From my Florida GOP debate notebook …

One-word review: Mitt rises; Newt crashes; Rick steady; Ron amusing

• Call it Mitt’s Lunar Eclipse – blasting Gingrich Moonbase idea could be tonight’s winning moment
• Newt shrinking? That giant sucking sound is the GOP conservative vacuum opening up again
• Newt so flustered tonight he forgot to say, “Massachusetts moderate”
• Been feeling kinda creepy ever since Santorum said “dilly-dally”
• Thank heavens nobody can run Ron Paul out this race. Only one who doesn’t need a laugh track
• Here we go, the Who-Can-Kill-Castro-First segment
• Callista Gingrich must be a European socialist, she plays French horn
• Rick, if the wife is back home, why can’t she print out your tax return?
• Did Newt just praise all three of HIS wives, or his rivals’ wives?
• Wow Ron, Your wife is “the mother of five of our children” — there are others?
• Mitt: Some of my best lawn workers are Hispanic
• Mitt says health care “not worth getting angry about.” So, you uninsured folks just get over it
• Don’t look so confused Rick. Mitt is just speaking French again
• Ever get the feeling Newt is just running to promote his web sites? Next up, his eHarmony profile
• Weirdest line of the night: Wolf said, “I look forward to seeing your medical records.”
• Now it’s medical records to be released. What about Cable TV bills?
• GOP debaters agree: Lower Romney’s Taxes
• Guess Mitt also keeps his TV ads in a blind trust
• Are blind trustees covered by Romneycare?
• Newt and Mitt tonight: Beavis or Butt-Head, take your pick
• Sad state of affairs for GOP when Santorum becomes the adult in the room
• If we can’t cut federal spending let’s at least slow the alarming rise of lame jokes about Ron Paul’s suit
• Grandmother debate trumped Santorum playing Mom card. Third-placers just can’t catch a break
• Still stuck on Mitt slamming coyotes. They have grandmothers too
• Mitt would put coyotes on the Moon. But would they howl at Earth?
• Did Newt just accuse Mitt of kicking grandmothers? It’s getting ugly
• Mitt soft on our national grandmother crisis
• Newt gets bitch slapped, then hands Mitt the other glove for another round
• Newt opposes self-deportation, favors self-medication
• Thanks Rick, now go home and finish your tax return
• Least (if ever) mentioned word tonight: JOBS
• Poor Newt didn’t even make it to one-week wonder. South Carolina just 5 days ago
• Mitt can change chairs in Washington, he sells them at Staples
• Newt never recovered from Mitt “firing” him for goofy moon colony plan

 

28 Responses to Debate: Mitt Flattens Newt

  1. MadMustard says:

    Your debate notebook masterfully captures the evening proceedings and surely summarizes Republican angst with their field of candidates.

    Newt believes himself superior to everyone in Lincoln-Douglas style, but tonight he and Mitt looked more like Martin & Lewis in delivery. “Hey Lady?!”

    Meanwhile… the misplaced bookends had a much better evening.

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  2. Thanks Mad. The Evil Empire is gathering. Dems, Libs and Progressives: Divide no more. As Sherlock would say to Holmes when they needed their pistol, “Take precautions!”

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  3. patd says:

    craig, that “Take precautions!” also assumes a kind of political condom to prevent the spread of the dreaded diseases of bile and boredom or a devilish impregnation resulting in rosemary’s baby newt.

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  4. Ping Pong says:

    Morning …Mitt is finally finding his delivery and follow through (or is it Thru)
    One item that surprised me was the lack of mention of the meaningless speech that Barack gave the other night, Or no surprise as we have all already forgotten his hollow words.

    Success breeds success

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  5. patd says:

    good morning, mr. pong. any sense of who’s the more likely veep candidate, marco or jeb?

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  6. blueINdallas says:

    Yes, mm, Santorum & Paul clearly had the better evening…but of course MoJo gave both Newt & Paul a C- which I don’t understand.

    Ron Paul wasn’t just amusing, he was good on many issues, and, he went after Newt’s balanced budget claim.

    Romney did not have a great night, he just sucked less than before. The debate coach is paying off. (He does seem to like to say “you’re fired”, though.)

    Newt is “shrinking” alright. He even physically appears to be turning into a shrunken-apple person. Did someone in the GOP get to him and tell him to cool it, or, was he just having a bad night?

    Santorum gets an A for performance and a C for content.
    Paul gets a B for performance and an A- for content.
    Romney gets a C+ for both
    Newt gets an X for being absent

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  7. RebelliousRenee says:

    Great notes again, Craig.

    I actually enjoyed Ron Paul in this debate.

    Poor, poor Newtie… all that complaining about not letting the audience applaud and what did he get… a lesson of how sometimes when you get what you wish for it comes back and bites you in the butt…. ROFL!

    Santorum looked like he was gonna pop a vein with all that anger. And I see he got in a “climate change is hoax” comment. Too bad he didn’t take the opportunity to remind us that the earth is only 6,000 yrs. old also.

    Mitt… yeah… he had a better night. But Craig… so didn’t your Magic… they didn’t lose quite as badly last night to the Celtics as they did 2 nights ago.

    I actually managed to stay awake throughout this one.
    Better luck, next time.

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  8. xrepublican says:

    “btw, are there any liberal or lib leaning newspapers left in florida?” -- Pat, 1/26 @9/24am

    Whatsa newspaper?

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  9. xrepublican says:

    I missed the last night’s debase. Did nude grinch actually promote a naval base on the moon ? Or was he just in favor of lunar orphanages ?

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  10. xrepublican says:

    “Newt gets an X for being absent” Blue @ 7:24 am.

    Did you give me to him just because I was absent too?

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  11. xrepublican says:

    “Success breeds success” : pong @ 7:26 am

    Like the success of bushcheneyrumdumb in preventing 9/11 was followed by their glorious victories in Tora Bora and Fallujah ?

    Like their success in preventing job growth was followed by their success in creating bankruptcies, foreclosures, and the Wall Street meltdown ?

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  12. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    I think RR nailed it

    Poor, poor Newtie… all that complaining about not letting the audience applaud and what did he get… a lesson of how sometimes when you get what you wish for it comes back and bites you in the butt…. ROFL!

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  13. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    If Nudie’s lips are moving
    he is lying --

    I think he doesn’t even know when he is lying any more
    he is such a follower of Lylism that he thinks he can just say whatever he wants to make a point and it doesn’t matter if it is factless drivel

    And it’s all good for Nudie -- he can behave and not damage the gooper brand and still be a big winner -- he had his funders for life -his positions are all fee based and he has racked in big bucks and been a real contender for the nomination Nudie is set for life -- speaking fees up, media elite fees up, Callista playing her french horn with Condi rice on piano priceless

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  14. RebelliousRenee says:

    here’s a winning CSM cartoon

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  15. xrepublican says:

    If the nude grinch puts a base on the moon, I just hope it’s a submarine base.

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  16. xrepublican says:

    Slick willard publicly plots to kill the dictator of a sleepy backwater in the Caribbean.

    Meanwhile, he is silent about the bloody monsters who murder tens of thousands in Syria and Iran. He’s even silent about the King of north Korea and the commie Chinese Emperor who kill by the hundreds of thousands annually.

    I guess willard is okay with the Islamofascists and copacetic with the super commies. Prolly has big investments in Iran and north Korea. Prolly gets a lot of counterfeit donations from north Korean owned corporations that aren’t bad people. HAHAHA

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  17. Flatus says:

    Newt: “Seal Team Six to man lunar base.”

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  18. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Claiming he will kill Castro -- not only is Mittens the worst kind of panderer but boy there is some use of the best whatever agency is doing the killing

    the sick and retired ex dictator that takes courage

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  19. Jamie says:

    More sad news from Barb (Tylenol). Her brother passed away. Here is the obituary

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  20. Jamie says:

    No one ever mentions that the Cuban expatriates in Florida were the ones that fled when the ruling dictatorship fell to Castro. They took a great deal of wealth went with them and they have been trying to get property back ever since. Many were very well connected with the gambling interests in the islands.

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  21. tylenol says:

    Hi Craig, Just checking in and saying hello. I have followed every debate (and YOU) on Twitter, and I must say it’s become my preferred way to ‘watch’ them. I follow all my favourite writers (and some that I hate, just to keep up on their idiocies) and all the debates have been a lot of fun. I preferred it when there was an entire car of clowns, but it’s still pretty funny. Give my best to David, and take good care of yourself, Craig. We want YOU around here!

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  22. Tylenol, always good to see you in the neighborhood. Thanks for the msg. This Florida race looked like it was going to get real exciting, until today. Mitt Inc. is now pulling away.

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  23. RebelliousRenee says:

    Tylenol…
    my deepest condolences on the passing of your brother.
    And I truly hope your husband will be ok.

    Ty,…. we want YOU around here, too.

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  24. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Tylenol

    RR put it so well

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  25. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Here’s a big ewwww factor for Nudie

    His first wife was his high school math teacher who he slept with when he was 16 (illegal for her yes? Of course it’s Georgia so probably not) and later married at 19 when she was 26

    In a million years, prudish America is not having this clown as president

    He is like most hot air bullies as soon as you push back they run and fold

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  26. eurotom says:

    Man, just when I was ready to vote for the Green Grinch. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063962/ The Moonbase on UFO was established in 1980, so they were 32 years ahead of us!

    The Moon Factor… remember the TV series UFO???? I sure do.

    Hey I like the idea of a Moonbase: “The forward line of defence is Moonbase from which the three Lunar Interceptor spacecraft, carrying nuclear missiles, are launched. The second line of defence includes SkyDiver, a submarine mated with the submersible, undersea-launched Sky One interceptor aircraft, which attack UFOs in Earth’s atmosphere. ” And lucky for Newt, all the women on the Moon have purple hair. What could be more kinky than that? This must be a Gingrich wet dream !!!!

    Seriously, Why not have our own protective base on the Moon? And now? Dayum! Voters are leaving his side:

    “Newt Gingrich Campaign Leaking Hot Air Ahead Of Florida Primary, GOP Insiders Say”
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com
    WASHINGTON — What happened to Newt Gingrich? Less than a week after Gingrich’s stunning triumph in South Carolina, air is leaking from his momentarily front-running campaign faster than a parade balloon’s after Thanksgiving.

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  27. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    I can’t image how nudie got one woman to marry him..let alone three

    I guess that makes me believe he could get elected president
    He’ll appear on the Dr Phil show and it will all be forgiven

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