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Donald Trump entered the first Republican debate with a chest-thumping swagger galvanized by weeks of one-liners that had lifted him to the status of front-runner.
He made his way to the front by being brash, but he moved his way backward in the same fashion Thursday night. His iconoclastic one-liners in response to pointed questions missed the mark, especially when it came to his treatment of women.
Trump moved south because, in truth, he simply did not look or act presidential, offered illogical responses such as "Everyone else is doing it," and offered a tip to Americans - buy stock in Iran.
Several GOP contenders headed in the other direction: Marco Rubio made the biggest strides of the 10 invited to the main event, although Carly Fiorina may have made the best impression during the opening act of seven not invited to the big dance.
Ted Cruz had his moments, and he could mount a challenge. Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee also delivered in differing ways, thus moving from the forgettable middle to potential long-term contenders.
As for those who faded, well, this was not the best night for Jeb Bush, who looked like the indifferent younger brother of the most polarizing president since Reagan. And Rand Paul all but sealed his fate as an afterthought by spending more time waving his arms and rolling his eyes than making his points.
Counterpoint
In response to the GOP debate, Hillary Rodham Clinton issued several statements.
She is, after all, the Democratic front-runner, and her name was mentioned a time or 30 Thursday.
"We've got people, well, let's just say we've got people running for president, who I don't know what world they live in. I don't understand it. It's truly amazing to me," Clinton told national news outlets.
"I'm constantly in a state of disbelief 'They said what?'"
Uh, Ms. Clinton, you know you were talking to a small slice of single-parent families and you have a billion-dollar foundation that welcomes donations from Third World countries that harbored terrorists, right?
You must be in a state of extended disbelief, because we certainly don't understand your faux moral outrage, either.
As for those people you are wondering in which world they reside, let's all admit that you are much more likely to live in Trump's neighborhood than anyone.
Shame on the Giant
OK, AT&T has made a mint by fostering our dependence - million of us - on our iPhones.
Heck, even my man Mark now sports a full-blown holster for his iPhone 6-plus (we're not sure if he has a conceal permit or not).
That's cool, and God bless AT&T for collecting the profits for delivering a better mousetrap. That's America.
You want to know what else is America? Admitting when you mess up.
This week AT&T users were left in the dark, isolated from the world because the wireless giant went down across the South. Hey, mistakes happen, but man up and own it, AT&T.
There was not a peep from anyone about the outage until 48 hours later, when AT&T apologized via text to customers for the "inconvenience." The ostrich head-in-the-sand approach only works for the federal government and the NFL.
That said, the afternoon system shutdown was simply known as a Tuesday for those of us using T-Mobile.
Discretionary in name only
I have had a problem for awhile on the discretionary spending allotments that Hamilton County commissioners weaseled back into the 2016 budget.
Full disclosure: Much credit to Tim Boyd, the lone commissioner to reach out and explain his rationale for wanting the money.
That said, the commission's votes this week continue to erode any randomly legitimate cause the discretionary funds may serve.
Are we to believe one commissioner's $5,000 for two years' worth of charity dinners is in the best interest of an entire district of Hamilton County?
Hope that was a swell couple of steak dinners, commissioner. What did they serve for dessert? Was it a nice cheesecake that you and your cronies enjoyed on our dime?
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and at 423-757-6343. You can follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp and his columns appear regularly on A2 and in Sports.