Poetry reading

I didn't watch the debate last night because I was attending a poetry reading in the artsy part of Nordeast and then had to give one of my poet pals a ride back downtown, then pick up Fearless Maria from drumline practice. In between all that, I heard some of the debate on the radio, which is a far different experience than watching it. If you can't see the faces and the gestures, you are left with the words and not the images. So as I worked my way from 6th and Hennepin back to the high school, my impression of what I heard was as follows:

• It was clear that Marco Rubio was trying to get a few blows in on The Donald, and if you are amenable to his campaign, you might believe he succeeded. Listening on the radio, he sounded a little like Fozzie Bear, trying to milk the punchlines every time he uncorked one. It's useful to take the attack to the Donald, but I wonder whether it worked.
• Ted Cruz is Ted Cruz. He's the smartest guy on the stage, but he's not going to win. You don't pick up the smarm when you hear him on the radio, but that doesn't help him when most people are watching on television.
• Ben Carson isn't going to win, either, and as usual he was complaining about not getting a chance to speak. The most interesting thing he said was that he was on the business end of an IRS audit, but only after he spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast and was critical of the current occupant. If that's true, it's a huge story.
• In re John Kasich, here's the definitive verdict:



Mmmm... ramen

As for The Donald, well:

Yuuuge

Again, when you listen on the radio you don't get the whole picture, but it was striking how utterly vacuous he sounds when all you are experiencing is the voice. A lot of the bully boy crap he engages in is particularly gratuitous; really, what does slagging Hugh Hewitt about his ratings accomplish? Everyone else is a choke artist and a liar. You'd think he'd just dispense with the pretense, go full Rickles and call Cruz a hockey puck, which would be as effective an insult and ring the Canada bell at the same time.

Does any of it move the needle? Probably not. Trump is probably going to be the nominee and there's a decent chance he'll be the next POTUS. We wanted Ronald Reagan and we're gonna get Leo Gorcey instead.