As always, the suggestion is that readers go through the transcript to make up their own minds and that can be found here.
With that said there were some highlights that are being talked about today, one of which is Governor Rick Perry's frozen moment. He reminded me a student that did his studying then got "the test" in front of him and froze.
After saying confidently that he’d do away with the Departments of Education and Commerce, Perry struggled through a long, awkward moment that ended with an “oops.”
“I would do away with Education, the — Commerce and, let’s see, I can’t,” he said. “The third one, I can’t.”
Perry used his next question, several minutes later, to clarify: “By the way, that was the Department of Energy I was reaching for a while ago.”
Reactions range from those that think Perry should hang it up and go back to being Governor of Texas to a commenter over at Legal Insurrection who said " I’ve only been following presidential elections since 1960, so maybe I’ve missed something crucial. I do not find candidate lapses in speaking critical. I don’t judge people in my private life that way either. As a college teacher, I never found it helpful in evaluating students either. Some do better in oral exams, some in written.Google search for "Romney used car salesman" shows that analogy to be one many people seem to agree on.
Reminder: New launched site by a group of Conservatives called NotMittRomney.com.
Bachmann's answers are popular with the crowd generally but she cannot seem to get over the hump in the polls and as a woman, I would love to see a woman President one day, but I would never vote for someone just because they were a certain gender.
Gingrich, now that one is a pistol. He has no desire to be politically correct, calls out moderators and the media for their biased reporting, generally points to where the GOP candidates are in agreement and keeps his eye on the endgame which is replacing Barack Obama in 2012.
Here is an example from the transcript (Page 6) after Gingrich answered a question and ended with "it's sad that the news media doesn't report accurately how the economy works."
BARTIROMO: Mr. Speaker -- I'm sorry, but what is the media reporting inaccurately about the economy?
GINGRICH: What?
BARTIROMO: What is the media reporting inaccurately about the economy?
(LAUGHTER)
GINGRICH: I love humor disguised as a question. That's terrific.
I have yet to hear a single reporter ask a single Occupy Wall Street person a single rational question about the economy that would lead them to say, for example, "Who is going to pay for the park you are occupying if there are no businesses making a profit?"
(APPLAUSE)
[Update] Video below found at Conservative Daily News of the above quoted portion of the transcript:
[Update] SuperPAC now launched to help Gingrich, via The Hill.
As for Paul, Huntsman and Santorum, I stick with my previous position... they are not even a blip on my radar.
I have to say, even as a Perry supporter, I am liking Gingrich more and more every time I see him speak, especially when he knocks media and idiotic moderators down a few pegs.
.
I’m not a Perry supporter. Just an old hand conservative who supported Goldwater and Reagan in their dark days."
As a Perry supporter myself I have often said I would rather someone who can do the job than someone that can speak about doing it well, but people do watch these debates and polling shows that Perry's debate performances has cost him support.
Other Conservatives that are not Perry supporters and state clearly they do not like him are also speaking out in defense of Perry's brain freeze during last night's debate.
Another highlights from the debate was the audience reaction to Herman Cain in which they cheered for him and booed the debate moderators who asked him about the "character issues" that have been thrown at him this past week.
I like Cain but if I hear him say 999 one more time I may just mute the TV until I see his lips stop moving.