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Final Grades

By Quin Hillyer on 9.22.11 @ 10:53PM

On tonight's performance alone:

Cain: A

Santorum: A

Gingrich: A-

Romney: B

Paul: B-

Johnson: C

Bachmann: C+

Huntsman: C-

Perry: C-

View all comments (35) | Leave a comment

Margie| 9.22.11 @ 11:01PM

I agree, especially with your top three and was thrilled to see Herman Cain shining, which has been my prayer!!!

Except I would've graded Michele above Ron Paul!

Jack in Wi.| 9.23.11 @ 1:42AM

The man who won as usual was Ron Paul. His whole agenda is what the campaign is about. It was a fight among those on stage who could sound the most like Ron Paul. He got by far the most applause and hit a homerun everytime he came to bat. They were terrified to ask him a foreign policy question because they were afraid the crowd would agree with him. If Ron Paul is so wrong on foreign policy why are thery afraid to ask him a question?

Ron Paul has the largest and most enthusuastic group of supporters the country has seen in decades. He polls best by far among conservative Democrats, Independents, and the young. Why would we want some flip floppers like Romney and Perry instead of the man who has the knowledge and courage to get us out of this mess?

Margie| 9.23.11 @ 1:53PM

What?! No words as to how hate filled I am today? Wow!
Well Jack, you ARE the perfect Ron Paul suck-up.. I mean, er uhm, supporter.
Whatever floats thy boat!

Margie| 9.23.11 @ 1:57PM

Although I do have a suggestion for the inquisitioners, oops I mean inquirers, oops I mean the moderators at the next "show", oh darn! I mean debate. Yes, that's it!

Dear Inquisitors:

Please, please, PLEASE, DO ask Ron Paul more Iran questions.

Thank you.
Yours very, very truly,
Margie.

p.s. Oh, and at least one question about the Palestinian state "issue."
Toodles.

SpiralArchitect| 9.23.11 @ 6:52PM

How about just losing Huntsman & Johnson.

Nine person debate...? How pathetic.

Margie| 9.23.11 @ 10:51PM

I think they'll have to bow out soon enough, But hey, what does a horrible human being like me know.
Heh.

GOP Observer| 9.22.11 @ 11:05PM

It's time for a dark horse to emerge from the shadows who can beat Obama and that man is Jeb Bush. Unlike his father and brother Jeb is down to earth, folksy and a good debater way better than this bunch tonight. Florida is the key state in the upcoming election and Jeb would win it.

Mimi| 9.23.11 @ 12:10AM

Quin I agree in your choice of those with the TOP grades....interesting they are the best Conservatives !
Michele Bachmann needs to give it up on the vaccine...it's going to do her in, she needs to DROP-IT ! She's too good on everything and we need her in the race!
Mitt and Perry canceled each other out. Mitt did better than Perry tonight..... Put Gingrich between them!
I LOVE them all...for what they are all doing to bring the Conservative message to America. They educate the voters and at the same time convince the country to vote out Obama!

Cris Worth| 9.22.11 @ 11:17PM

After another round of futility it is my conclusion both Perry and Romney have too much political baggage and debate ineffectually. Romney like '08 says nothing, stands for nothing and won't tell us who he really is. Perry on the other hand is not qualified to be president. The rest are mediocre at best and no one has shown who can get us out of this economic mess. It's time to start looking at other potential candidates preferably from the business world and I don't mean closet liberal Romney.

Clint.| 9.22.11 @ 11:19PM

Dean Vernon Wormer: Here are your grade point avarages. Mr. Kroger: two C's, two D's and an F. That's a 1.2. Congratulations, Kroger. You're at the top of the Delta pledge class. Mr. Dorfman?
Flounder: [drunk] Hello!
Dean Vernon Wormer: 0.2... Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son. Mr. Hoover, president of Delta house? 1.6; four C's and an F. A fine example you set! Daniel Simpson Day... HAS no grade point average. All courses incomplete. Mr. Blu...
[sees Bluto with a pair of pensils in his nostrels]
Dean Vernon Wormer: MR. BLUTARSKY... ZERO POINT ZERO.
[Bluto shrugs]

Simon Templar| 9.22.11 @ 11:20PM

Looks like another circus. No substance, no solutions, no concrete ideas. Nothing but an idiotic show of "Let's Destroy our Leading Candidates" brought to you by the Stupid Party.
Hey, maybe we could dress them up in costumes and put them in a large ring of mud and call it, "Battle of the Republicanbots." I am sure Obama would even pitch in and cosponsor the event.

Kingofthenet| 9.22.11 @ 11:25PM

Reply of the night, i might be wrong but isn't there ALOT more Republican debates than last time round? I wouldn't mind seeing a Mud wrestling match between Palin and Bachmann.

Bob| 9.22.11 @ 11:39PM

Who has the biggest biceps, Palin or Bachmann?

Stefan Stackhouse| 9.23.11 @ 9:54AM

Since she used to be known as "Sarah the Barracuda", I think I know which way to bet on that matchup!

Margie| 9.23.11 @ 1:59PM

Simon,
God adores you. Why? You're so freaking honest.
Pardon the "french."

Keith| 9.22.11 @ 11:23PM

Gov. Perry insulted every conservative tonight by suggesting that we are heartless if we refuse to pay for the college tuition of illegal immigrants. Excuse me, governor, but some of us are paying back the student debt that we incurred by putting ourselves through school, or paying our kids' tuition so that they can have a better life. On top of that, you expect us to fund a college education for folks who aren't even legally present in this country? This is stuff I'd expect to hear from the left-wing of the Democratic Party, not the supposed conservative hero. I will never, ever vote for Rick Perry. Not in a primary. Not in the general election. He's done.

Kingofthenet| 9.22.11 @ 11:27PM

Somebody should have said, you know what's REALLY heartless, Rick? Putting a guy to death for killing his kids when it was an accidental fire...

Occam's Tool| 9.22.11 @ 11:46PM

I had my medical school tuition go from $1400 to $14400 in 3 years in Texas between 1984-1988, with the bill passed after my freshman year, with no warning.

Perry is full of shit on this one. Totally disagree with him. Bachmann is the one I want to win, or cain. But Perry and Romney are better than Obama, even so.

No services whatSOever for illegal immi9grants. Period. And definitely no instate tuition for illegals over US citizens. Perry wants to make real waves and make Texas State Unioversities the Best in the country? Offer instate tuition to all legal US citizens, but keep the numbers the same. This would make out of state students in Texas the creme de la creme, as out of state Texas students in their medical schools in the 1970s were equally the cream of the crop.

Occam's Tool| 9.22.11 @ 11:48PM

Universities. "O" is next to "I" on a QWERTY. I'm not a surgeon for a reason.

WJ| 9.23.11 @ 8:59AM

It was still a good post. We all knew what you meant. You were probably typing in justifiable anger over Perry and his "don't have a heart" statement.

Grzmlyk| 9.22.11 @ 11:31PM

I absolutely agree with your grades, Quin.

I wish Bachmann had done better - she didn't have a lot of face time, but, after her fine performance last time - marred by her post-debate HPV virus comments - she's fading.

I would love to see Herman Cain president - I think he has the right mix of traits. I really wish he were polling better.

I continue to like Santorum. Excellent candidate.

Perry's done - I thought he looked bad. The one time he stuck to his guns impressively, it was on an issue on which he's wrong. "you have no heart" is the cry of the liberal.

Gingrich - as always, impressive in many ways. But again, I will never forgive him for his global warming commercial. And I think his temperament would not work as president.

Sadly, I think Romney's going to be our nominee. He's a competent, smart, likeable, slick and, I think, fundamentally decent guy. But he's no conservative.

Margie| 9.23.11 @ 2:02PM

Hey Grz,

If Herman (my man!!) keeps being just who he is, he will keep rising in the polls. I am praying, we all should!!

Simon Templar| 9.22.11 @ 11:35PM

I guess it just is too much to ask that these candidates and the party they are associated with provide us an evening where we can hear exactly what their ideas, solutions, and policy positions are and how they plan on fixing the mess we are in right now as a nation.

No, we would prefer more of a Jerry Springer approach whereby we can then up with a candidate we think is conservative and represents our interest and has ideas and solutions but in actuality is just another empty idiot in a suit who will if by some incredible luck or the public's cynicism gets elected. Then we can complain and whine for the next four to eight years depending on just how well they screw up the country and break every campaign promise they made.

Let the jackass with the most money and best one liners and soundbite win!

Simon Templar| 9.22.11 @ 11:40PM

Oh, I forgot, the best looks on camera and the most name recognition. My apologies.

Simon Templar| 9.22.11 @ 11:44PM

Oh, and if you had any ideas that you wanted a real conservative to be nominated and win..forget it. Impossible. Conservatives and antiquated constitutionalist need not apply. Anything from progressive Republican to Communist is welcome.

Chuck| 9.22.11 @ 11:35PM

The Great Depression started under Hoover leading to FDR's election in 1932. The depression worsened under Roosevelt but in 1936 the Republicans put up nincompoop Alf Landon and he was destroyed. I saw and heard a room full of Alf Landons and an empty skirt tonight. History repeating itself in '12, it can't be or could it?

Stefan Stackhouse| 9.23.11 @ 9:57AM

There were several of these clowns that I would pick old Alf over.

Paul McGrath| 9.22.11 @ 11:37PM

I've always liked Cain and now I like him better. Do I agree with his 9-9-9 plan? Maybe, maybe not, but I'm beginning to understand it. Fundamentally, it is a conservative plan. He is confident, he understands the issues, he was never flustered, and I mostly agree with him. And out of the blue, he said that he would pick Gingrich to be his vice president! If he were to somehow win the nomination, he would crush Obama like a rotten tomato. A +.

Santorum. He was good. He always is. Did I yell, "Yeah!" when he made some comments? No. Am I motivated? No. Am I going to run to the phone and donate money to his campaign? No. He's a good guy and he'd be a good president, but it ain't gonna happen.

Gingrich is always good. He is feisty and conservative and knowledgable about seemingly everything and I agree with him and he is the one person who is going to be able to withstand the tremendous amount of s*** that the left is going to throw at him. (He's already been there.) I was initially concerned that he is kind of a been-there/done-that kind of candidate, but . . . imagine him in a debate with Obama? Think about this. I would not be unhappy with a Gingrich candidacy. He is becoming more relevant. No doubt about it.

Romney is good. He continues to be good. He thinks well on his feet, he is knowledgable, and he is, well . . . he is a nice guy! You gotta love the guy! He'd be the best neighbor you ever had. Do not underestimate this in a campaign against the very slick Obama. But dangit, he better run to the right, and he better run there hard. Gingrich and Cain are just as likeable, and they are well to the right of Romney.

Perry I don't understand. I was thrilled when he entered the race. I figured he would be the conservative answer to Romney. After three debates, it is clear that he is not to the right of Romney, it is clear that he is not as articulate as Romney, and he is definitely not as likeable as Romney. There were a couple of moments tonight when it sounded like he was drunk. I'm sure this is not the case, but he stumbled badly. The Right CAN NOT afford a stumble or a mumble or a gaffe in a debate with Obama. We must pick a candidate who has the best chance to win. Perry, as I predicted earlier, is in trouble.

Ron Paul is Ron Paul. He hit a couple of home runs policy-wise, but he is not going to beat Obama. The left will portray him as the crazy old man on the street corner and because he looks, acts and speaks like the crazy old man on the street corner, he will be perceived as the crazy old man on the street corner by the general public. Obama would chew him up in a debate. Sorry.

Bachmann was on the defense tonight. Her goal was to not say anything too stupid. She succeeded. Good for her.

Johnson was a pleasant surprise. Huntsman remains a toad.

Bottom line is, I like all of these people. They know their stuff, they're likeable, they're all able to poke fun at themselves (except for maybe Bachmann), and each and every one of them would be a significantly better alternative than the earnest schoolboy in the White House. Good debate.

Stefan Stackhouse| 9.23.11 @ 10:02AM

I like Cain, I really do. People need to understand, though, that his corporate tax 9% rate isn't a net income tax, it is a GROSS income tax. That's right, gross profit net of cost of goods sold, no deductions for any overhead. I would venture a guess that this would not go over very well with a great many corporate boardrooms, or even many main street back offices. Not much has been mentioned about this because people have been ignoring Cain and not paying any attention. I'd suggest actually reading his 9-9-9- plan before becoming too excited about it.

SpiralArchitect| 9.23.11 @ 7:02PM

Gingrich, the aptly named Speaker, would be the best of the lot.

Cain? Sure I have no problem him as America's third black POTUS (Clinton was the first).

Huntsman? He speaks Chinese... so what?

martin j smith| 9.23.11 @ 7:59AM

Ron Paul and John Huntsman will never under any circumstances get my vote. Grades not withstanding.

Lets take our time and give all ( me except the above two ) a total opportunity. Let the voters deci8de who the candidate is not the MSM or any media including FOX.

Clint.| 9.23.11 @ 8:10AM

Dr.Ron Paul Continues To Rise Up.

" A Suffolk University poll of likely New Hampshire voters found Paul in second place. While former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney maintained a huge lead over all his competitors, Paul was leading the pack of other contenders at 14 percent, with his closest rival, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, four points back. "

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.