Well I must admit, aside from a few things, I was pleasantly surprised with tonight's Republican debate. I think the moderators did several of things I talked about earlier----pointing out that McCain runs better against Hillary in General Election polls than Rudy and giving Huckabee adequate time to showcase his credentials to be president.
Huckabee was the star of the debate. He got in quite a few good one liners and was funny, charming and looked as if he was the only major GOP candidate who would be able to put America ahead of his party. McCain also had a good night. Whether you agree or disagree with his positions, and I do disagree with them, you must admit McCain is an honorable guy who says what he means and means what he says.
I was disappointed that the moderators didn't press Giuliani on what makes him supposedly so experienced on foreign policy. I think McCain tried to bring up the fact that he is more experienced than Giuliani, but the moderators failed to follow up. I think its crucial, for this country's future, to point out that, on many issues, Rudy is simply a fraud. That was my first out of two major complaints about the debate.
My second complaint is, yet again, that Ron Paul got no respect for the other candidates, and especially the crowd in attendance. I can understand if they do not agree with his policies (which, by the way are the best of all the GOP candidates'), but to boo Paul is just rude and unnecessary. It shows the character of those GOP voters in attendance. I don't care what conservatives say about us liberals, we are polite and give candidates, regardless of whether or not we agree with them, respect.
Here are a few of my other thoughts: It is a shame that Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, and Tom Tancredo probably only got 10 minutes combined. The moderators would rarely go to them with questions and that is just not fair to voters who haven't made up their mind. They are essentially being denied, by the media, an opportunity to hear from certain people. I'll also say Fred Thompson performed slightly better than last time, but still far from great. He has a serious problem getting his point across and just comes across as sloppy. Rudy did okay. My problem with him is that he makes things up as he goes along. Last debate he said Romney raised taxes (Romney actually lowered taxes considerably); tonight Rudy said that he wasn't like Hillary on abortion, gun control, and gay issues. Well in fact, Rudy is indeed just like Hillary, if not even more liberal, on those issues. And finally, Mitt Romney continues to do well. He did a good job tonight defending his "flip-flops" and he definitely made an attempt to win over the Christian Right. He, even more so that Huckabee, flaunted his conservative credentials. Now whether or not his positions are genuine is a different story, but Romney did do an excellent job of making himself look like the most socially conservative candidate tonight.
So here are my rankings:
1. Mike Huckabee----the most charming candidate and the one who best connected with the audience
2. John McCain------his "straight-shooter" attitude, along with flaunting his foreign policy experience, made this one of McCain's best debate performances
3. Mitt Romney------he continues to make the case for why he is a true conservative, and it worked tonight
4. Rudy Giuliani-----for some reason beyond my comprehension, he is a favorite among the crowd and (sadly) does a good job at fooling them into believing he is someone he is clearly not
5. Ron Paul---------his anti-war message might have been unpopular with the audience tonight, but as anti-war sentiment grows among moderate Republicans, Paul's performance proves why he is their candidate
6, 7, 8: Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson---I didn't even get to hear enough from Tancredo and Hunter to rate them, but I do know that Thompson still performed far below expectations and his poll numbers will continue to show that these poor debate performances are having a negative effect
So there are my thoughts. If anyone saw the debate, I would love to hear yours.
8 comments :
You say you respect Ron Paul but don't offer him as an option in your polls. What gives?
Could you also run a poll to see who would even consider Ron Paul if he ran as an independent?
The reason I don't offer Ron Paul as an option is because, lets face it, he has very little chance to win the nomination. Instead of every anti-war person on here, myself included, voting Ron Paul, I want to get a sense of who, out of those who have a chance of winning, is the favorite.
And I'll be happy to run a poll on Ron Paul as an independent candidate. Please let me know if there are ever polls you would like me to run, I'm happy to do so.
I think it's funny that all these men, want to retrace their steps to be just like Reagan. What the hey, what about they're hero of the last 7 yrs. George W..
Reagan's name is always invoked by some of the candidates who try to act tough. They want the voters to connect them to Reagan because they can not articulate what they themselves stand for. What the next moderator should say when they do that is remind the candidates Mr. Reagan is not there to debate and answer questions but they are. I predict if the so called top three candidates don't cut out their childish comments, more republicans will flock to Mr. Huckabee.
"I think it's funny that all these men, want to retrace their steps to be just like Reagan. What the hey, what about they're hero of the last 7 yrs. George W.."
Exactly, my only fear is that some of them would be even worse than Bush----mainly, Giuliani.
You very seldom see conservatives put their country first but Mr. Huckabee did and that is to his credit. The so called leading candidates on the republican side can't seem to do that. Mr. Huckabee can actually change the tone of the republican debate if he keeps that up.
"You very seldom see conservatives put their country first but Mr. Huckabee did and that is to his credit. The so called leading candidates on the republican side can't seem to do that. Mr. Huckabee can actually change the tone of the republican debate if he keeps that up."
Yea, it is nice to see a Republican just act honest and be himself. Thats what Huckabee does and it does good for the American people.
Giuliani cued his hacks to boo Ron Paul. It was a set up. I uploaded the video exposing him during the debates at www.youtube.com/michelmalkin
Post a Comment