique selling proposition

This is a terrible debate, Newt is right

Newt's turning back on Harris is great. It didn't work against Fox News but it will work against MSNBC. Go Newt!

Newt's non-attack pledge will win him huge points. This is a knockout moment!!!

Cain is so dynamic. Wonderfully incisive. Good alternative plans key answers

We all want to know what alternatives there are to ObamaCare. Cain spelled them out

Newt and Cain are doing good

Romney good answer on domestic energy Romney looks presidential

Energy jobs v green jobs good point by Romney

Bachmann does not look shining as she did before. Looks tired

Bachmann good use of stats. But Cain is doing better than she is They are competing for tea party votes.

Surprising to see Huntsman criticizing Obama, he's such a democrat

Paul on health care good shot at Perry Good antigovernment pitch

Perry should not waste his credibility in hitting Paul

Paul looks terrible hitting Reagan

At the break: Cain, Newt did best. Romney over Perry. Cain over Bachmann.

Perry has to defend his front runner status with a big win. He is ahead of Romney 2:1, Bachmann 3:1

I hate MSNBC

And Perry is not doing it. He is, at best, even with Romney but not clearly dominant.

Perry needs to do much better not to slip in the post-debate polls and be seen as losing momentum

Perry gives good answer on military commitments

Perry good on Keynesian policy

How biased to put Perry and Romney next to one another and shut everybody out. Cain needs to get more time

Perry just hurt himself badly His SS answer could cost him the election

MSNBC Continues to force a fight

Romney's jobs proposal. It is very good A blueprint for any president

Huntsman is right on Afghanistan

Huntsman great answer on lost confidence and innocence shattered. core broken weak great answer

Huntsman is doing better this time

Bachmann good answer on Reagan deal. Leading on the issue. She benefits when the focus is on deficit.

Romney good answer on Tea Party, he needs their support

Good point by Bachmann on fence and drugs

Newt right on legal guest worker program. Newt does so well.

Good contrast with Perry on in state tuition he supports

Romney answer is good on immigration Focus on employer sanctions is key

Perry on immigration back on home turf. Looks good. The liberals on the panel won't challenge him on Arizona.

Perry record on school choice is pathetic.

Newt great on charter schools and school choice. Good contrast with others on the issue.

MSNBC is executing a hit contract on Perry like a mobster

Newt on homeland security is great Perry looks terrible on the issue

Romney wants to look kinder gentler. Smart move

Perry has bad answer on vaccine. Harris is determined to destroy Perry

Bachmann seems old hat vs. Cain's bold new ideas

Paul on vaccine was excellent. Perry is reeling.

Great answer by Cain. Breakthrough moment! Chilean model is excellent!

Perry gives weak rebuttal. Taxing one generation to pay for the older one is  a Ponzi scheme. This issue will play heavily against him.

Romney gave great answer on SS. Committed to saving SS. Romney just won the debate

Perry just hurt himself badly His SS answer could cost him the election

Bachmann good answer on Libya. We don't know who the rebels are

Newt is excellent on revenue increases rather than tax hikes due to economic growth

Newt decisive on Bernanke. Excellent response

How about asking Cain a question

Newt is masterful

Polls will likely show Perry down, Romney up, Cain up, Bachmann unchanged, Newt up, huntsman up. Paul same.

The debate helped Newt substantially. It helped Cain. I don't think Bachmann did as well as she should

These notes were made without much thought. They were my immediate thoughts to the candidate’s responses without considering a follow up response.

My final thoughts on the debate are:

NBC’s Brian Williams and Politico’s John Harris peppered the NBC News/Politico debate inside the Air Force One pavilion at the Reagan Library with questions from the left, repeatedly pressing the Republican presidential candidates with liberal talking points and Democratic agenda items. That’s time which could have been better spent advancing issues and concerns of Republican primary voters interested in differences amongst the candidates, not in forcing the candidates to defend conservative positions despised by MSNBC viewers and hosts.

Williams was taken aback when the audience applauded Perry’s death penalty record, prompting a befuddled Williams to follow up: “What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here, the mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause?”

Williams was also confounded by Ron Paul’s libertarian views, quizzing him about how the nation would survive without FEMA and confusingly ruminated about no federal air traffic control: “All the pilots in the sky, to add to their responsibilities, their own air traffic control, in an organic way.” He also hailed former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson for addressing the need for government to provide meals to school kids, wondering: “Do you think that is any more — providing nutrition in schools for children — a role of the federal government?”

Challenging Senator Rick Santorum, Williams lectured him about how Santorum’s “Catholic faith, has as a part of it, caring for the poor.” Williams insisted Santorum explain: “Where do the poor come in, where do they place in this party, on this stage, in a Santorum administration?”

We have too many candidates. Some have to drop out. The public just will not get a chance to hear each candidate’s response on a particular issue. I suggest Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and John Huntsman reconsider their possibilities. Right now they are not capturing much public support or passion.

I like Herman Cain and as a CEO I would love to work for him. His thinking is clear and concise and he attacks problems like an engineer. The problem is Congress cannot be run like a corporate management team and he would have to go over their heads to the stockholders – the people. However, any Republican who gets the nomination must include this man.

I think Perry, the front runner hurt himself. While I agree with him 75% of the time the media and the Republican establishment have a vendetta against him for his stands on religion and climate change. I would vote for him, but I don’t think I will get the chance.

I still think Newt Gingrich is the sharpest knife in the drawer He would mop the floor with Obama in a debate. On the other hand I don’t think he will gain much more support that he has right now.

Michelle Bachmann’s star is fading. She is a two issue person, the deficit and ObamaCare. She doesn’t seem to be moving forward. Her best bet is to return to Minnesota and run for the Senate.

Romney did not hurt himself. He is beginning to catch on and as the race goes forward he must gain some support from the Tea Party. I think he can capture the independents and that’s important. The Republicans will vote for him as they want Obama out. He must be careful in his quest for the independents that he does not morph into John McCain. If he picks Marco Rubio I think he will beat Obama.

All things being said it was a horrible debate. Questions to make Conservatives look small and quibble. No allotment of fair time to all. Just horrible. The notations they put beside the candidates listed “stupid things” like Michelle Bachmann worked with her husband on Carter’s 76 campaign). Very biased event. I’m sorry the candidates had to get this biased, left-wig MSNBC dirt dirt all over them. Brian Williams and John Harris did a good job of filtering the positions of the candidates through their liberal net and many times the audience saw it.

The loudest and most sustained applause came after Rick Perry’s defense of Texas’ number of executions.

Note Williams’ editorial manner in asking the question. MSNBC sucks!