GOP state of play: Rivals nonetheless awaiting Trump to fade

As usual, it is the debate moderators who turn potential voters into the losers.

Later in the debate, Graham said that Russian President Vladimir Putin never would have expanded into Syria or Ukraine if Reagan were in the Oval Office – bashing President Obama as a “weak, unqualified” commander in chief. If so, are they still happy with their favorite candidate, or if not, will they switch to another one? But Pataki said that doesn’t break the pledge all of the candidates made to defend the eventual choice of the party. It got so childish that I couldn’t stomach the entire broadcast. There was shockingly little talk about the kind of things that regular people care about, the stuff they ask politicians when they get to pose the questions. All the candidates seeking the GOP nomination would cut taxes, cut spending, repeal the ACA, privatize Social Security; and some of them are willing to put boots on the ground in the Middle East again to deal with the looming threat ISIS represents. This would have been time well spent to inform the voting public. For example, plenty of black churches espouse beliefs that could be categorized as socially conservative, and align more with the Republican agenda, but the vast majority of these congregations vote Democratic. Eisenhower took seriously his oath to “support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. “I haven’t seen it. We’re in uncharted territory”. They started out showing a total lack of knowledge that the law prohibits any government funding of abortions. None the broadside rhetoric, the snide remarks, the ad hominem attacks, the name-calling, the xenophobia, and saber rattling will not do anything to create more jobs for Americans-some policies if implemented might in fact harm the prospects for the country in the long term. And while she nailed Trump for his sexism, I thought the extended back-and-forth over their accomplishments in business was the one exchange in which he was a clear victor .

It took all of five minutes for Emmy Awards host Andy Samberg to drop a nasty crack against GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

The preliminary debate participants have already diminished to the level of background noise. It’s time for real solutions. Carly Fiorina’s skilled debate performance propelled her to the first tier group. Fiorina is indeed a serious candidate who has showed herself to be much more than just the anti-Hillary.

First of all, what better place than debates seen by millions of people to draw a contrast with the Republicans? No, the establishment wins because voters, no matter how angry they are, tend to be rather risk-averse when it comes to picking actual presidents. Most GOP candidates, even the African American one, are still too out of touch with black voters to earn their support.

It’s probably because Reagan’s name reminds us of a simpler time when things were good; the economy was up and the Soviets were on their way out, America was great.

Fiorina said in her defense that HP was “larger than each of the 50 states”.”We doubled the size of the company, we quadrupled its top-line growth rate”, Fiorina said during the debate. The race for the White House is often a grueling, thankless slog. Just as some debate performances are better than others.