Rand Paul had a strong debate performance on Tuesday in the Republican presidential debate,
His new advisor the former libertarian Randy Barnett prepared Rand well.
There were certainly times when I cringed with some of Rand's answers, but it was to be expected given it is a former libertarian that prepped him. But prepping him well, in terms of style and gaining traction with voters, Barnett did successfully.
Rand was particularly skilful in grabbing openings when he saw them. When the debate turned to the Trans Pacific Partnership and Trump started talking about China in terms of the TPP. Rand skewered Trump by pointing out that China isn't part of TPP.
When Carly Fiorina said she wouldn't talk to Putin and made a forceful statement about instituting a no-fly zone over Iraq, Rand brought things back to reality by noting that Russia was now using that space and a no-fly zone would mean a confrontation with Russia.
Given this performance, it is not a surprise that Rand is doing well based on the early Drudge poll numbers.
Rand has survived for another day.
-RW
Yeah, I'll be honest, I was impressed with his performance. I even saw shades of Ron in his answers when the imbecile Marco called him an 'isolationist', the same way McCain and his neocon friends tried to smear Ron.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Rand had deserved the derision he has received here and other places, but he did well tonight.
ReplyDeleteI thought he missed a really good opportunity in not calling Jeb out on doubling-down on his brother's foreign policy decisions (no-fly zone, etc), but generally, he did really well.
Definitely his best performance. He also did well calling out Rubio. As a bonus, his wig looked good.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. He did a good job and his voice wasn't so sing-song during his responses like he has been in the past. I think he missed a shot to really drive home that point against Trump and the TPP. Instead of just quickly jumping in and pointing out that China was not part of the deal (and getting a few chuckles) he should have then made a forceful point that Trump has zero substance to his answers and this is proof he doesn't know what he's talking about. That would have been a ready-for-tv sound bite. I think this exchange will largely go unnoticed.
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