For a good laugh...

[grandhavendiddy]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/24/opinions/first-republican-primary-debate-roundup/index.html

CNN's take here, especially on Nikki, is comical. She did fine - there are points where I agree with her on from a policy perspective, but she was no winner in the debate.
Axelrod got it right: the winner was Trump - by 185 million views to whatever.

The last writer speaks only in terms of identity politics, and then claims that the right over-states it. The gaslighting is something here..

I will stick to reads from the WSJ, Economist and the independent media.

 

[nail1988]

I’m no fan of David Axelgrease but he is correct. Haley was ok until she went full Ukraine

 

[GhostOfMatchesMalone]

Yeah but that's just CNN trying to get in a dig on Fox by mentioning 185M views. If CNN had carried the pub debates, the gap would have been wider.

 

[grandhavendiddy]

In fairness, I mentioned 185M views versus Axelrod.
Yeah, if CNN did it, fewer would watch.

 

[grandhavendiddy]

I’m no fan of David Axelgrease but he is correct. Haley was ok until she went full Ukraine

She went FULL Ukraine. I am more and more skeptical on Ukraine with each passing day. When Vivek said, "being on the board of Lockheed Martin", I laughed so hard - he absolutely nailed the dynamic - which by the way, was a LEFT critique for years.

By the way, everyday Ukranians are tiring of the war. It is 500,000 dead (at least 50-100,000). The war is making no progress and the damage is in the billions.

Putin is Putin. He will not make Ps mistake of ceding power. Once he does, as Ian Bremmer said, he is dead.

 

[Gator Fever]

Heck look at what the Murdochs are doing with Fox slowly turning it into CNN.

 

[Illegal-shift]

I really liked the debate for the most part.....was pretty entertaining. Trump is going to win the nomination by a mile unless the legal stuff brings him down, so it wasn't about that for me. But it was nice to see actual solid republican values being espoused instead of the Trump bullshit. A lot of the party still has their heads on straight, which was refreshing and encouraging. Was nice to hear republicans again talking about fiscal responsibility.

I would vote for Nikki Haley. Loved her response on Ukraine and abortion. I don't care for Pence but thought last night was the best I have ever seen him.....showed a lot more strength than he has in the past. Desantis continues to be disappointing.....just don't think he has it. Chris Christie has talked so much about Trump before the debate he didn't have many bullets left. Vivek was a waste of space.

 

[BillytheC]

none of them will beat Trump

Vivek has several issues he has to splain
Ron is hanging in but only barely
Nikki shot herself in the foot with Ukraine
Tim was just sort of blah

the rest need to drop out and go home- but with the exception of maybe Pence, their ego's will not allow them to do so. Pence knows he is done - might take him a couple of weeks to make the decision but he is DONE

 

[Capt Ron 1]

First out??? Christie. He did not even attend the after event with media. He got booed more than any candidate EVER. Fat asshat

 

[fatman76]

I would vote for Nikki Haley. Loved her response on Ukraine and abortion. I don't care for Pence but thought last night was the best I have ever seen him.....showed a lot more strength than he has in the past. Desantis continues to be disappointing.....just don't think he has it. Chris Christie has talked so much about Trump before the debate he didn't have many bullets left. Vivek was a waste of space.

So the inverse of this is how the debate went.

Got it, thanks for the recap, I don't even need to watch the highlights now.

 

[fatman76]

First out??? Christie. He did not even attend the after event with media. He got booed more than any candidate EVER. Fat asshat

He was only funded into the race to be a bomb thrower at Trump, and he's failed bigly.

He'll be gone very soon, as you point out.

 

[Gator Fever]

He was only funded into the race to be a bomb thrower at Trump, and he's failed bigly.

He'll be gone very soon, as you point out.

Yep my guess is they won't want him around for NH. Not sure if they yank him before IA or not.

 

[GhostOfMatchesMalone]

In fairness, I mentioned 185M views versus Axelrod.
Yeah, if CNN did it, fewer would watch.

CNN never misses a chance to get a dig in on Fox. Stelzer was obsessed with them.

 

[BamaFan1137]

So the inverse of this is how the debate went.

Got it, thanks for the recap, I don't even need to watch the highlights now.

What you said is absolutely true. The only thing @Illegal-shift got right was that Christie didn't even seem to bother. Everything else is the mirror image of reality for what their perspective voters saw.

@Illegal-shift is clearly not a member of the group that would ever vote for any of these people so his perspective is actually perfect.