Republican Debate No. 2

MY SCORES

Donald Trump... B-

He was still a blowhard in every sense of the word, but I can tell that he's at least been working on his debating skills. Between trivial insults aimed at Rand Paul ("Why's he even here? He's got less than 1% of the vote!" or "I've never attacked Rand Paul's looks, although there's clearly a lot of source material if I wanted to.") and Jeb Bush ("We wouldn't have even been in the Barack Obama mess had it not been for the last three months of your brother's presidency being so God awful that not even Abraham Lincoln could've won the White House for the Republicans!"), he actually made some good points regarding actual policies last night, which is a vast improvement from his first go-around. "People keep saying I have no political experience, but nothing could be further from the truth. I've been involved in politics my whole life, I was just on THAT side of it before and now I'm on THIS side of it. I may be an entertainer, but I'm a businessman first. Always have been."

Dr. Ben Carson... C+

He didn't say anything particularly dumb, but he didn't really say anything that made a lasting impact either. He was kind of treading the waters on this debate, although his sense of humor was clearly still in tact, like when he said about Trump, "He's an okay doctor!" The nice guy routine can only get you so far in a presidential election, Dr. Carson, so as much as I like you as a person, you're going to have to step it up a notch at the next debates.

Ted Cruz... C-

He was clearly trying to take tough stances in this debate, and that'd be all fine and dandy, except that I didn't really agree with any of them. Plus, when the moderator told Trump that three of the senators on the stage with him were at least partially responsible for the Syrian refugee crisis, and then proceeded to ask Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Rand Paul why they voted along with Obama, accidentally excluding Sen. Ted Cruz, his absolute need to appease his audience about that Obama-backing vote was just unnecessary, never mind the fact that he also had to tell the moderator that he thought he ranked ahead of Rubio and Paul as if to stroke his own ego. Was that really necessary?!

Jeb Bush... D

He was trying to get a word in edge-wise against Trump all night, but never really accomplished that. Trump kept one-upping the career politician at his own game. However, we did learn -- yet again -- that Bush cut $19 billion in taxes in the state of Florida. How many times has he said the same thing throughout the first two debates? We get it already, Jeb, and we also get that Trump used to be a left-leaning Hillary lover. What else you got for us? Is this really the guy who's supposed to be the anti-Trump and steal the Republican vote? Doesn't seem to be working too well so far!

Mike Huckabee... C-

I keep forgetting that Huckabee's running for president because he sounds more like a hired preacher than a politician at these debates. Just once, I'd like to see him feed us something other than a party line "he learned in basic Civics class." In trying to be overly nice ("We've got 11 great candidates up here"), he often just comes off as condescending to those standing next to him, and I don't even think he realizes this. Seriously, the Supreme Court can't make a law, Mr. Huckabee? We all know that! Please, tell us something we don't know already. Anything, really. I'm trying to make you sound like a better, more interesting candidate here. Work with me just a little bit.

Scott Walker... C

I watched a three-hour debate, and can't remember one thing Scott Walker said. However, I do remember that smug look on his face every time they cut to him, and that he kept placing himself into the Trump-Bush feud, two things I never wish to associate with any candidate. Oh wait, he did make ONE good point -- why are we giving the 11-gun salute and hosting a White House dinner for the president of a country that keeps cyber-attacking us?

Carly Fiorina... A-

She left Trump speechless with her very simple response to his "who would want that face for president?" comment. A speechless Trump is something I've never seen before! Aside from this, she also made very good points about a lot of things ranging from how to deal with Russia to how to face-off against Hillary, which a part of me feels is the whole reason she entered into this campaign in the first place. She's clearly thought her campaign positions through a lot more than most of her opponents have, thus far. Let's see where her poll numbers go from here.

John Kasich... A

Carly may have had the highlight reel moments of the night, but Kasich was clearly the most-seasoned politico on the stage. From reminding us that he had been the only Republican candidate to actually have worked with Reagan and made policies alongside him, to reminding us that when he left Washington in 2000, he left it with a five trillion dollar surplus, to scolding both Bush and Trump about how nobody at home cares about their personal feud, that the people are tired of all this immature bickering, to just focus on fixing the problems and stop the pedestrian nature of these debates so far, the guy pretty much stole my heart and my vote (away from Dr. Ben Carson) on this night. This makes two straight debates where Kasich is solid now, so if he can keep this up, I don't see why his numbers wouldn't start rising soon. He may actually be the true anti-Trump, in that he ain't knocking on everybody and trying to divide the G.O.P. even more. For now anyway, he's actually running on a unity platform, wherein he's more worried about expressing his own credentials and getting the people to know him and how he can work with the other side when necessary than attacking the other side every chance he gets. If there's any true maverick in this race, it's this guy!

Marco Rubio... B

He seemed to really know his stuff and have hardcore opinions about everything, but he seems to have a hard time getting away from the politician's façade, meaning that he appears not to want to tell us things he thinks he knows for fear of alienating even a single vote. This guy could be good -- heck, he may even be great! -- if his policy implementation were as in-your-face as his general overall knowledge database, but since it's not, he comes off as more of a know-it-all weenie with big ideals of what he wants done who really doesn't have the cojones to get the wheels moving in that direction because he wants everybody to like him. You might be a nice guy and you may mean well, but for now, I really just don't trust you. Lose the politician's demeanor and open up to me. If you show me you can trust me, then maybe I can repay you that same favor. Until then, I'm giving you a solid "B" for knowing your stuff and having a heck of a lot of potential.

Chris Christie... B+

Is it just me, or doesn't Chris Christie really seem to be coming off as an everyman in these two debates so far? Judging only from what I've seen at the debates, I really want to like the guy and think I probably would... if I didn't already know about all the baggage and corruption that his time in New Jersey has sprung unto our world. Sorry, Chris, one part of me really wants you to do well in this race, but the other part of me knows there's absolutely no way you can, no matter how much you try to make yourself the "people's champ" by telling your fellow politicians that nobody cares about their personal career achievements or by pointing the camera on the audience and asking them "Who thinks a Barack Obama America is going to breed a better future for your children than the life you knew before 2008?" and then telling us that you'd be the one to change that rampant negative view of our government. You may truly genuinely want to be the people's champ, but in order to be so, you can't be the most irresponsible person when given even the slightest bit of power, which is exactly what you've proven to be until now. However, good job debating last night!

Rand Paul... F

An eye doctor posing as a politician should've at least brushed up more on politics before entering into the fold. The best thing about Rand Paul is that he's Ron Paul's son, and Ron Paul's a great candidate. Unfortunately for us, Ron Paul's son is a friggin' nincompoop with little to no redeeming qualities, and frankly, I'm done with this guy already. Educate yourself a little before talking in front of ALL of America. Hell, Trump's a buffoon, but next to you, he's looking like a cross between Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Nikola Tesla. I fully expect to see this guy demoted to the little kid's table by the next debate, where Bobby Jindal's probably going to run circles around him.


UPDATE (09/21/15) - NEW POLL #'S (FOR THE AFOREMENTIONED CANDIDATES)

01. Donald Trump: 24%
02. Carly Fiorina: 15%
03. Ben Carson: 14%
04. Marco Rubio: 11%
05. Jeb Bush: 9%
06. Ted Cruz: 6%
07. Mike Huckabee: 6%
08. Rand Paul: 4%
09. Chris Christie: 3%
10. John  Kasich: 2%

Also, Scott Walker, who now has less than half of one percentage point with the Republican crowd, has officially pulled the plug on his campaign, just ten days after Rick Perry became the first candidate to forfeit his candidacy. Therefore, the field has been narrowed down to 15.