LA Times - Opinion LA: "Did Obama win the GOP debate?"

[TomCADem]

"Corporations are people, my friend," by Mitt Romney, may very well be the most notable quote coming out of Iowa, and it was not even said in the midst of the debate, which may be due to the fact that most of the Republican candidates probably agree with him on this point. Otherwise, here is a nice round up of the various reactions from pundits, which is only notable in that even the Wall Street Journal, which said that Romney was the winner, described him as "a weak candidate 'by historical standards.'" Ouch! Talk about damning by faint praise. I guess Roger Ailes is still trying to hold the door open for Chris Christie to run.

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/08/iowa-debate-gop-bachmann-romney-perry-pawlenty-huntsman-ronpaul.html

Michael Medved of the Daily Beast wrote that Texas Gov. Rick Perry won the debate because he had enough sense not to show up. Bachmann, he said, looked "slightly dazed;" Jon Huntsman "badly fumbled" in trying to define himself; Mitt Romney benefited from "avoiding stumbles;" the "most impressive presences" were Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, who have no chance of winning.

* * *

John Avalon said the Republican Party was "at war with reality," in a piece for CNN. Barack Obama might have been the winner of the debate, but with the way the last few weeks have gone, the next president may indeed be a Republican, he wrote.

* * *

Obama looked the best after Thursday night’s display, wrote Juan Williams. The president appears "sleek, fast and so very hip" compared with the "1950s Oldsmobile" Republicans. Williams called the candidates out of touch, especially in their rejection of a hypothetical debt-reduction plan that has a 10:1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases.

* * *
The best thing Obama has going for him right now are the GOP candidates, Timothy Eagan wrote in the New York Times. Perry's upcoming announcement of his bid for the presidency is supposed to save the GOP from the "crazy eight caucus," but his willingness to leave problems -– namely, the worst drought in Texas history –- to the divine is worrisome, he wrote.

[MADem]

1. Mittsy sounded just like the guys who made Soylent Green! nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Mitt's remarks will be his undoing...

He just gave his chances away.

[zbdent]

3. 10:1 cuts to tax increases?

I thought there were NO tax increases ...

[Johnyawl]

4. they rejected the very idea...

[zbdent]

6. and I remember hearing all the squawking about how Obama/Reid

was going to "reject the Republican plan without even reading it!" Funny how they don't even want to look at a hypothetical plan ...

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Hypothetical

they rejected even that as too compromising. I'm betting that all of them would have said no to 100:1 is asked. Only 100:0 is acceptable. Oops divide by zero!

GOP primaries are rich example of positive feedback loops of crazy.

[fujiyama]

7. It reminded me that despite all the frustration and disappointment of the last few years

I'll still happily vote for Obama over any of these freaks because he's not absolutely fucking batshit insane.

You know it's sad when the two relatively sane candidates (well compared to the rest of the room) are a Mormon ex-governor of Utah and a libertarian house representative from Texas!