And Your CNN Presidential Debate Winner Is……..

Michele Bachmann

By IUSB Vision Editor Chuck Norton

I did not expect to be making this post tonight. With that said there is no question that Minnesota Member of Congress Michele Bachmann gained the most from tonight’s debate. I have never seen her more focused and disciplined.

I have met Michele in person and talked with her. I refer to her as Michele because if you ever do meet her you will discover that she loves people, loves life and is one of those “infectiously happy people”. Most anyone can have a conversation with her and she will treat even a near stranger with the warmest hospitality. If you are a thinking person or a person of good spirits Michele has an instant familiarity with you which is very disarming.

It is these same qualities above, which make her such an amazing spirit, why I almost convinced myself that she could never be President of the United States. She is just so sweet and kind and even when she is tough on people like Tony Wiener she still comes off as too nice. I thought that she would “etiquette” herself right out of the primary.

I stand corrected.

Flashback 2007 – CNN Debates: Unbiased and Undecided Voters Turn Out to be Democrat Operatives

I sent this note to her campaign:

Michele, you won tonight and gained the most. Now the knives are going to be pointed at you and there was even a tweet saying “release Bachmann’s emails”. Just to be smart, you should release your school records and slap Obama again. You were focused and disciplined like I have never seen you. Be ready for a good rhetorical fight and do not “etiquette” yourself out of the election as we Republicans sometimes take “being nice” too far. The stakes are very high. Great job tonight.

‎”Mother of all repeal bills” was your moment. Build on it. Explain how there are so many regulations that no one could live long enough to even read them, yet citizens are expected to know and perfectly comply with every one or the might of a leviathan sized federal govt comes down upon us. This has created a crisis in confidence. This economy is not about supply or demand, it is about confidence.

Herman Cain gained much tonight as well and Tim Pawlenty gained some, but not enough to get over his “excitement deficit”. Mitt Romney did well in that he had a couple of good moments, only one weak one, and did not damage himself. Ron Paul had a couple of good moments, but came off a as cantankerous old man. Newt did well enough to stop his free-fall so now he can rebuild.

I live-blogged the debate on FaceBook:

•  Come on candidates say it “Since when does a group have the right to have a monopoly on the labor the taxpayers buy?”
• Aren’t monopolies bad?
• I like Romney’s response, “Why didn’t Obama call me so I could tell him what worked and what didn’t” – Brilliant answer. This is a new angle for Romney, who ever his new communications team is, I have to say they came up with a good one.
• Bachmann – harder hitting than I have seen her before, I told her team that I was concerned that they would “etiquette” themselves right out of an election. It seems that they have gotten the message.
• Old school Newt, it is about time.
• Ron Paul gave a great answer on why Central Planning fails – the R&D question. While the space program and very few others are good govt R&D investments – there is only a very limited collective role for govt. Like or dislike Ron Paul, he hit that one out of the park.
• Herman Cain gave a solid answer on how TARP was used to pick winners and losers, see my recent note for some of the details on how that hurt the entire country.
• Ron Paul had a good answer about how the govt housing “rescue” has failed.
• Newt had a great point re NASA: Govt bureaucracy is way more expensive, slower and less effective than most profitable private businesses.
• Romney – “We are hearing all sorts of ideas on how to reign in the excesses of govt” we are hearing it from everybody except the president.” Very Nice.
• Bachmann had a great answer on how not to default. If we default it will be the President and Treasury Sec who are responsible.
• Pawlenty gave a good answer on the separation of church & state trap question. Santorum had a great line – “If your faith and reason are sound they will bring you to the same place”.
• Herman Cain had a good answer on creeping Sharia Law.
• Newt on the Muslim Terrorist – “You are my enemy, I lied” – wow grand slam home run Newt!
• Mitt Romney had his first weak moment, “ALL are welcome in my administration no matter what their faith, but I will pick people that I know to be in my administration” – See how he is on both sides – I mean how many Muslims were his appointees in Mass?
• Santorum should not have said “taken the bullets” he should have said “taken the slings and arrows”
• Bachmann handled the “rape and incest” question very nicely.
• Someone SAY it – “In a post 9/11 world we need to know who is coming in the country and what their intentions are.” This isn’t about compassion, this is about self-defense.
• Pawlenty had a great answer on the role of conservative justices on the court.
• Newt Home Run on Illegal immigration – are you totally opening the border or totally for rounding people up – this is a false choice.
• ‎”It is time to have a president who really cares about getting america on track to energy security” Romney – Way to go Mitt – Tie the policy to the man – Well Done!
• Bachmann – Our policy in Libya is fatally flawed. We are the head and not the tail. Obama differed leadership to France, that is all we need to know. Are we helping Al-Qeada in Libya?
• Pawlenty hit the Palin vs Biden question out of the park.
• Who gained the most – Bachmann clearly gained the most. She was very disciplined. Herman Cain gained the second most. Pawlenty gained some, but not enough for what he needed.
• Romney won in a way that he did not slip up and only had one weak moment. Newt stopped his free-fall, now he has to rebuild. Santorum was solid to be sure, but did not stand out in this crowd.
• Bachmann – the MOTHER of all repeal bills – brilliant. The government is SO big and the regulations are so numerous and unfair that it is ungovernable and stifling.
• Ron Paul, most of his answers were good and he had a couple of very good moments, but he came off as a cantankerous old man (no personal offense is intended, I am just analyzing).