From the mainstream media:
From Twitter:
John Hawkins (Right Wing News)
Winner? Michele Bachmann. Last place? Herman Cain. His Muslim answer sounded awful. #cnndebate
Kathleen McKinley (Houston Chronicle, Right Wing News)
Now that Bachmann has proven herself a worthy candidate, the msm will go after her like they did Palin #waitandsee
Erick Erickson (Red State)
That sound you hear is millions of jaws hitting the ground by Bachmann’s stellar answer on Libya. She just did very well with that.
Erick Erickson (Red State)
Newt proved he can handle the debate. Bachmann wins as the strongest non Romney. Romney wins overall as no one knocked him off his perch.
Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post)
@daveweigel and Bachmann exceeded expectations
Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post)
who thinks Palin could have been more impressive than Bachmann?
Kathryn Jean Lopez (National Review)
michelle bachmann wins tonight and i suspect mitt romney is quite comfortable with that. #cnndebate
David Freddoso (National Review)
Lesson 1: Bachmann is a more serious candidate than Gingrich.
Larry Sabato (Democrat)
Bachmann also pleased with her performance, with reason.
S.E. Cupp (Moderate conservative)
Romney looked good tonight, so did Pawlenty. But it must be said, Bachmann was actually the only rockstar on that stage.
S.E. Cupp (Moderate conservative)
David Gergen also says it was a very good night for Bachmann. So who did you think won the night?
Ezra Klein (Democrat from Washington Post)
Romney won. Bachmann surged. Cain disappointed. Pawlenty whiffed. Gingrich slept. Santorum fretted. Paul scolded. #CNNDebate
Keep in mind that Romney is the establishment candidate, the pick of the moderate Republicans and the Democrats. However, he did do well – it’s his record on abortion, religious liberty, global warming and health care that troubles me. (See related links below)
Debate transcript:
Best sound bite:
KING: Congresswoman Bachmann, should the president have supported and jointed more U.S. presence, but now a NATO operation? Was that the right thing to do? Is that in the vital national interest of the United States of America?
BACHMANN: No, I don’t believe so it is. That isn’t just my opinion. That was the opinion of our defense secretary, Gates, when he came before the United States Congress. He could not identify a vital national American interest in Libya.
Our policy in Libya is substantially flawed. It’s interesting. President Obama’s own people said that he was leading from behind. The United States doesn’t lead from behind. As commander in chief, I would not lead from behind.
We are the head. We are not the tail. The president was wrong. All we have to know is the president deferred leadership in Libya to France. That’s all we need to know. The president was not leading when it came to Libya.
First of all, we were not attacked. We were not threatened with attack. There was no vital national interest. I sit on the House Select Committee on Intelligence. We deal with the nation’s vital classified secrets.
We to this day don’t yet know who the rebel forces are that we’re helping. There are some reports that they may contain al Qaeda of North Africa. What possible vital American interests could we have to empower al Qaeda of North Africa and Libya? The president was absolutely wrong in his decision on Libya.
This is the answer that EVERYONE is pointing to as her finest moment.
Check out this Jennifer Rubin column that was just posted.
Excerpt:
There was some news made Monday night, as Bachmann declared her candidacy and showed herself to be a serious candidate. She often invoked her congressional experience (voting against TARP and against raising the debt limit and introducing a bill to repeal Obamacare). She gave an impassioned speech on the right to life, but said she wouldn’t go into states seeking to repeal their laws on gay marriage. As a federal matter, however, she would support a constitutional amendment if the Defense of Marriage Act doesn’t survive judicial scrutiny.
Read the whole thing. Michele is the candidate we need support.
You can contribute to her campaign right here. You can be her friend on Facebook here and also here.
Related posts
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Bachmann was a pleasant surprise, as I have not known too much about her. I must say over against all the folks above… I liked Santorum also.
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I just watched CNN’s replay of the debate, and I must concur that all candidates (even Paul had moments of clarity, and that is remarkable) gave good answers, stayed on topic, and seemed, for the most part, united on most issues. To me, it was less of a debate than a gathering of conservative friends speaking the truth about the Obama Administration. In that regard, the decorum and mutual respect were a breath of fresh air.
However, Wintery, as you and I both know, Romney is as slick as snot. (Is that politically correct?) His answers are well rehearsed, and he knows exactly how to dress up (read: lie about) his record to make himself look good. But discerning viewers (and, hopefully, voters) see through his facade. Just study his political record. His firm criticisms of the president were on target, though.
Bachmann, Pawlenty, and Santorum stood tallest on the issues that matter most: faith, life, and marriage. But, in contrast with the reporters quoted above, I think Herman Cain did well. I also didn’t see a problem with his response to the question about screening Muslims. He was careful to clarify his position, and it is one that I agree with.
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“However, …it’s his record on abortion, religious liberty, global warming and health care that troubles me.”
I agree.
Romney is no more of a conservative than Obama:
http://massresistance.org/romney/
If Romney wins the primary, I most certainly will throw my vote at a third party candidate.
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I’m sorry but Pawlenty chickened in front of Romney. He makes a statement about ‘Obomneycare’ when Romney isn’t there, and then chickens when Romney is there.
Cain on Muslims also worried me, but he also started sounding like a bit of a broken record with his constant references to, “We have to find the problem, and then when we find the problem we have to find the solution.” Well how about that, thanks a lot Sherlock!
He also doesn’t have the qualifications to do the job in my opinion.
Bachmann did very well, and as long as she keeps herself from sounding extreme I think she’ll be a very strong candidate. She’s got to keep the tea party vote whilst also not alienating mainstream Republicans who might feel alienated by too much government bashing.
One quick point would be that there was a LOT of Obama bashing, but not much vision speak. By that I mean, they all said a lot about what they didn’t like, and only vague ideas about what they did like, making statements “Government is bad”. Well that’s profound- thanks for that!
I would like to see the candidates give more of their vision for America and her society. Just saying government is bad and all we need to do is cut taxes and then all our problems will be solved isn’t gonna cut it. Economics is more complicated than that. There is a budget crisis and realistically some taxes are gonna need to go up, there is a pensions crisis and realistically retirement age is gonna have to go up, there is a jobs crisis and that’s more than just a result of high taxes. Productivity in America has been stagnant for a long time, and there is a big block of people who are long-term unemployed. The government needs to get them on training programs to ease them back into the work lifestyle in conjunction with deregulation, tax cuts etc, because on their own it won’t work.
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Also, I think Pawlenty is boring. To beat someone as charismatic, enigmatic and exciting as Obama you need either a pragmatic centrist like Romney, or a charismatic, fiery conservative like Bachmann. I don’t think any of the others can beat Obama.
I should have added on the Obama bashing bit that if someone had just listened to this debate they would have thought that healthcare in America was 100% fine before Obama, with low costs and all, but now it’s all messed up.
Obamacare is pretty awful, but healthcare in America before it was also terrible. Hugely inflated costs, far higher than almost all other developed nations which had government provided healthcare free at the point of use. Considering the lack of incentives there is at the moment in the european health care systems, it is amazing how bad the US health care system is. Repealing Obamacare is not the solution to the problem. The candidates must give their vision of how to reinvent healthcare in America, because simply reacting against what’s gone before is not good enough.
Note to Rick Santorum- please don’t pretend that simply starting off-shore oil drilling is the solution to all of America’s job woes.
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They need to do something like this:
http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=7832
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Something along those lines. ANY kind of such vision would be nice, but from most of the candidates all we hear is soundbites like, “Get the government out of health care!”
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Bachmann has my vote!
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Yay! Thank you Glenn!
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