A night of fiery speech loaded with persuasive appeals and rebuttals that examined logical fallacies, the second Republican debate was one for the books. As I watched the eleven presidential hopefuls introduce themselves then quickly jump into full gear, I felt as if the spirit of the deceased actor and 40th president was with the panel of distinguished doctors, politicians, and business people.
A number of topics were brought up and quite a few were hastily avoided all together. I had my share of laughs as Donald Trump shot wise cracks at his opponents and nods of affirmation as Carly Fiorina stood up for herself amid a crowd that underestimated her ability.
There were a number of contenders that came up on top, like Marco Rubio with his ability to talk about foreign policy with such fervor that trumped the business apprentice.
Chris Christie, with a focus on the American people in the crowd and at home, spoke aggressively about adamantly vetoing “crazy liberal Democratic legislature” and his mission to listen to the people first, but I wondered how he would get along in the White House if he refused to work alongside his political left counterparts considering constituents represented the same population he was vying for votes.
Paul Rand was the stark opposite, pushing to work with all members of the bipartisan system, not alienate.
Ben Carson spoke with deliberate slowness but came across as unsure in a room full of aggressive speakers and hardly got the crowd going as much as Jeb Bush did after his multiple retorts directed at Trump for blatantly disrespecting both his wife and brother.
As the three hour debate came to a close, I had gathered more information about the new figureheads of the Grand Old Party, and unconsciously began to characterize them as caricatures of themselves.
Only time will tell who truly won the race.
