Haley, Christie impressed local Democrat in GOP debate last week

Editor:

We live in a republic and have a republican form of government – a representative democracy. Some Americans would apparently be willing to trade what the Founding Fathers created for an authoritarian system. A few of our national political figures think characters such as Putin and Hitler are/were great – even brilliant leaders.

Many of my Republican friends have grown tired of their party’s front runner for the 2024 nomination. Some fell for it initially, but that time has come and gone.

Much of what their party has as an alternative took part in a debate last week. What follows are a few of one Democrat’s thoughts on that exchange of views.

Nikki Haley impressed me with her smarts, ability to articulate, and combativeness. Her performance suggested to me that she was ready. A ticket including Haley and Chris Christie would be formidable in my view. I thought he had a strong night as well. Asa Hutchinson seemed to be another viable candidate.

Senator Tim Scott fell short of my pre-debate expectations and was disappointing, as was Mike Pence.

My awards for the most absolutely disastrous debate night performances had to go to Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. DeSantis seemed to utter the same tired comments repeatedly. Ramaswamy made some perceptive observations along with others that were “off the wall.” He claimed to be “data driven” in a later interview but during the debate made a comment about climate change being a “hoax”!

My goal was to keep this brief while calling attention to what may be the most important presidential race in American history.

Sincerely yours,

Gary F. Kent

Albion