MARCH 4, 2016
I’m no prude, but this is probably the most vulgar Presidential debate that I have ever seen.
Do we really want to know about the size of Donald Trump’s penis? There would be others that I’d be curious about, but Donald Trump?….no.
I thought I had gotten used to occasional crassness in debates, but I simply wasn’t prepared for the schoolyard antics displayed in last night’s get-together in Detroit.
Marco Rubio had actually instigated this question last week, citing Trump’s allegedly small hands and speculating whether that meant that other parts of his body was small as well. Trump roared back with a passionate defense of the size of his package, and I asked myself if I was really watching a debate with people who want to be President of the United States.
All this nonsense was in the first 10 minutes of the debate, and one would hope that things would get better as it went on. It did…but just barely.
I never thought that I would say this, but kudos to the Fox News moderators — Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and the dreaded Megyn Kelly — for holding the candidates’ feet to the fire. I can’t stand them on their own shows, but here they were the perfect questioners here to burrow at the candidates’ inconsistencies.
On that score, Trump did not have a good night. When Rubio brought up the failure that was Trump University, the billionaire tried to claim that it was a success, citing a Better Business Bureau rating that he claimed gave an “A” rating to the school. When Kelly reminded him that the BBB score was actually D- and that several Trump University students are suing him claiming fraud, he quickly changed the topic to Rubio’s attendance record in the Senate. But there’s more! Here’s our score…
WINNER:
John Kasich — The Ohio Governor gets a win by largely staying out of the food fight among the other three candidates. Though he has publicly resented the observation that he’s the one adult in the room, he certainly proved it last night. Though he could have chimed in, he elected not to enter the food fight happening on the other end of the stage. By doing that, he looked Presidential by comparison.
LOSERS:
Donald Trump — Though no one’s gravitas is helped by a discussion of the size of his penis, Trump managed to make things even worse when the discussion turned to the notorious Trump University. Besides his ridiculous (and wrong) claim that his college achieved an “A” rating (which Kelly called him on), Trump bobbed and weaved around questions about not releasing his tax returns and “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture). Not many of his opponents’ punches landed, but if Trump is on defense, Trump is losing. This morning, Trump announced that he is pulling out of participating in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) being held today, which prompted a solid round of boos at the conference. (FYI, I love CPAC, especially when gay reporters attend and click on Grindr, with their phones exploding with the crowds of the conservative GOP queers all around them.)
Ted Cruz — Cruz almost edged into the winners’ column as he, like Kasich, mostly stayed from the sandbox fight between Rubio and Trump. But as the one candidate who has won more than one state primary, Cruz needed to score a knockout against Trump, and by staying out of the way, he didn’t. With more and more states voting (5 more elections are coming tomorrow!), Cruz had better step up against Trump soon or else the billionaire will leave him in the dust.
Marco Rubio — Attacks against Trump that felt fresh last week seem a little moldy when they’re repeated one week later. If anything, the calendar is even less friendly to Rubio than it is to Cruz. The Texas Senator has already won his home state, but Rubio is trailing by double digits in Florida behind Trump. After his disappointing loss on Super Tuesday, Rubio cannot afford to lose his home state — if he does, he’s done.
Tomorrow we have 5 more contests — Louisiana will hold a primary, both Democrats and Republicans will caucus in Kansas, Republicans will caucus in Kentucky & Maine, and Democrats will caucus in Nebraska. Exact Change Today will pick over the charred remains on Sunday. Be there or be square!
