First Debate
Oh, won’t you take me home tonight.
Oh, down beside your red firelight.
Oh, and you give it all you’ve got.
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go round.
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go round.
Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen (1978)
…..
I am writing you this having just finished watching the first GOP presidential debate. Here are my unvarnished views on who gained the most and the least tonight. I have not read or heard anyone else’s analysis, so these are my thoughts and mine alone.
First of all, there were no “hit it out of the park” or major screw-up moments. Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum did a decent job of moderating and were somewhat able to keep control. I am not a fan of a question that asks for a show of hands of who is for and who is against. That’s a bit too 3rd grade for my liking. That said, here is my review of each candidate’s performance roughly in order of who I think gained the most. Oh and yes, I will at the end address that candidate who refused to participate.
Mike Pence: I know Mike very well. I think he would make a very good president. But I have not thought he had a path to the nomination because of the difficulty of taking credit for some things in the Trump administration while running against Trump himself. I thought he performed well tonight. He is hugely ambitious and always has been, but his beliefs are genuine and deeply held. I think he improved his position tonight. Still, his path to the nomination is a difficult one, but he gained some stature with his performance.
Vivek Ramaswamy: Vivek has the advantage of being the only “outsider” on the stage at a time when people dislike most everything about Washington DC. No one knows who he is, so this was an introduction in a sense. He made some errors that first time candidates make. And he was probably the focus of more attacks from the others than any other candidate, including D.J. Trump. That gave him more airtime. His closing statement was excellent. Some of his positions are “out there” even in this group and there is a concern about electing someone we know so little about. But, I think he kept himself in the top tier.
Ron DeSantis: Few of the others attacked the “frontrunner on the stage” which was somewhat surprising. DeSantis’ main strength is that he can point to actual accomplishments in Florida that are greater than any other candidate can enumerate. He is a bit flat in this environment and at times seemed almost nervous, but I can’t imagine that he actually was. He held his own though and you cannot argue with his record. If you were for DeSantis going in, you probably still are. I’m not sure he gained much though. One thing that is not talked about much is that DeSantis has the only real “ground game” of anyone in the campaign including Trump and Biden. That can be very important when it comes time to vote.
Chris Christie: Christie was expected to just whack on Trump all night. He did a bit of that, but actually gave some very cogent policy positions that were more conservative than you might expect from New Jersey. The crowd had a bunch of Trump fans in it who booed him relentlessly, but I’m not sure that hurt him. He is one smart cookie and I think he may have been written off too soon.
Nikki Haley: Governor Haley showed a lot of fight tonight. On a stage with a bunch of testosterone filled type A personalities, she fought back well and better than held her own. She is probably too moderate for the Republican primary electorate, but she showed a lot of life and fervor.
Tim Scott: Senator Scott has been 2nd or 3rd in most polls, but I suspect he will decline relative to some of the others. He is a gentleman. Debating today is a contact sport. He had one or two good moments, but I couldn’t see the visceral appeal. He’s trying to be the optimistic candidate. I thought others on the stage presented that more effectively.
Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum: I don’t think either moved themselves forward tonight. Hutchinson was the least appealing or effective person the stage. Burgum has that “aw shucks” small town appeal. But he repeated it too much and closed poorly. Maybe whatever drugs he is on to deal with his Achilles tendon tear affected his performance. But either way, neither of these guys are likely going anywhere.
Donald Trump: I understand why Trump did not debate. I never agreed to do it when I was way ahead in the polls because you have much to lose and nothing to gain. But I wasn’t running for president.
There is an interesting cabal that wants to see Trump as the Republican nominee. Obviously, The Donald himself is in the group. But so are the leftist media, big tech, and the Biden administration. They all want Trump because the know he cannot win the general election. So, they will do everything they can to give little exposure to any of the candidates on the stage tonight. They want the “anti-Trump” vote splintered so that Trump can win the nomination with a plurality. Have you noticed how the press is relentlessly attacking DeSantis because he is the closest to Trump in the polls? As soon as Ramaswamy started rising, they went after him. If you think I am being conspiratorial, we know that the media, the administration, and big tech engaged in well-organized collusion on the Hunter Biden Laptop and the Russia collusion stories, which they all knew were false at the time. They are absolutely working together to try and help Trump get the Republican nomination. Watch as they try to bury coverage of these candidates and keep only Trump in the news. As you are reading this, Trump picked the date for his court appearance to be the day after the debate, when normally all the coverage would occur. Coincidence? There are no coincidences.
On balance, I think Trump probably lost some ground by not participating. If that happens, maybe he jumps back in next month.
The next debate is in September at the Reagan Library. I think all eight of those candidates on the stage are patriots. I also believe they all know that a Trump nomination would be a disaster for the party and the country. Between now and the Iowa caucus in January, after a few of them have had their moment in the spotlight but can’t get traction, I think they will drop out. I am hoping that by then there is only one strong candidate standing to oppose Trump, because that gives us the best chance to beat him.
I can dream, can’t I?
Since the song lyrics I pick each week usually have some relationship to the topic on which I have written, you may be wondering how this week’s Queen song fits. It doesn’t. I am actually not a fan of the rock group Queen. You will never see Bohemian Rhapsody leading one of my blogs. But I like this song. The harmonies, guitar riffs and drum line are really good, in my opinion. So, why is it the song of this week? Because it has been cancelled. One of Queen’s greatest hits will no longer be included on their greatest hits anthologies. It is unclear to me why the woke mob went after this one. The full lyrics are rude, without question. But, those “full figured” girls make the “rockin’ world go round.” Isn’t that a compliment? The censorship being forced on us by the woke leftists would make the 17th century puritans envious.
Here's to free speech, even when it’s sung!
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free