Reading others’s thoughts, from a variety of vantage points, on the debate has pointed out a couple of things:

– As suspected, many of the mainstream organizations are absolutely certain that Mitt Romney won the debate. The Czar doubts it: Romney stood there and smiled a lot, and had a couple of good lines. That, for Romney, is a typical day. He failed to establish himself as a solid conservative in front of an audience that was begging him to do so. No, the reason people want Romney to win is because, on the Left, they think he’s a push over who will be the most liberal of the group and, on the Right, because he can beat Obama based on early poll numbers. Both of these are wrong, or, if not, at the very least unimportant this early on.

– Pawlenty fizzled, the pundits say, because he failed to pop Romney in the mouth. However, the candidates were all very careful not to give in to CNN’s desire to see fighting and squabbling. The fact is (as some right wing agencies reported as well) that the candidates are unified on the notion that Obama has to go; how we get there is less important because any one of these candidates can do a vastly better job. No, the reason the mainstreamers want Pawlenty to lose is because he is endorsing a strongly conservative platform and they hate that. They cannot allow him to advance.

– Bachmann caught everyone off guard. On the right, she is being lauded for some smart moves:

1. She derailed everyone with her introductory announcement of her candidacy. Instantly, she seared her name into the memories of millions of people watching.
2. She recalled, many minutes later, the exact names of the Navy veteran and his two actively serving sons, and thanked them. Superb touch.
3. She campaigned for the job, rather than standing up there and carping about the President. She treated every question like a 30-second free commercial.
4. At the end of the debate, she immediately left the other candidates (all eager to meet Mrs. Gingrich and congratulate themselves) and headed into the crowd to shake hands, sign autographs, pose for pictures, and answer questions. This is what a successful candidate does.

All right, so the Right is dizzied by her outstanding performance and masterful campaigning. But the Left is slowly acknowleding they substantially underestimated her and is already wondering how SNL can smear her. Even delusional twit E.J. Dionne was…well, at a loss for words over her dominance.

This is getting good. Now, if Sarah Palin can continue to distract the Left, Bachmann can go even higher.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.