Political Columnist: 'It Was Really Carly's Night'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Political columnist for Breitbart.com, John Hayward, reviewed last night's Republican presidential debate from the Reagan Library in Southern California and came away declaring former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as one of the biggest winners.
Hayward, speaking with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, was very impressed with Fiorina's demeanor while engaging the other candidates.
"It really was Carly's night. She has that spirit that Trump has. She looks serious. She doesn't give up. She doesn't give an inch. She doesn't back down. She has a lot of that to offer and people are going to like that. I think the winning candidate will be like that. If it isn't Trump, it's going to be somebody that has bottled a bit of that lightning and understands the mood of both where the party and country are at the moment and doesn't show weakness or hesitation or doubt. That's going to be crucial for them and she's really got that. You never see her crack."
He was also satisfied with Donald Trump's performance and said he offered a lot that the rest of the contenders should use for themselves.
"He had a sense the he needed to dial it back just a little bit and he knew they were going to come after him over Fiorina, the comment he made about her face. He knew that was going to come up. He's still Trump. He's still doesn't apologize. He doesn't take things back. You can learn a bit from that sometimes. I think he might be obnoxious in the way that he does it and it's part of his charm, but i think everybody can learn a bit about standing up and how showing weakness is just deadly during a campaign, and he never does."
Hayward was disappointed with the way some on the stage vanished in a moment when they really needed to shine.
"I would think the moderators are somewhat at fault for that.They should be making sure that the time gets farmed out more carefully. One of the problems the others had is that even when they were talking, the question was about Trump. Half the debate questions were what do you think about what Trump said this and Trump said that. I think that's an enormous advantage if you're Trump, obviously. It's pretty sweet when they're talking about you in, pretty much, every question, even when you aren't the one speaking. Some of them did just fade away and they should've realized it was important to be able to seize time. I thought Ted Cruz was especially disappointing. He was great when he was talking but he really didn't jump out there and say point the camera at me."
