THE CNBC GOP DEBATE: RISING RUBIO, BANAL BUSH, BEMUSING BEN, SMILING STRANGELOVE

10/30/15

Everyone else is commenting on the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate.  Since I finally have some time, my comments on the last debate (See THE ONEINESCAPABLE CONCLUSION FROM THE SEPTEMBER GOP DEBATE, 9/18/15) were a big hit, and some fresh insights are needed, here are my (far more than) two cents…

• While it’s way too early to make meaningful wagers, Marco Rubio right now is the safest bet to win the GOP nomination.   Ben Carson and Donald Trump have to fade…right?   Maybe not.   But assuming they do, and even if they don’t, the Republican establishment has to look for a champion.   It certainly isn’t Jeb Bush; see below.  Chris Christie made a terrific showing Wednesday night, but he isn’t catching on and, if the papers are to be believed, he is running out of money.  Who is left but Marco Rubio?   And Mr. Rubio’s stellar showing, especially when jabbing at the favorite, and deservedly so, whipping boy of the GOP, the media, certainly helped illuminate what is increasingly obvious:  that Marco Rubio is the last best hope of the establishmentarians.  

Besides still having plenty of money and being articulate and attractive, Mr. Rubio is an establishmentarian who is still acceptable to those among the GOPers who still adhere to principle, sort of like Paul Ryan without the dyspeptic attributes (See IS JOE BIDEN A POLITICAL GENIUS OR WHAT?, 10/28/15.) in this regard.   Bear in mind that, in giving his victory speech after winning his Senate seat, Mr. Rubio attacked George W. Bush as well as the Democrats.   This is one way to win points with those of us who still believe in the things the GOP says it believes in.

Mr. Rubio’s biggest drawback is his Barack Obama problem.  The Republicans, for very good reasons, like to argue that Mr. Obama was a young man with little experience when he was elected to the most powerful post in the world.  Consequently, Mr. Obama is in way over his head and the consequences have not been salubrious.   The same arguments can be made regarding Mr. Rubio, but hypocrisy and glaring inconsistency are key components in the politician’s trade.

• If you didn’t know anything about Ben Carson’s background, would you think, judging from his performance in the debates and on the campaign trail in general, that he was a really smart guy?   I wouldn’t and, be honest, you wouldn’t either.   Clearly, Dr. Carson is brilliant; one doesn’t get to head neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, or anywhere for that matter, without being a hyper-brainiac, but you’d never know it from what we’ve seen of Mr. Carson.

• Carly Fiorina didn’t take Sharon Epperon’s bait when Ms. Epperson asked Mrs. Fiorina whether the government should initiate a program to encourage retirement savings among those without access to 401ks and the like at work.   Despite Mrs. Fiorina’s sharing the sentiment of all her colleagues (and of most Americans who think) that more savings is needed in this economy, she calmly answered “No” to Ms. Epperson’s turn at “Gotcha.”   She could have left it at that to more effect, but Mrs. Fiorina went on to explain that the solution to every problem is not another government program.   Great performance, at least on that question, that confirms my view that Mrs. Fiorina will be on the GOP ticket.  (See THE ONE INESCAPABLE CONCLUSION FROM THE SEPTEMBER GOP DEBATE, 9/18/15)

• Jeb Bush ought to just go back to all those wonderful things he could be doing rather than run for president.   Almost echoing the same question yours truly asked about Ben Carson, do you see any of the intelligence, insight, or record of accomplishment people ascribe to Jeb Bush when you see that goofy, deer in the headlights response to every question thrown his way?   All I, and most others see, is a guy whose only possible qualification for anything is, as my dad used to say, that his father was born before he was.

• Overall, it was a good debate, and, as a guy who was pretty much a Republican until Jeb Bush’s brother came along, yours truly would be comfortable supporting just about any of the candidates on the stage.   Then again, the candidates didn’t discuss foreign policy this go-around; with a few exceptions, the GOPers’ foreign policy plans remind me of the book that was laid out in front of General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) in the War Room in the Stanley Kubrick 1964 classic “Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”   The book was entitled “World Targets in Megadeaths.”   That was darkly funny; when the GOP candidates talk foreign policy, things get genuinely scary.