Who won last night's debate?  The GOP did, and everybody else who wants candidates discussing the issues of the day.  

Please compare what we saw last night with the Democrats a few weeks ago.  Remember Senator Sanders saying that he was sick and tired of hearing about the emails?  So does that mean that a President Sanders won't care if his secretary of state is conducting diplomacy on a private server?  Or the cowardice about "black lives matter"?  Or the unwillingness to tell any left-wing group to grow up and stop asking for government to take care of them?

The GOP candidates disagreed with each other on the economy, the Middle East, and just about everything else.  There were honest disagreements, or the kind of stuff that the Democrats avoided.  

At one point, Senator Paul and Senator Rubio had a debate over the no-fly zone.  It was good and demonstrated by this exchange:

The Fox Business Network/Wall Street Journal debate -- the fourth on the calendar -- in turn served to expose deep differences within the still-crowded field. 

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina and others staked out a no-apologies stance in support of a stronger U.S. military. And they sparred with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who repeatedly argued against military spending and intervention and questioned how Rubio could call himself a conservative while supporting bigger budgets.

"I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt," Paul said, while Rubio called him a "committed isolationist." 

My vote goes to Rubio in this exchange.  We need a strong foreign policy because projecting weakness is the most expensive option of all.  Nevertheless, I appreciate the back and forth.  It's nice to see some differences in the party.

Early in the evening, Mr. Trump, Governor Kasich, and Governor Bush disagreed over immigration.  My vote is with Bush and Kasich here.  I believe that the best way to tackle illegal immigration reform is to make life very miserable for the employers who hire them.  Start sending employers to jail for repeated violations of labor laws, and you will see a lot of people returning home because they can't find work.  In other words, the word will spread in Mexico that there are no jobs without papers, as happened in the 1950-60s when the "brasero" program reduced illegal immigration.

Again, compare that with the Democrats, who had two talking points: everything is Bush's fault, and I will give you this and that by raising taxes on the rich.  

I will say it again: the GOP won the debate.  Even Governor Christie had a great performance in the first debate.

As for the moderators, they asked very good questions but should have enforced the bell more.  At one point, Mrs. Fiorina spoke for an eternity after the bell sounded.

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