The CNN Republican Debate

Isn't that a clever post title? It really captures the energy of the event. Let's have a round of applause for our cast.

No one rose or sank as a result of this debate and that's a serious problem for some of them. Before the silly season began, all of punditry said to watch Scott Walker, he's the guy fresh from hard fights and will runaway with Republican voters hearts. Hasn't happened and isn't going to. If there was a loser last night it was Walker.

A lot of praise has been heaped on Carly Fiorina and she is a disciplined speaker and campaigner. However, she made a statement which will come back to haunt her or at least should. The topic was Vladimir Putin and Russia. She said she would not speak to Putin, that we've spoken to Putin enough. That's a bold and dangerous statement from someone who wants to be President of the United States. Putin is not going away and not speaking to the leader of Russia is frankly stupid. The consequences could be catastrophic. If Fiorina goes the distance at some point her remaining Republican rivals will turn that back on her as an example of not being ready for the world stage, if they're smart and paying attention. The Democrats will definitely use it against her.

Chris Christie had some of the best political moments of the evening but it's too little too late. I could be wrong but Christie 's campaign has failed to rise to the hype. His chances of becoming the nominee are slim to none.

Ben Carson once again proved that you need not have anything relevant to contribute in order to be on a Presidential debate stage. The fact that he would be allowed to participate based on a poll and an informed  candidate like Senator Lindsay Graham is barred makes no sense.

They were standing in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library but only one of them even remotely is Reaganesque and that's Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Ronald Reagan would not be welcome in the Republican Party of today. His image is used and candidates try to compare themselves to him but they don't actually act like him. Listening to all of them talk about immigration and amnesty in the Library of a President who granted amnesty to two million undocumented citizens was surreal. Reagan actually said he believed in amnesty, can you envision any of these candidates saying that?

Time was wasted by the moderator trying to stir fights that had nothing to do with our problems. The question about what woman should be on the ten dollar bill was ridiculous and so was the question about what the candidate would want their Secret Service codename to be.It gave Jeb Bush the best line of the night when he said his codename would be Everready. Why not ask what their favorite color is?

On with the show.