Posted on 05/03/2007 3:19:11 PM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #1 – Reagan Library 05/03/07 - Official Discussion Thread
The debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and will air live on MSNBC from 8:00 to 9:30 pm (ET) and stream live on MSNBC.com and politico.com and will include audience questions gathered on politico.com.
Who stood out from the pack? * 3927 responses
Sam Brownback
3.3%
Jim Gilmore
2%
Rudy Giuliani
15%
Mike Huckabee
5.9%
Duncan Hunter
2.9%
John McCain
12%
Ron Paul
24%
Mitt Romney
27%
Tom Tancredo
3.3%
Tommy Thompson
4.8%
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18436681/
Jim’s Summary and Wrap-Up
First thought: Who the hell thought Chris Matthews would make a good moderator? I thought he interrupted the candidates too much, got into this bizarre tussle with Huckabee over a comment he gave to George Stephanopolous, basically brought his whole hyper, over-caffeinated Hardball persona, and it just wasn’t the right tone for the debate that introduces so many of the candidates to the public for the first time. The questions from the Politico were a joke, including asking Thompson to name the exact number of casualties in Iraq. Absolute sandbagging; if the Democrats won’t go on Fox, the GOP should tell MSNBC and the Politico to go to hell.
I’ve got big gripes with McCain on some issues, but I think he gave a grade-A performance. Fired up, some good lines, and in command.
Romney had some strong answers, good humor. “Would it be good to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?” “You have got to be kidding.”
Giuliani is going to get whacked around a lot for his performance tonight. Clearly the format didn’t help him. I said watching him try to explain the difference between Shia and Sunni was as painful as watching Joe Theismann have his leg broken by Lawrence Taylor back in the 1980s. Rudy’s better than this performance; the question will be whether this really hurt him.
Although honest to God, if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had been given the same question on differences between Shia and Sunni, I’d bet either of them would have/could have fumbled as badly. Really unfair that he got hit with that one.
Huckabee impressed me, he might be the guy jumping up to the middle tier. Polished, professional – something reassuring about him. I guess he didn’t seem to be straining to appeal to the audience. Like a rookie who doesn’t spike the football when he scores a touchdown, he acts like he’s done it before. (I’m full of football metaphors tonight, must be a draft-day hangover.)
Brownback didn’t impress me. There’s something artificial and hucksterish about him, something that I don’t quite trust. He certainly didn’t seem to overwhelm the audience with details tonight.
Gilmore? Well, he didn’t hurt himself with any of his answers, but I wouldn’t say he shined. I’d put him on the practice squad, to use yet another football analogy. Duncan Hunter is in a similar category. It’s hard to point to any one problem or mistake, but he didn’t really do enough to stand out on a crowded stage.
I had heard before the event that Tommy Thompson might be the breakout candidate, but he seemed rather bland. Not a bad performance, you can see the guy is smart and he made a good governor and cabinet member, but he didn’t really stand out as the leader in the room. As someone once said about Lieberman, he’s a guy you want at the table, but not at the head of the table.
Ron Paul… sigh, yes, thank you for telling us how a libertarian idealist would do it.
Tancredo didn’t froth at the mouth about immigration as much as I expected, but he didn’t do much to demonstrate that he’s more than a single-issue candidate. He couldn’t even be bothered with the organ donation question, and if he thought the question was wasting his time, he should have said so.
http://hillaryspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmU5ZGZkODZmNTllMzE5NDE4ZDQ0N2Q4ZjE0ZGMxYzU=>Verdict</a>”</span>%20<span%20class=
Corner commentary
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
Right on~~~~
I would certainly be voting for Ron Paul before any of the current three front-runners, I assure you of that. I don’t trust any of the Rudy McRomney trio, and I don’t care how many debates make Romney’s tanning booth look like a good investment.
thanks
MSNBC POLL
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18436681/
Who do you think did the best or worst in the following six categories?
You know darn well with a more Republican legislature than the 85% democratic legislature Mitt had in MASS, he will govern far more conservatively as president in DC.
Pajamas Media Roundup
http://pajamasmedia.com/
I’ll shake on Fred/Mitt
Duncan Hunter
Personally, I like Hunter’s “Precise targeting of ordinances” or whatever it was, about what the government has done well.
No. Don't think so.
Funny, Fred Thompson does. Just listen to him.
I also thought Huckabee did well.
1. Romney
2. Huckabee
3. Paul
Greetings TAdams8591:
Here’s hoping Governor Romney is “locked-in.”
Let me add Senator Obama is a polished public speaker too. Obama expertly weaves half-truths into his yarns. His audio book, _Audacity_of_Hope,_ requires eight, hefty-sized barf bags.
Cheers,
OLA
Done!
Be fair, he didn’t swear fealty to NARAL. And NARAL didn’t like him then, and doesn’t like him now.
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