The 3rd and 4th Republican Debate: What a Contrast!

I didn't get to watch the debate last night because I was working. I did catch part of it on the radio during my drive home. Now I am watching the recording on my DVR. All I can say is "What a contrast from the prior debate!"

Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal did a fantastic job. It was moderated by true professionals - Gerard Baker (WSJ), Maria Bartiromo (FBN), and Neil Cavuto. Unlike their CNBC counterparts from the previous debate, these moderators asked substantive questions, remained objective, maintained order, and allowed the candidates to be the focus instead of injecting themselves and their own views into the debate.

How refreshing! A debate where the candidates are asked fair, pertinent, and meaningful questions on important national issues by grown-ups and then allowed to give their answer. This is exactly what a presidential primary debate should be - a dignified, informative, and civil event.

Hopefully the next Democrat primary debate will follow suit instead of being another softball lobbing, journalistic slobber fest as we have seen from the "journalists" who have run those debates in the past or the Sunday morning talk shows. The American public deserves it!

Tonight's 4th Republican Debate

Tonight will present an opportunity for the Fox Business Network to show what it truly means to be "Fair and Balanced" and, unlike their CNBC counterparts who moderated the last debate, ask questions of the candidates that give them the chance to detail their economic plans and policies. It will allow them to compare and contrast those ideas with the ideas of the other Republican primary candidates and more importantly, it will provide them with the opportunity to suggest solutions based in reality instead of the fantasy-based policies that have been presented by the Democrat primary candidates.

If all goes well, the Republicans will get the relevant, unbiased questions they say they want and the voters deserve. They might regret getting what they ask for though. There won't be any feel good, softball questions. The candidate had better have their facts and figures down or this might be the last time they get to participate in the main debate. Fumbling around for the numbers and/or a poor command of the math will translate directly into precipitous down movement in the candidates' poll numbers.

I wonder if anyone will grant the Democrat candidates and the voters the same opportunity? I wonder of they actually want it.

In the Debate, Attacking Trump Will Help But...

Ahead of tonight's second GOP presidential debate, I thought I'd share some thoughts on strategy for those wishing to unseat Trump as the frontrunner. Many, especially those in the Republican establishment, hope the other candidates will attack Trump. This tactic will help the attackers but unfortunately, it will also help Trump. The problem is that in these televised debates, barring any big gaffs, face time is everything. Therefore, for every minute a challenging candidate like Carly Fiorina or Jeb Bush attacks Trump, they are giving twice as much face time to Trump as they are getting - the time they are attacking him plus the time he is allowed to give a response. The end result is one step ahead for the challenger; two steps ahead for Trump.

A better tactic would be to provide better answers to the questions without attacking another Republican candidate. Once again Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican." is wise advice. The goal needs to be to prove oneself the better future opponent of the Democrat candidate not that you are better than Trump! However, the challengers can take a hint from "The Donald":  skip the politically correct BS and give better solutions to the county's problems than Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or any other potential socialist "Democrat" offering. In the real world where the majority of us dwell, giving better solutions than the magical world of make believe answers of the Democrat party is not that tall of an order.