There were plenty of good lines from Thursday’s presidential debate, but Senator Marco Rubio (Fla.) summed it up best: “God has blessed us. He’s blessed the GOP with very good candidates. The Democrats can’t even find one.” Of course, oceans of ink have already been spilled on the dissection of the candidates’ performance (or lack thereof), but the senator from Florida is right: if you’re looking for losers, Cleveland didn’t have a whole lot.

If you’re looking for winners, add Fox News. The network, a favorite punching bag of the Left, did Americans a huge favor for addressing a long list of topics with an even longer list of candidates. They should be commended for making it look like a far easier job than it actually is. Like a lot of conservatives, I sat in the audience — and while I bristled at some of the responses — I came away from the round one thinking that (with a few exceptions) most of the candidates performed exactly as people expected them to.

For my part, Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) seemed the most at ease, navigating complex questions with compelling answers. Unlike others who got caught up in the heat of the moment, Rubio managed to keep his eye on the real opponent — the President’s party — but still distinguished himself from his GOP opponents in the process. Donald Trump, who so many conservatives paint as the skunk at the GOP party, was himself — for better, or as some concluded, worse. As I’ve said before, while the Republican establishment wrings their collective hands over Trump’s bluntness, they only have themselves to blame for his popularity. Americans are beyond tired of Republicans who have perfected conservative promises at election time — only to surrender to the status quo when it comes time to deliver.

Interestingly enough, the person who might have had the greatest impact on the 9pm discussion wasn’t even there: Carly Fiorina, whose stellar showing in the earlier debate had significant carry-over. For Governor Jeb Bush, who came into Thursday’s bout with such high hopes, the night didn’t seem to help or hurt him. As a front-runner, many felt (myself included) that he underperformed. Like almost everyone else, he scored highly on life but may have been overshadowed by the issue’s traditional standard bearers. Governor Huckabee, who manages to balance likeable approachability with strong policy positions, transitioned easily from one social issue to another.

Asked about America’s troops and the possibility of opening the door to transgenderism, the governor was firm. “The military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. It’s not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I’m not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer.” On hot button issues like marriage, the gaps between candidates started to show. “It’s time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the supreme being,” Huckabee said.

That was a stark contrast to Governor John Kasich (Ohio), who was lucky to squeak into the debate in the first place. His tone of surrender may not have fazed the biased Buckeye audience, but it certainly bothered the GOP base. “Megyn, the court has ruled [on marriage], and I said we’ll accept it.” If the justices have the final word on marriage, would he say the same about Roe v. Wade in 1973? If so, he isn’t pro-life!

Not surprisingly, he went on to talk about the importance of unconditional love and respect. As most social conservatives would, I agree we should love everyone — including the unborn — but love is different than affirmation. Just because we respect someone doesn’t mean we support and celebrate every behavior and choice. The home crowd may have given Kasich a pass on that one, but for many voters, it will confirm what they already believed: his space on stage would have been better occupied by Carly or Governors Bobby Jindal (La.) and Rick Perry.

Even Senator Rand Paul (Ky.), who got the night’s only question on religious liberty, fared better. Asked what he would do to protect Christians against persecution for their marriage beliefs, Paul replied, “One of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that’s when it’s time to resist.” As usual, pundits set a high bar for Cruz, and he continued to meet it. Effortlessly, he moves from one conservative platform to the next, as comfortable talking about ISIS as he is about marriage. “Scripture tells us, ‘You shall know them by their fruit.’ We see lots of ‘campaign conservatives.’ But if we’re going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative.”

The “Planned Parenthood effect” was a palpable one, as candidates seemed to be running for the head of the line to defund the group. Senator Rubio worried about America’s legacy. “I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live.” The ever-quotable Huckabee insisted it was time to “protect children, instead of ripping up their body parts and sell them like they’re parts to a Buick.” Governor Chris Christie (N.J.) and Scott Walker (Wisc.) chimed in to solidify their creds. “I’m a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both,” Christie pointed out.

Dr. Ben Carson, who had an eloquent answer on race (“When I take someone to the operating room, I’m actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn’t make them who they are. And it’s time for us to move beyond that.”), helped end the evening on a light note when he tried to distinguish himself from the other candidates. “Well, I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins…” the neurosurgeon quipped. Then, to huge laughter: “…[T]he only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it!”

Bentley Shifts Gears on Abortion Funding

Planned Parenthood joined the GOP debate by tweeting some cheap shots at the GOP nominees — but considering the money the group is losing, I guess they can only afford cheap shots. Alabama closed out Cecile Richards’s week with a bang, announcing late Thursday that it was cutting off state funding to the scandal-plagued group. Leading the charge is Alabama Governor Robert Bentley ®, who couldn’t stomach the grisly revelations — especially after a career in medicine. “As a doctor and Alabama’s Governor, I respect human life, and I do not want Alabama to be associated with an organization that does not.”

The financial dominos are starting to fall for Planned Parenthood after Governor Bobby Jindal (R-La.) severed ties earlier [last] week. [Thursday] night, the presidential candidate continued his public crusade, warning, “Planned Parenthood better hope Hillary wins, because I’ll sic the DOJ and IRS on them.” As far as Bentley is concerned, money is just the first step of a broader response to the group’s tactics. In the Alabama state senate, leaders are starting to move a bill that would make it a Class B felony “to offer or accept money for aborted babies or parts of aborted babies.” “The federal authorities may allow this type of thing,” said Sen. Bill Hightower, “but Alabama won’t.”

All across America, people seem to be realizing what a critical moment this is for our nation. Just as Kermit Gosnell’s atrocities pulled back the curtain on what the court did in 1973, people are starting to understand that this is not an isolated incident. In the dark underworld of abortion, there is an enormous black market for human victims — and Planned Parenthood is at the head of the pipeline. God, in his mercy, may have given our nation an opportunity to respond by ending our complicity in this inhumane enterprise. We are being shown in vivid detail how callous we’ve become as a society after the court declared a child created in the image of God nothing more than a “choice.” We should accept nothing less than both our political and religious leaders speaking and acting with great moral clarity on this issue. In fact, there’s absolutely no excuse for pastors not to speak on such a moral and spiritual crisis.

With one voice, we should demand that the government get out of this business now — and not just by defunding Planned Parenthood, but by passing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. God in His infinite grace has given America a second chance. Will we choose life? Or will we choose the path of a people who rebuff God’s hand, become more hardened to our sin, and pave the path to our own destruction?

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.