Peggy Noonan seems to have a reasonable take on the debate.
Mitt Romney won, but mainly because he’s a polished career climber. Rudy Giuliani lost because he’s still unbelievably clueless about abortion. McCain stayed alive.
The questions were stupid and Chris Matthews was predictably hostile. Apparently the DNC gets to organize both the Democrat and the Republican debates.
And Fred Thompson dominated by his absence.
Noonan, Pundits: Romney Won Debate
Political pundits have been weighing in on Thursday night’s Republican debate, and there appears to be heavy sentiment favoring Mitt Romney’s performance.
But former Massachusetts Gov. Romney "had a certain good-natured command, a presidential voice, and a surprising wiliness. He seemed happy to be there, and in the mysterious way that some people seem to dominate, he dominated.”
http://www.newsmax.com/
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*The winner was?: Chris Matthews, the MSNBC moderator who ran the first televised GOP debate on Friday at the Reagan Presidential Library, has weighed in. Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders, sitting inside the debate auditorium, heard MSNBC s Matthews -- still on the stage at the close -- tell Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, that he came out ahead at the end of the 90-minute showdown. "Everyone says you won," Matthews said.
He wasn't alone: former Senator Jim Talent of Missouri, a Romney guru, was one of an army of insiders who hit the crowded "spin room" following the debate to talk up his man. "A lot of people will see Mitt Romney for the first time tonight," he said. "We don't have to spin it. He gave clear responses. He was reassured and energized."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=16185
Rudy shot himself in the foot over abortion - the “I hate abrtion but I support Roe v. Wade and I don’t care if it stays the law of the land” will not fly. He really, really clobbered himself.