Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Reaction to the NH Debate from Tim Pawlenty and several others (VIDEO)

Tim Pawlenty:


George Pataki:


Robert Gibbs:

Doug Shoen:



John Avlon: (Avlon is a senior political columnist for The Daily Beast. He is the author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America.")

Strongest lines
: No one sound bite dominated the debate, but two gimmicks stuck -- Mitt Romney announcing the Bruins' lead in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup to great applause and Michele Bachmann announcing her candidacy for president on the set.


Weakest lines
: Tie: Tim Pawlenty's running away from his criticism of "Obamneycare" and Romney struggling to explain whether the troops should come home from Afghanistan.

Biggest winner: Romney, if only because the other candidates seemed strikingly reluctant to take him on directly. He seemed the most presidential on the dais and that's what its all about.
Read Avlon's full analysis here.

David Gergen: (Senior political analyst for CNN)

The first big Republican debate ended with two clear winners in the race for the nomination: Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. And there was one other candidate who helped himself: Newt Gingrich.

But whether this debate helped Republicans win the White House is a tougher question.


As to the individual candidates, Romney had a clear, easy-to-understand message and he stuck to it: Barack Obama has failed as president. Other candidates said much the same thing but with less consistency.
Read Gergen's full analysis here.

Slate: The Mitt Romney Show
.....Scorecard analysis or thoughtful collection of paragraphs? Romney won the debate in that he didn't lose. There was nothing spicy about Romney (despite his answer), but he didn't hurt himself by seeming on all sides of the issue. Indeed, his explanation of the health care law he signed as governor of Massachusetts was one of his best yet. Not likely to satisfy theNational Review but likely to satisfy voters who want to get back to talking about the economy. When Romney's opponents were given a chance to wallop him on his flip-flops on abortion, no one took up the chance. "Case closed?" asked John King "Case closed," said Herman Cain.....
Read the slate article here.

7 comments:

zeke said...

Pawlenty LOST LAST NIGHT.

He showed no cagones. I think he's hoping to come in second so he'll be considered, next in line.

After Romney complemented/rescued Pawlenty earlier on the economic growth, he had no choice.

BRILLIANT MOVE on Romney's part

Anonymous said...

Gergen nailed it!

Anonymous said...

The thing about Tim is that his looks and persona are slightly annoying. I'm sorry to say it, but he's just not charismatic enough and looks sort of goofy.

He also comes across as trying to hard. I don't know what he's going to do to overcome it. He just doesn't seem to have the magic formula. I think this is why he fails to gain in the polls.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

did anyone else notice that tpaw and mitt had the same color tie on? and what do you think? coinsedence?

BOSMAN said...

Thanks Rev for putting all this together.

All in all, Great night for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.

The Liberal media seems upset that no blood was shed.

How can you criticize a guy who's bashing Obama and complimenting everyone else on the stage?

ann said...

Mitt was most definitely the most Presidential.

Anonymous said...

I hate to burst your bubble, but the Republicans are reserving their fire mostly for Obama and the dems at this point. Collectively, they can keep weakening Obama so whoever wins among them has a better shot at the presidency. Eventually the knives will come out more for each other. At this point,only political junkies like ourselves are really paying attention. It is better to treat each other with respect, and attack Obama all together at this time in the Presidential race.

AZ