Camille Paglia's take on yesterday's debates

Camille Paglia gives her views on last night's debate to the Hollywood Reporter. She alleged that Donald Trump is

a Trojan Horse sent by the crafty Clinton machine.

Of Jeb Bush, she asks,

Is there a blander, more boring personality in American politics? ...I don't see him on the world stage, holding the line against ISIS.

Ben Carson: What is this brilliant brain surgeon doing in the political arena? He seems like a cordial, genial, thoughtful fellow, but he's shy and diffident and seriously out of place in this pugilistic forum.

Chris Christie: aside from his disqualifying history of thuggish behavior, Christie is too Northeastern provincial for nationwide appeal.

Marco Rubio: What a nice, bright, earnest young man! When he graduates from the college debating team, he will have a rosy future! ...Sorry, but this won't work in the White House. Try again in a decade or two?

Mike Huckabee: Very forceful when he calls for the abolition of bloated government agencies or asserts the "personhood" of the fetus, but everything else is rote, memorized, formulaic, even his gestures.

Rand Paul: What a disaster! This was probably the worst debate performance in recent memory. I agree with most of Rand Paul's libertarian principles, but he certainly did them no favor tonight. He seemed surly, seething and discourteous from start to finish — like a petulant schoolboy kept after class. There was not an iota of presidential promise or gravitas. Who would want this squirming urchin as the nation's representative at an international summit?

Ted Cruz: He knows history and military affairs, but he's no negotiator — he's a General Patton prima donna.

Scott Walker: A strong closing statement but seemed recessive and noncompetitive for most of the debate.

John Kasich: Buoyed by the crowd's enthusiastic support of his tenure as governor of Ohio, Kasich came on strong in the debate. His brusque, animated gestures are awkward but manlike in a solid, old-fashioned way. Kasich is a genuine populist with working-class family ties. He made the Princeton-educated Cruz look effete tonight. Kasich was full of specifics about his congressional experience on the armed services and budget committees. I think he won the debate. Kasich is a mensch in a party of parakeets.

Carly Fiorina: There is universal agreement that Fiorina won her debate hands down. Let's hope she is automatically promoted to the big league at the next GOP debate. Throw the male duds overboard!

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