Read my blog and you know I am a Herman Cain supporter.  I do have some concerns and he has to get back up to speed after what for most of us would be the worst weeks of our lives.  But sadly this week, I learned that even though I work 8+ hours a day and am a father, I know more about this primary race than some well-paid and maybe overpaid conservative media types.

Or are they just more slimy media types spinning the facts for their agenda?  Could be.

Anyone that has even moderate knowledge of how people young and older deal with stress they know that we have an amazing ability to get through it and shine.  But that at some point the body demands a price.  After two weeks of assault on Herman Cain by the media on his honor, his goal of bringing change to the White House and his family, what we saw in that interview was the crash.  It usually comes just when you think the stressful time is getting manageable, the body stops pumping the hormones and adrenalin it used to react to the stress.  Then you crash, and in Cain's case that morning he was running on 4 hours sleep.

I understand because in the last year, our family suffered a terrible tragedy and it was my job as husband and father to organize and manage both our travel and work and my pain and anger.  After two weeks, I laid down on my bed and it was my turn to cry and feel like I was losing it.

If you look at it in this context and are well informed you see a man worried about being tricked, misquoted and over briefed.  The people whispering in his ears will have multiplied with his success and money.  It all came to a head in those painful seconds.

But people who I usually have respect for Laura Ingraham and Charles Krauthammer both have judged the bad answer from total ignorance of Cain's numerous public answers to the Libya question over the previous weeks. They talk about it like Herman Cain was clueless about Libya.  He was not and is not, he has answered this question before.  He in a moment, just needed time to reshuffle all the info in his mind.  You had better hope whoever sits in the Oval Office takes a few seconds when tired to think things through.  And when you compare 30 seconds to the 3 month brain freeze two years ago when President Obama couldn't decide to send supporting forces to the troops he already had in Afghanistan.  We realize while embarrassing for a proud, smart, well educated man.. it was just a moment of humanity, not a lack of knowledge.

This IS the big leagues.  Cain has to keep beefing up on issues he doesn't know, so that he has that to go with a superior passion for American exceptionalism and a plan for the White House, that when I red it in his book,  re-inspired me to stay with Cain and give him a chance to mount a comeback. 

I understand why Cain had his moment.  I have no clue why Ingraham and Krauthammer have been having a week long lapse of knowledge on a topic their jobs demand they know.   If I was that inaccurate and short of key info at my job, I would be out of work.

Time for these professionals to stop counting on research done by others and summaries of events, while the people they pretend to inform put aside family time, hobby time and date time to watch these debates.  The future of our country is at stake, and those who are lucky enough to get paid to talk about it need to do better.  If you ask me some pundits need to decide if they really care about their work or if its time to let others try.

Lets be honest they didn't even really give Ron Paul enough time to hang himself with his "Let them have nukes and they will be nice" view of the middle east.

Then CBS lets locals leave after an hour?  In Seattle the local mercenaries at KIRO cut away for a local news cast they will repeat 2-3 times this evening.  Because there is more money in that than the future of the nation.

Finally, I don't care about the CBS moderator's name.. he was the WORST moderator yet.  It was about how many new questions he could ask, not letting us hear different views on the same question.

And clearly the clock mattered more to him than the future of the nation.

I think they all did fine.  All but Ron Paul would be better than Obama on foreign policy.

FACT: More news reporters have been waterboarded for news stories on the topic than terrorists.  Anyone really think news reporters would volunteer for real torture?  'nough said.

The CBS debate is not worth writing about because it was so badly designed and moderated it made it hard for anything but short sound bits.

Winner:  The clock
Loser: America

If you read my blog you know I really respect Herman Cain, but in doing so I can't pander, this is my honest assessment of the CNBC Debate Wednesday November 9th, 2011.

This has to do with who help themselves or were better than expected vs worse and probably hurt themselves:


Night After Update

Winners:  

Newt (A) was as solid as I have seen him.  His only bad moment was the idea of 3 hour debates with Obama. Its not about the length its about the format and the stupid questions. I think Newt will benefit the most from tonight's debated.

Romney (B+) is coming out of the shadows I finally saw some fire that might be enough to match up with Obama. However, he clearly is pandering to class warfare with his selective tax cuts and he still ends up confused when he is around healthcare, because he can't say what he believes.  That at the wrong moment could cost us the election with Obama. I still think he improved his impression as a candidate even with troublesome stands.

Ron Paul (B) knows economics this was a good debate for him.  If you had not heard his terrfying "let Iran have nukes and they will stop hating us" take on forign policy you might think he is a viable option. The absence of foreign policy allowed Ron Paul to look normal.

Bachmann (B) I am not a fan of but, had some solid questions and understood what Cain didn't that you can't keep using your slogans at this point.  The core audience is informed and knows the message.  Not a Fan, but I think she helped herself.

Survivors:

Santorum (C) He seems like a nice guy. But there is something in his tone and phrasing that makes it sound like he is saying "Really, I am just as good as them"   I don't get confidence from him, I get the feeling he is looking for validation.  I don't think he helped or hurt himself.

Herman Cain (C-)  I love this guy.  I love his attitude. I love how he talks about America.  I think he started off really well given the vicious attacks on him like none we have seen, maybe even worse than Palin.  So I am going to cut him some slack and wait one more debate to reevaluate if he is growing enough to keep my support.  But in the second half, he became his own parody with the repeated use of "999" and "bold plan" both brands are now over exposed.  I think he did the most damage tonight of anyone that may survive into February.

Put a Fork in Them They are Done:

Huntsman (F) made it clear that when he hits DC he will bend to be accepted like a wet noodle.  How clueless is he to pander to Occupy Wall Street.  If he doesn't understand his own party, how will he ever understand America.  He was done long ago, but after tonight, can we stop inviting him to the debates? Please!!!

Perry (F-) Wow! That may be one of the most decisive ends to a campaign if not a political career I have ever seen.  Face it folks, even if he created all the jobs in Texas all by himself, a mistake like what we just saw would hand the election to Obama in a second it would be over.  We can't count on him for a single debate win against Obama.  Perry ended his campaign tonight, and probably has everyone hoping he doesn't endorse them.  I think he should find a Texas issue that needs him to pull out gracefully.

Summary:

• Newt Won, as solid as I have seen him.
• Romney helped his case as being able to beat Obama, but hurt his case for being a solid conservative
• Ron Paul looked sane
• Bachman looked plausible
• Santorum looked needy again
• Cain "999" failed in 2nd half of the debate, but has enough room to recover only with a top notch debate next time.
• Huntsman turned a failed campaign into a joke by pandering to Wall Street protesters
• Perry made it clear he is a ticking debate time-bomb that would re-elect Obama.