CNN Reagan Library 1st tier GOP debate @8pm ET **live commentary thread**

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Fiorina FTW

Any possible Democratic nominee is salivating at the prospect. She's as nutty as Cruz, and has a resume that can be boiled down to: I wrecked HP so badly  the board fired me.

The problem is, she doesn't come across as nutty as Cruz.

She comes across great, and speaks as though she has deep and decisive insight. It's just that if you actually know anything about what she's talking about, or look at her actual record of results, she's hollow, but yes, she certainly doesn't appear hollow.

I don't think she can stand up to a full presidential campaign though.

[ElectionsGuy]

1. Fiorina
2. Rubio
3. Christie
4. Carson
5. Paul
6. Cruz
7. Bush
8. Walker
9. Huckabee
10. Trump
11. Kasich

This is pretty much what I think. So it pretty much was a foreign policy debate. Mostly ISIS, Iran, Russia, and other stuff related to that. Some discussion on planned parenthood and taxes, and a lot about immigration. So looks like immigration and foreign policy really are an emphasis this cycle. I think CNN did an (overall) good job with the style of the debate. The focus was more on disagreements and disputes, which is good for primaries. However, I thought the debate was unfair and Trump-centric. Especially the beginning, but the times of Bush, Trump, and Carson will be above average. Candidates like Christie, Huckabee, Cruz, and Paul got shafted in terms of time. So I didn't like that, but MUCH, MUCH better than the Fox Debate, I must say.

For policy and my opinions, since most of the discussion was foreign policy related, I had major disagreements. And I can say now that I am in fact proud to support Paul. He started out pretty weak and I thought he really needed to instill more passion in his answers and needed longer, detailed answers. But the way he separated himself from the rest of the Republicans is something I admire, especially when it comes to Syria and the Iraq War, and I think he did a good job of it too, so that's great. I disagree with him on immigration, but its not a critical vote deciding issue for me, so whatever. While Fiorina was very strong tonight, she was very hawkish and I probably will not ever flirt with supporting her again. Bush over performed what I thought he would do, and in many cases I took his side (or opposed him less) with his disputes between Trump (except for Iraq War, obviously). Kasich doesn't have much substance, and I wasn't surprised but the fact that he has so much 'moderate' support is telling. Walker is kind of the same, though I do like how he came at Donald Trump. Still though, pretty boring and anonymous. Huckabee is still a terrible person, as is Chris Christie even though he made himself sound very nice tonight. And oh yeah, Carson was Carson. Trump was pretty weak, and showed himself unprepared and illiterate on policy (but I doubt anybody cares). Ted Cruz is another person that showed himself as an extreme hawk, so I'm disappointed. That's it, I pretty clearly support Rand Paul and I found myself disagreeing a majority of the time with other candidates, if that's not obvious.

[Blair]

Just finished watching it, Cruz was in full demagogue mode

[Mr. Morden]

From Fivethirtyeight:

[Torie]

I just don't see how Carson over time can continue to sustain himself, as he more fully reveals his profound lack of knowledge about policy issues. He makes Trump seem like a policy wonk. Carson seems more in line for a near term poll hit than Trump to me. But maybe voters will continue to flirt with him, until it comes time to actually vote. In their heart, no matter how much it saddens them, because he is such a nice and decent man, they know he's just not competent to be POTUS.

[Kingpoleon]

From Fivethirtyeight:

... Are we denying that Kasich lost time because he isn't part of the establishment?

CNN fears him, so they cut his questions. That's why he didn't manage to be exciting

[Maxwell]

From Fivethirtyeight:

... Are we denying that Kasich lost time because he isn't part of the establishment?

CNN fears him, so they cut his questions. That's why he didn't manage to be exciting

You Kasich people are pathetic. The problem is he didn't answer his questions with any excitement or anything interesting, he just kept rehashing his record and how awesome he is. Why can't you admit your guy didn't do a good job?