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If Rick Perry was a pitcher who had been called up to the majors in August, his manager would be telling him to pack his bags for a return trip to the minors. His first debate performance was uneven but showed promise. He showed he had the guts to confront Mitt Romney where Tim Pawlenty didn’t, but he also obviously needed better command over the issues and he faded as the debate went on.
In the second debate, Perry held his own, successfully engaging Romney on Social Security and jobs while stoically taking fire from all the other candidates. But again, he faded as the night wore on and his command over the issues didn’t really improve from his first outing.
Last night, in Perry’s third debate performance, the wheels came off. Like a young pitcher who relies too much on his fastball, Perry’s confident aloofness, once effective, was now getting shredded by his opponents. Romney was openly dismissive of Perry’s intellect, flat out asserting that Perry didn’t even write his own book. A charge Perry let stand. And even when he was set up to deliver an easy fastball down the middle of the plate, given a chance to criticize Romney on Romneycare, he mangled what was obviously a prepared piece.
Conservatives are still desperately looking for a viable anti-Romney candidate. But Perry’s first three debate’s have made it pretty clear he is not the answer.
GOP Debate
The Washington Examiner‘s Michael Barone: “One year ago Rick Perry was not considered, by himself or by just about anyone else, a potential presidential candidate. His performance in last night’s Fox News/Google debate in Orlando showed why.”
The Washington Examiner‘s Phil Klein: “Mitt Romney is an incredibly vulnerable Republican candidate, from his numerous policy reversals to his championing of the Massachusetts health care law that served as the basis from Obamacare. … Texas Gov. Rick Perry is blowing his chances to exploit Romney’s weaknesses.”
National Review‘s Rich Lowry: “[Perry’s] signature moment of the night came when he teed up what was supposed to be a devastating indictment of Mitt Romney’s flip-flops and get lost somewhere in the middle and barely made it out the other side. Perry has been coming back to Earth lately, partly on his uneven debate performances. Orlando didn’t do anything to change that dynamic–indeed may have accelerated it.”
RedState‘s Erick Erickson: “Rick Perry was a train wreck in this debate. He flubbed his response on Romney flip-flopping. He got the first question tonight and stumbled. Good grief.”
The Washington Post‘s Marc Thiessen: “Mitt Romney was the John Kerry of tonight’s debate. He was far more articulate than Perry (who flubbed what should have been an easy attack on Romney’s flip flops). But it was Romney who made the gaffe that will almost certainly appear in campaign ads that are probably being written as you read this, when he declared: ‘There are a lot of reasons not to elect me.’ You can see the ad already.”
The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin: “In the first third of the evening, a series of disjointed questions without follow-ups, Texas Gov. Rick Perry seemed strong and well-prepared. But he faded over the rest of the debate, appearing to lose his steam just as he was trying to paint Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper.”
Dana Perino via twitter: This was like a 3rd date with Perry – where you decide if you’ll go on a 4th…would you?
Michelle Malkin: “Perry said he’s in favor of making English the official language of the U.S. Perhaps he should concentrate on mastering it before the next debate.”
Around the Bigs
The New York Times, Stocks Decline a Day After Fed Sets Latest Stimulus Measure:
The Washington Post, House approves spending measure opposed by Senate; shutdown possible: In exchange for an additional $100 million in cuts to the Energy Department loan program that gave $527 million to the now bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra, House conservatives switched their votes and passed essentially the same government funding bill they rejected the day before. The measure will keep the federal government open through November 18th if the Senate passes it. If the Senate rejects the bill, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will run out of money on Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal, Housing Slump Hits New Mortgage Loans: The Federal Reserve released data yesterday showing that mortgage lending declined last year amid weak demand and tight credit standards.
USA Today, How state lawmakers pump up pensions in ways you can’t: A USA Today study found that “More than 4,100 legislators in 33 states are positioned to benefit from special retirement laws that they and their predecessors have enacted to boost their pensions by up to $100,000 a year.”
The Wall Street Journal, Obama Rewrites ‘No Child’ Law: President Obama will announce today that he is unilaterally rewriting federal education law. Without any approval for Congress, Obama is replacing key planks of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ law with his own waiver system. States can exempt themselves from NCLB’s requirements but only if they meet Obama’s new, completely made and never approved by Congress, rules.
The New York Times, In Rush to Assist Solyndra, U.S. Missed Warning Signs: After reviewing documents released before a House Energy and Commerce Committee today, The Times reports Solyndra, “began an extensive lobbying campaign that appears to have blinded government officials to the company’s financial condition and the risks of the investment.”
Righty Playbook
The Heritage Foundation‘s Ericka Andersen explains how union contracts limit women’s choices.
Hot Air‘s Tina Korbe reports that congressional Republicans sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking how the Obama administration plans to make the CLASS program viable after it severely cut its staff yesterday.
RedState‘s Moe Lane links to the latest Democracy Corps poll and reports: “The big numbers here are President Obama’s: he went from a 48/47 approval/disapproval rating in [March] to a 41/55 today. That… is a disaster.”
Lefty Playbook
Jonathan Chait gives his history of how Republicans learned to hate the Federal Reserve.
The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent attacks Matt Bai for suggesting that moderates might be turned off by Obama’s “tax the rich” rhetoric.
The Washington Monthly‘s Steve Benen celebrates the 111th Congress: “The public didn’t recognize or appreciate it, but 2009 and 2010 were pretty extraordinary for getting stuff done in Washington, despite Republican efforts to break the Senate. We won’t see a period of productivity like that again for a very long time.”
