Sunday, October 21, 2007
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GOP Candidates Mix-It-Up
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
8:17 PM
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Here are my initial post-debate thoughts ...
Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney both did well, but they always do well. Mike Huckabee is still the best debater, but there's nothing new there.
I think Fred Thompson did quite well. Once again, he ended strong. People tend to remember the first thing and the last thing they see, and if this is true, Fred Thompson had a very good night.
Tonight, John McCain "the Statesman" showed up. He was energetic enough to show his virility, yet calm enough to demonstrate gravitas. He did a terrific job of balancing humor with seriousness, and his classy brand of humor served to underscore his serious points.
A few months ago his campaign seemed to be starring at the abyss. Tonight, John McCain may take solace in Winston Churchill words (about the ability to speak) that: “Abandoned by his party, betrayed by his friends, stripped of his offices, whoever can command this power is still formidable.” McCain may not have as much money as some of the other frontrunners, but this debate demonstrates he is still, indeed, formidable. ______________________________________________________________
9:30 - Finishing strongly, Fred Thompson's biography seems to refute charges that he is lazy: "If a man can do all that and be lazy, I recommend it to everybody."
9:21 - This seems to be the opposite of the last debate, in the sense that tonight Fred Thompson started strong and (unless he turns it around in the next 9 minutes), he seems to be finishing slow ...
9:16 - John McCain on whether or not Bush misjudged Putin: I don't know about naive, but I do know when I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes, I saw three letters: KGB.
9:08 - Who is winning??? It's always hard to pick a winner when there are 8 or 9 people in a debate.
9:02 - BoSox up 2 to 0
8:55 - Steelers and Broncos are tied at 7.
8:50 - Chris Wallace points out that John McCain is running closest to Hillary Clinton. McCain hasn't gotten the credit for this that he deserves, and he should be happy Wallace has helped spread the word. Regarding Woodstock, and Hillary Clinton's wanting to build a Woodstock Museum, McCain says: "I was tied up at the time."
8:49 - Rudy quotes Hillary: "I have a million ideas; America can't afford them all." Referring to Al Gore, he says: "Thank you Florida."
8:47 - Mitt Romney on why his business background is important, and why Hillary Clinton isn't ready for the job: "... She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She hasn't run anything."
8:43 - Red Sox 1 / Cleveland 0
8:41 - When pressed about teachers not liking him, Rudy has a great line about how he cares about teachers, but he cares about the kids more.
8:40 - Pittsburgh 7 / Denver 0
8:36 - Mike Huckabee has a good line, saying, "... when all the old hippies find out they get free drugs, just wait to see what that's going to cost ..."
8:34 - Duncan Hunter hits Romney on the mandates in his health care plan.
8:29 - Cleveland 0 / Boston 0 -- Denver 0 / Pittsburgh 0
8:25 - It feels like John McCain is "on" tonight.
8:22 - Mike Huckabee is, indeed, a skilled debater. I think that he scored some points when he refused to attack the other candidates. It may be that McCain now needs to attack Romney -- or that Thompson now needs to attack Rudy. But I don't think Huckabee gains anything by going on the attack and becoming a "politician."
8:16 -
Chris Wallace seems committed to making this debate newsworthy. The questions, so far, have challenged the candidates to draw sharp distinctions between themselves and their opponents.
Kudos to Fred Thompson for coming out swinging tonight. He wasted no time mixing it up with Rudy Giuliani about abortion and sanctuary cities.
Rudy responded by saying Fred's not perfect, either: "Fred was the single biggest obstacle to tort reform in the U.S. Senate."
John McCain is coming on strong tonight, too. He seems to be finally making the case in a very eloquent way that his background qualifies him to be president.
Mitt Romney wisely clarified his comment during the last debate about consulting lawyers before a unilateral military action.
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You're much better mixing the two worlds than Keith Olbermann anchoring NFL tonight. |
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I get shut out of the debates despite polling ahead of Ron Paul. I don't want to hear the paulbots whining about being cheated. At least their loser candidate gets invited. |
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It was so nice of Rudy to allow others to participate at the "Guiliani Fox Network".......I noticed that the waiters rarely waited on Hunter, Tancredo, and Paul.(The real conservatives can eat when the others are finished). |
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Huckabee does well in debates but has no widepread support beyond Iowa, and does not have the money to compete. He is also bad on taxes and immigration.
Fred needs notes for simple thoughts so he's out.
The others are non-events including McCain, so lets throw them out and get serious about choosing a nominee. I do believe it is between Romney and Rudy at this point. |
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Zogby has a new poll out that ask respondents
Whom would you never vote for President? Of the major candidates Clinton had the most resistance followed by McCain and Rudy.
Resistance to Romney in spite of his religion is less than Rudy's.
So much for the idea that Rudy is the only one who can beat Hillary. Further, Hillary is beatable in 2008. Obama (37) would present a real problem.
Clinton (D)
50%
Kucinich (D)
49%
Gravel (D)
47%
Paul (D)
47%
Brownback (R)
47%
Tancredo (R)
46%
McCain (R)
45%
Hunter (R)
44%
Giuliani (R)
43%
Romney (R)
42%
Edwards (D)
42%
Thompson (R)
41% |
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by national and head to head polls, the story of McCain's demise is exaggerated. |
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Once again Huckabee makes a strong showing as he garners another high showing in national polling on the debate that took place tonight, and once again, PC gets the facts wrong about Huckabee, unless he considers being for less taxes and against amnesty/pro sealing the border being a bad policy. Huckabee was strong beating out the other "top-tier" candidates. He clearly and intelligently answered the questions while, also, refusing to be pulled into the eye-scratching and hissing of the others in the first few questions. After tonight, I am more convinced than ever that Huckabee is the man for the job, and he is the man to energize the base in 2008. |
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Check out the new poll on Fox that shows that Rudy as the nominee and a third party Christian conservative, 1 in 4 Repubs leave to vote third party. Guess this is also, great news for Rudy with electability taking priority over values. Hmmm. |
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Rudy won the debate hands down. Huckabee came in 2nd, Romney and Thompson tied for third McCain a distant 4th. Can we just get rid of the other guys already, they are just dead weight at this point.
Rudy is by far the quickest on his feet with the best timing and the best ability to punch his point across. Huckabee is the most likeable. Romney is the GOP version of Clinton he is just another Slick Willie, I don’t believe anything he says. Thompson put me to sleep. The guy is just too long winded. Mccain is too old and he’s been in the Congress too long — he’s replaced his principles with"inside the beltway" horse trading and lost his soul in the process.- everytime he says nice things about Hillary or the democrats I just keep thinking McCain-KENNEDY and McCain-FEINGOLD.
But Rudy won big. Rudy got louder cheers then anyone and he was supposed to be facing his most hostile audience. Rudy scored huge points among conservatives tonight. he did far better then anyone expected. I mean, based onthe comments on this site, I expected Rudy to be booed the way Ron paul was booed. That never happened. This audience of "values voters' loved Rudy -- and if he only gets 10% of the hardcore religious conservatives vote, and picks up a large majority of the moderate Republicans then he wins the nomination -- because the religious conservatives will dilute and split their vote between Thompson, Romney, Hunter, Huckabee and McCain. |
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Starts strong, ends strong. I wouldn't mind Huck or Mitt as a VP nom. |
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Did anyone see the Florida Governor? When he was asked about which candidate won, he said he was more worried about getting a laundry list of Federal dollars. Real conservative. Paul supporter here but it was at least good to hear Fred talk about Federalism. Maybe Fred, Ron, and Tom can explain that to everyone else, including the Governor of Florida. Federalism gets rid of the panhandlers like the Florida governor. He wants you to subsidize the living choices of Floridians, especially when weather is becoming more severe. |
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The cranky old white men debated tonight? |
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Sen. McCain had best line of the debate when talking about Woodstock and said he was "tied up at the time" OMG that was classic.
I really felt that Gov Romney did best and that is why I am leaning towards him. Rev. Huckabee is also a great candidate and I really like his Tax policy.
Fred Thompson? that guy was putting me to sleep. Could he have been more boring and uninspiring?
Ron Paul are you kidding? Or are you 18?
Exc Blog by the way |
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Sure, he is a nice, jovial guy. And that is the extent of my Huckabee bandwagon tour. Other than "likeable" he has not offered much on the substantive side. He had a window to bring in some level of real policy--instead went with the boot-strap. This might work for a candidate with some "wordly" education--not so good for a preacher. Yes, he not Fred gets the folksy award. And then even Ron Paul beats him on the pound for pound substance (pretty light).
Now, I totally dislike that the Club for Growth has gone after him. I think that the Club as near zero credibility. Those white papers are dumb on the compariblity. They city, state, and national and all mush it up--did they even mean their in their lovefest with Giuliani (heart "hedgefunds" right, wink nod) mention his hard on crime fight against the President's power to decline spending (Scalia). No.
And again, Huckabee had a window, we really are contributing to the train wreck on the Republican side now with all these minor candidates. They had the opportunity to raise money to raise organization to complete a message. Did not do it? Time to leave the stage. |
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No votes for any candidates who favor amnesty, Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain. Ever. |
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The comments of the Florida Governor were very revealing. Did you note that in spite of an energy crisis and rising oil prices, he reminded the citizens of Florida how committed he was to fighting offshore drilling? For 30 years the people of Alabama have played on their(Just as beautiful beaches)and accepted the oil and gas rigs on the horizon as a part of America's energy policy. Yet, if walking the beach, the minute that you step on Florida soil there are no more rigs.(Classic Ted Kennedy style windmill hypocracy). Back in the eighties the Northwest Florida Panhandle was circulating petitions to become part of the State of Alabama and leave Florida. They are as different as Northern and Southern California! Once you get below Gainsville Florida, you are in "Lower New York!", the land of liberal migrants from NY, Mexico, Cuba, and Latin America. But they have the numbers. Many are Hillary/Gore worshipers. The most common sentence in Florida these days is, "This is not the way we did things back home!" And the typical "Native Floridian" response is, "Then carry your a$$ back home!" I'm surprised Tancredo wasn't mugged, as it is common knowledge that below Orlando, it is a third world atmosphere! The "Guiliani Fox Network" knows this as well. In a fair energy program, the people of Lousiana(who invested in America's energy industry)would pay about $2.00 a gal for fuel, and the Lower New Yorkers of Florida could pay about $5.00 a gal! In the end however, Chineese rigs will eventually be what they see on the Florida horizon. |
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Ron Paul at the Value Voters Debate
I find it strange that Republicans would boo Ron Paul if they are conservative. I do not 100% agree with Ron Paul, but it is obvious that he is the most conservative candidate. His strong showing at the Value Voters straw poll symbolizes the splitting of conservatives from NEOCONS in the GOP.
Value Voters Debate VIDEO
http://controlcongress.com/uncategorized/ron-paul-at-the-va lue-voters-debate
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were almost all having to do with his wrongheaded views on national security - hence the booing. |
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Which candidate hates more people?
It's a toss up, but this is what being "a conservative" means today, apparently. |
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