There was a Republican presidential debate on MSNBC this evening and I thought I’d share a few comments about it.

It was Rick Perry’s first appearance in a presidential debate and he certainly got the most time.

I thought Ron Paul did a better job in this debate than in the last one, although that is just from my point of view.  While he didn’t get to speak a lot on foreign policy (which is where he did best the last time), I thought he did a good job of explaining his libertarian views.  He came across radical, yet reasonable.

I was happy to see that Paul finally went on the offensive a little.  He went after Rick Perry, particularly on his executive order to vaccinate young girls.  Congressman Paul got Governor Perry to essentially admit that he should not have done it through executive order.  A few of the other candidates also got their jabs in at Perry on this issue.  While Perry was strong on some issues (even though I don’t believe him), he also took a little beating from the other candidates.  Hopefully he is a little more well known now among Republican voters (and I don’t mean that in a positive way for him).

I would still like to see Congressman Paul challenge the other candidates, particularly Bachmann, on spending.  I want him to challenge her and the other candidates on how, specifically, they would balance the budget.  How would they cut $1.5 trillion out of the budget?  This could only be done by drastic cuts in either (or both) the military or so-called entitlement spending.

I also found it interesting that two candidates said they would get rid of Bernanke and Ron Paul wasn’t one of the candidates asked the question.  Bernanke took another black eye.  He was put in his position by Bush (with Senate approval) and yet most of the Republicans have turned against him.  This is unprecedented as the Federal Reserve is being partially blamed for some of the problems we have.

I don’t think Gingrich, Santorum, Huntsman, or Cain have any real chance at this point.  The race is down to Perry, Romney, Paul, and Bachmann and I’m not even sure about Bachmann.  Ron Paul is actually ahead of her in several national polls at this point.

One more thing to note: Isn’t it ironic that Rick Santorum called Ron Paul an isolationist when just about every other candidate besides Paul wants to build a giant fence on the entire southern border of the United States?