Wednesday's Republican GOP debate was full of cringe-worthy moments. For starters, CNN should have squeezed the other four Republican candidates onto the already crowded stage. With 11 aggressive contenders and three unassertive CNN moderators, the debate was a jumbled mess of snippets of rehearsed speeches, a few irrelevant questions and angry and unfiltered verbal punches.
It was hard to determine who the winner was or if there even was one. There were a cluster of notable moments from each of the candidates, but if there is one thing to take away from the debate at all, it is that Carly Fiorina is a force to be reckoned with.
She started off the night strong by saying, “We have come to a pivotal point in our nation’s history where this nation’s possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt and a political class that refuses to do anything about it.”
She followed up with, “I am prepared to lead a resurgence of this great nation.”
Her comments were geared at middle class voters who are tried of professional politicians, and they seemed convincing.
“I’ll tell you why people are supporting outsiders," Fiorina said. "It’s because you know what happens if someone’s been in the system their whole life, they don’t know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn’t know it’s water. It’s not that politicians are bad people, it’s that they’ve been in that system forever.”
She is relatable, she is candid, she demands respect, she has a plan and she is not afraid to confidently describe her plan and enforce it. Fiorina did something that no one else on that stage was able to do. She directly and precisely answered questions.
This woman did not respond with a speech that was articulated with the intention of deflecting the question only to redirect the blame back onto her opponents. No, when tackling the question of what could be done to get the Russians to leave Syria, she gave bold and practical responses like this one: “What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message."
Carly Fiorina is inspiring for women & girls even if you don't agree with all of her policies. Articulate, strong, confident & classy.
— Sam Ponder (@sam_ponder) September 17, 2015
Fiorina showed voters that she could take on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and, frankly, President Obama, when she was asked about funding Planned Parenthood. “As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes," she said. "Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it’s heart beating, it’s legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us”.
Not only did Fiorina prove she actually understands foreign policy issues and domestic controversies, she proved that she has class and control.
CNN mediator, Jake Tapper asked Fiorina what she thought about Trump’s persona after the comment he made to the Rolling Stone last week about her face (“Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”).
With poise, she bluntly responded, “You know, it’s interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.”
Fiorina shows she knows her stuff.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 17, 2015
Fiorina brought Trump down from the cloud nine, where he'd been sitting comfortably for so long. She set herself apart from all of the professional politicians beside her with her direct responses. She outshone Ben Carson with her sophisticated confidence.
Just imagine what it would be like to watch her share the stage with Clinton.
Reach the columnist at alexisberdine@aol.com or follow her on Twitter @AlexisBerdine
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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