
First of all, if you missed the two debates on CNN on Wednesday night, you missed two great political debates. Hugh Hewitt asked great questions of the candidates. Jake Tapper and Dana Bash were slightly biased against Republicans. Really both debates were so good, and a million times better than the two Fox News debates. There were no gotcha questions, there were plenty of issue-focused exchanges between the candidate.
First debate:
Here’s an exchange between Jindal and Graham:
Jindal: “If we can’t defund Planned Parenthood… It is time to be done with the Republican Party.”
JIndal on Trump and Obama:
Jindal: “He’s declared war on trans fats, and a truce with Iran. Think about that – he’s more worried about Twinkies than he is about the Ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon!”
Jindal on the refugee crisis and illegal immigration:
Jindal: “Simply allowing more people into this country doesn’t solve this problem.”
Jindal on radical Islam, and discrimination against Christians in America:
Jindal: “In America … right now, the biggest discrimination going on is against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage.”
Here are my ratings, candidates in red are the ones I support.
First debate grades:
- Bobby Jindal: A-
- Lindsay Graham: B+
- Rick Santorum: C
- George Pataki: D
Jindal went after Trump hard, but didn’t talk enough about policy and his own record. LIndsay Graham was solid on foreign policy. He is far too liberal on fiscal issues and social issues, and especially on illegal immigration. Graham is one of the most establishment RINOs in the Senate. It was fun watching Jindal take him on. Jindal is still my favorite candidate, and I hope he gets a bump in the polls from his debate performance.
Second debate:
Carly Fiorina on Planned Parenthood:
Marco Rubio on foreign policy:
If you watch only one clip, watch this one – Rubio and Christie on global warming:
Ted Cruz on illegal immigration:
Scott Walker on minimum wage, jobs and Obamacare:
Second debate grades:
- Carly Fiorina: A
- Marco Rubio: A
- Chris Christie: B+
- Ted Cruz: B
- Scott Walker: B-
- Ben Carson: C+
- Jeb Bush: C+
- Rand Paul: C
- Mike Huckabee: C
- John Kasich: D
- Donald Trump: F
Fiorina solid on the facts, but took a few hits on her record at Hewlett Packard, which was not good. She is much too liberal and inexperienced for me, but she talks about these issues very seriously. I am more conservative than she is on abortion, marriage, religious liberty, criminal justice, and many other issues. She has no record of achievement as a governor, either. Marco Rubio is amazing at foreign policy, and knocked a question on global warming out of the park. I love to see a Republican explain the global warming issue so that people understand what is at stake. Rand Paul made some great points about federalism, which I think was valuable in explain conservative principles to the CNN audience.
I’m glad to see that Erick Erickson of the grassroots site Red State agrees with me on the winner of the first debate, and the winners of the second debate.
For a good review of the second debate, here’s something from The Weekly Standard and a new episode of the The Weekly Standard podcast, as well.
My top 4 candidates are still Jindal, Walker, Cruz, Rubio.

