The Great Debaters

Jim Fallows with the salient point from last night:

In case you missed it: Romney is good at this. Pay attention.

Of course, he's not really up against much. He hit Herman Cain with jujitsu on that "apples and oranges" bit he kept running in an attempt to defend his 9-9-9 plan. Cain was asking for it. Listening to him explain his plan was like watching a quarterback look down the same receiver five straight times. Romney picked him off.

And then he turned to a flailing Perry, spoiling for a fight after enduring his last whipping, and just sonned him. I mean actually spoke to him like a father admonishing a seven year old. Video below.

Fallows finds Herman Cain likeable. I feel utterly embarrassed by him. It's not his politics -- I've never felt embarrassed by Condi Rice, Colin Powell, or Clarence Thomas. It's more akin to feeling I got when Jesse Jackson got caught claiming he wanted to cut Barack Obama's nuts off. Or watching Marion Barry attack black people for moving out of the city. There's a hucksterism there that transcends.