The Official Fox News/Google Debate Discussion Thread

[Dereich]

Weird....This is in my opinion, Romney's weakest debate but apparently the polling people say he won by a landslide.

Perry lost, so Romney won.

But Perry seemed to hold his own against everyone's attacks better in this debate...He even seemed to be attacked less in this one.

[SteveRogers]

Cain demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the part of the Constitution that would throw out Georgia's electoral votes if he picked Newt.

Not quite. Presumably the Georgia electors would just cast their presidential vote for Cain and their VP vote for someone other than Gingrich. Cain's electoral votes for president wouldn't be effected. As long as the election wasn't within 16 electoral votes it wouldn't be a problem for the Cain/Gingrich ticket since.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Romney did pretty poorly at first, and improved to "acceptable + empty rhetoric" by the end.

Perry did okay at first, and then suddenly started attacking Romney while sounding like a drunk and slurring his words.

They both lost. Johnson made himself look pretty good, Paul made himself look like a very much serious candidate, and Cain did a fine job that might push him back up partway to where he was.

[NHI]

Come noon on January 20th, 2013 there will be a former Pres. Barack Obama, and the new president will be Mitt Romney.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Come noon on January 20th, 2013 there will be a former Pres. Barack Obama, and the new president will be Mitt Romney Ron Paul

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Come noon on January 20th, 2013 there will be a former Pres. Barack Obama, and the new president will be Mitt Romney Ron Paul

[NHI]

Come noon on January 20th, 2013 there will be a former Pres. Barack Obama, and the new president will be Mitt Romney Ron Paul

Respectively I think not.

[redcommander]

Come noon on January 20th, 2013 there will be a former Pres. Barack Obama, and the new president will be Mitt Romney Hillary Clinton.

Had to do that for the PUMAs on the forum.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Come noon on January 20th, 2013 there will be a former Pres. Barack Obama, and the new president will be Mitt Romney Ron Paul

Respectively I think not.

Romney performed acceptably at best (after a couple initial slips at first). He was very vulnerable at several points, but Perry lost the chance by slurring like a drunk in wild accusations while Santorum yelled and got mad. The only conceivable way to claim this as a Romney victory is to assume every non-Perry candidate drops dead.

Frankly, the two frontrunners performed worst. Santorum did marginally better, but his angry yelling hurt, while Bachmann failed to make any impression. Gingrich, Johnson, and Huntsman did decent. Cain and Paul performed exceptionally well. At no point did either of them slip over their own words. Paul's best performance came from the hardest questions (the "border wall keeping you in" question was probably his best answer, actually), he kept an audience that wasn't especially supportive completely in his pocket, and he plugged his electability.

[Sam Spade]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

[California8429]

I missed Bachmann's answer fro VP, anyone get it?

[5280]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Rick Perry is a Bush 3.0 if elected in 2012. We don't need 4 terms of Bush (16 years).  I'd like to see a Romney vs Paul debate!

[Torie]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Better late than never Sam.  But Perry is the best thing that ever happened to Mitt. He gets a chance to appear adult, and more knowledgable, and nuanced, again and again, while Perry and Bachmann and Santorum chew each other up. I'm sure Mitttens hopes they all stay in through Florida. After that, it's over.

Oh, one other thing: as each drops out, they will endorse Mitt.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

I missed Bachmann's answer fro VP, anyone get it?

She just said a "conservative".

[Torie]

I missed Bachmann's answer fro VP, anyone get it?

She just said a "conservative".

Her message was that Obama's exit is in the bag, so Pubbies should feel free to unleash themselves, and go for the well, rigid impractical and unwise ideologue, who has no clue as to how it all works, or what Americans really expect from government, and don't expect. It was well - kind of disturbing.  Disturbing in the sense that it brings to mind that I hope Pubbies don't believe that BS, and don't think Bachmann's vision of things is theirs.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Rick Perry is a Bush 3.0 if elected in 2012. We don't need 4 terms of Bush (16 years).  I'd like to see a Romney vs Paul debate!

Perry's performance doesn't even have the benefit of the support of the pundits this time. Romney's performance was better, which means Perry's chances of winning the nomination are rapidly going down the drain.

However, Romney just isn't a strong frontrunner, as shown by how every two-bit newcomer with media support overtakes him each month before collapsing. The only one who could enter at this point and take Perry's "flavour of the month" position would be Palin, and she doesn't seem very serious. So it looks like Paul is going to be taking that spot.

[Sam Spade]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Better late than never Sam.   But Perry is the best thing that ever happened to Mitt. He gets a chance to appear adult, and more knowledgable, and nuanced, again and again, while Perry and Bachmann and Santorum chew each other up. I'm sure Mitttens hopes they all stay in through Florida. After that, it's over.

No need to be a smart ass - when you finally wake up from your testosterone-induced slumber about Obama and Huntsman, we can talk on that front. 

As for Bachmann and Santorum, they're not relevant, except that Bachmann can get some votes in Iowa before she runs out of money, and continue to flame on the vaccine thing for a while longer, so I don't know what you're talking about there. 

The real question, again, is who will be the anti-Romney?  I guess that Perry can keep that stature, so long as no one else enters, as he has the money and very smart people behind his campaign, but even then it is possible that it could go to someone else presently in the field, odd as that seems.  None of these people can get to the nomination, though.  But the point is that the true anti-Romney will emerge at some point - we just need to wait.

[Smash255]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Rick Perry is a Bush 3.0 if elected in 2012. We don't need 4 terms of Bush (16 years).  I'd like to see a Romney vs Paul debate!

Perry's performance doesn't even have the benefit of the support of the pundits this time. Romney's performance was better, which means Perry's chances of winning the nomination are rapidly going down the drain.

However, Romney just isn't a strong frontrunner, as shown by how every two-bit newcomer with media support overtakes him each month before collapsing. The only one who could enter at this point and take Perry's "flavour of the month" position would be Palin, and she doesn't seem very serious. So it looks like Paul is going to be taking that spot.

I doubt Paul will, he doesn't appeal to the evangelical crazy crowd.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Better late than never Sam.  But Perry is the best thing that ever happened to Mitt. He gets a chance to appear adult, and more knowledgable, and nuanced, again and again, while Perry and Bachmann and Santorum chew each other up. I'm sure Mitttens hopes they all stay in through Florida. After that, it's over.

Oh, one other thing: as each drops out, they will endorse Mitt.

I dont think Mitt will get all of them in the end. Paul won't drop out. I liked that Cain was getting quite a bit of vp love. The anti-Romney is Ron Paul not Perry. La ti da will come back to bite Perry.

Paul can and has made quite a few inroads to the evangelical community and we haven't forgotten.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Rick Perry is a Bush 3.0 if elected in 2012. We don't need 4 terms of Bush (16 years).  I'd like to see a Romney vs Paul debate!

Perry's performance doesn't even have the benefit of the support of the pundits this time. Romney's performance was better, which means Perry's chances of winning the nomination are rapidly going down the drain.

However, Romney just isn't a strong frontrunner, as shown by how every two-bit newcomer with media support overtakes him each month before collapsing. The only one who could enter at this point and take Perry's "flavour of the month" position would be Palin, and she doesn't seem very serious. So it looks like Paul is going to be taking that spot.

I doubt Paul will, he doesn't appeal to the evangelical crazy crowd.

Romney appeals to them even less, and the rest of the field is, either in terms of support or in terms of campaign infrastructure/finance, dead in the water. Unless Perry proves himself to be the Black Knight, someone will be sliding into his current spot. If that someone isn't Palin (and even if it is Palin, I doubt she'd last that long for the same reasons as Perry), it will probably be Paul.

[t_host1]

I missed Bachmann's answer fro VP, anyone get it?

She just said a "conservative".

Her message was that Obama's exit is in the bag, so Pubbies should feel free to unleash themselves, and go for the well, rigid impractical and unwise ideologue, who has no clue as to how it all works, or what Americans really expect from government, and don't expect. It was well - kind of disturbing.  Disturbing in the sense that it brings to mind that I hope Pubbies don't believe that BS, and don't think Bachmann's vision of things is theirs.

Catching the replay -  wish she would of answered the ? better.  How much does she think a person should keep of their earn dollar? She said all, then was vague...

[Smash255]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Rick Perry is a Bush 3.0 if elected in 2012. We don't need 4 terms of Bush (16 years).  I'd like to see a Romney vs Paul debate!

Perry's performance doesn't even have the benefit of the support of the pundits this time. Romney's performance was better, which means Perry's chances of winning the nomination are rapidly going down the drain.

However, Romney just isn't a strong frontrunner, as shown by how every two-bit newcomer with media support overtakes him each month before collapsing. The only one who could enter at this point and take Perry's "flavour of the month" position would be Palin, and she doesn't seem very serious. So it looks like Paul is going to be taking that spot.

I doubt Paul will, he doesn't appeal to the evangelical crazy crowd.

Romney appeals to them even less, and the rest of the field is, either in terms of support or in terms of campaign infrastructure/finance, dead in the water. Unless Perry proves himself to be the Black Knight, someone will be sliding into his current spot. If that someone isn't Palin (and even if it is Palin, I doubt she'd last that long for the same reasons as Perry), it will probably be Paul.

Of course they don't like Romney.  That is the reason they flock to the flavor of the month (as long as that flavor hates gays), but I don't see the Evangelical hate crowd going to Paul.

[Torie]

Sam, old chap, testosterone does not equal "slumber."  You really need to get out more. Did you really think Perry was remotely viable - ever?  How long has it been since you've been in Texas?  Just asking. The last bit was serious actually.  

Oh by the way, I am listening at the moment to the first part of the debate without watching it, because it's in another room. Do you know who Perry sounds like, and I mean really sounds like? Yes, Al Gore. Yes he does. It's almost eerie.

[Torie]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Better late than never Sam.  But Perry is the best thing that ever happened to Mitt. He gets a chance to appear adult, and more knowledgable, and nuanced, again and again, while Perry and Bachmann and Santorum chew each other up. I'm sure Mitttens hopes they all stay in through Florida. After that, it's over.

Oh, one other thing: as each drops out, they will endorse Mitt.

I dont think Mitt will get all of them in the end. Paul won't drop out. I liked that Cain was getting quite a bit of vp love. The anti-Romney is Ron Paul not Perry. La ti da will come back to bite Perry.

Paul can and has made quite a few inroads to the evangelical community and we haven't forgotten.

Paul won't be endorsing, won't ever drop out, and won't ever win. He's sui generis. He's Don Quixote, and he's actually becoming a bit more likable - toning done his old man whine schtick a bit.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Folks here seem to be missing that Perry is allowing Mitt to appear to move to the right of him, especially on immigration.

After watching tonight, Perry is done, long-term, which leaves Mitt as the only announced candidate with a chance at the nomination.  Watch.

Better late than never Sam.  But Perry is the best thing that ever happened to Mitt. He gets a chance to appear adult, and more knowledgable, and nuanced, again and again, while Perry and Bachmann and Santorum chew each other up. I'm sure Mitttens hopes they all stay in through Florida. After that, it's over.

Oh, one other thing: as each drops out, they will endorse Mitt.

I dont think Mitt will get all of them in the end. Paul won't drop out. I liked that Cain was getting quite a bit of vp love. The anti-Romney is Ron Paul not Perry. La ti da will come back to bite Perry.

Paul can and has made quite a few inroads to the evangelical community and we haven't forgotten.

Paul won't be endorsing, won't ever drop out, and won't ever win. He's sui generis. He's Don Quixote, and he's actually becoming a bit more likable - toning done his old man whine schtick a bit.

Fixed that for you.

His polling numbers have been improving over time, and that was with his effective flub in the last debate. He outlined policy, he didn't screw up delivery, and he managed to make himself appear electable despite getting maybe 5-8 minutes total of speaking (the "Google interruptions" that mentioned him maybe half the time helped, too).

His odds aren't amazing, but they certainly exist and are higher than those of most of the field.