In alphabetical order:

• Jeb Bush: ripped Donald Trump a few times over being a lunatic. He was actually a lot looser tonight, but he shouldn’t have bothered going after Kasich.
• Ben Carson: I like Dr. Carson, but I’m not sure how much longer he should be running. And apparently that Stalin quote was… incorrect.
• Ted Cruz: Nice comments on Scalia, and in the process also how nice suspenders John Dickerson’s guts make. In domestic policy he was solid.  Some nice hits on Trump, which is nice – and frankly about time.
• John Kasich: John Kasich is apparently on that stage just to keep things uninteresting, pretty much.
• Marco Rubio: Foreign policy is his wheelhouse. And he was a lot more comfortable than he’s been on domestic policy. Will it help? I dunno.
• Donald Trump: I do not see what the value to the Republican party would be in nominating a damnable 9/11 Troofer.  Or, for that matter, a crypto-Democrat.

It’s been a brawl of a debate, and we’re all evenly divided about whether or not it’s been a success.  I kind of think that we’re going to need to have more of a brawl, because we’re now at the point where Donald Trump is yelling about 9/11 conspiracies. That’s… not acceptable.

Moe Lane