Feeling sad for Jeb, hoping for Clinton vs Fiorina

KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney and John Curley were among the millions of people who tuned into the second round of the Republican presidential debates on Wednesday night.

The KIRO Radio hosts agreed Carly Fiorina made the most impact.

Tom Tangney: For every point that Carly Fiorina gained, Ben Carson lost. Carly Fiorina won.

Related: David Boze’s take on the debate

John Curley: The winner was Carly, with 21 points. Donald Trump scores 9, and Marco Rubio gets 14. (Note: The points mean nothing; Curley just made them up) Everybody is like, ‘Hey, who won?’ If you go to Drudge Report, 250,000 people that voted on some poll said Trump won.

TT: That’s a problem. There were 10 people on stage playing by debate rules and then there’s Trump, who plays by his own rules. Trump didn’t win the first debate, but he won the first debate in terms of reaction. That is my fear, that this is what is happening here, too.

Fiorina’s moment

For Curley, Fiorina made a big impact when she spoke about abortion, but that moment has drawn heavy criticism. Some argue a video of an aborted fetus that Fiorina graphically described was either exaggerated or did not actually exist.

JC: Carly finally gave a voice to the issue of abortion in America. That was the drop the mic moment for her. It was like, ‘now deal with it.’

Related: Dave Ross on the other winner

TT: That was a very emotional and very effective moment in the debate. However, a lot of people are coming out saying that it’s just wrong. There’s no Planned Parenthood tape of that … She’s says she saw something that doesn’t exist. This woman, Sarah Kliff from Vox Policy and Politics said they’ve looked at every second of the video and it’s not there … Basically she misrepresented the case, but it doesn’t matter. She wanted to make a point about Planned Parenthood and she visualized it for people who haven’t seen it.

JC: (Sarcastically) But we know that the Republicans have a war against women, so it’s going to be difficult for us to actually nominate her as our presidential candidate, right? Who won that war? Was it the Republicans or the women?

TT: You can be a man and be pro-women, and you can be a woman and be anti-women, in terms of your policies. We’re talking about policies. I think she’s very good at what she does. It would be fascinating to see a contest between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina for the presidency.

JC: It would not even be a contest. Hillary Clinton would not be able to hold a candle to Carly Fiorina.

Tom’s favorite part of the debate was not the most significant, he admits, but he found it very telling. It was an exchange between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Both candidates were asked what they would want their Secret Service nickname to be.

Bush replied: “Ever-ready. It’s very high energy, Donald.”

Donald replied: “Humble.”

The candidates high-fived each other, but it was awkward for Tom.

TT: I feel sorry for Jeb … I get the sense that Jeb Bush never really hung out with the cool guys and he’s trying so hard to be like, ‘Hey, yeah, me and Donald. Me and Donald!’ Is that the central point of the entire debate, no. But that was something that no one really picked up on. I still think that Jeb Bush is going to be the nominee.

JC: No. No way. People are done. They have seen the act.

TT: Right now, it looks like things aren’t going well for him. But I think all these front-runners are going to implode. I think that Jeb Bush is smarter than George, however, I think George is more comfortable in his skin than Jeb. And that translates in a campaign.