Posted on 05/04/2007 9:57:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
John McCain bounced back in the first Republican presidential debate and breathed new life into his faltering candidacy.
His answers were strong: he faced the camera squarely, and scored big with his circa-2000 attacks on pork spending and special interests. He was both passionate and articulate. His sole bad moment came with his fumbling answer about why he opposed the Bush tax cuts. But for a candidate who seemed to have lost his way, McCain did very, very well.
That said, there was a major bias in the debate. MSNBC and Politico deliberately marginalized Giuliani and steered far too many of the important questions to anybody not named Rudy. In doing so, they paid homage to their Democratic Party masters by diminishing the candidate most likely to win in November.
The other two winners were Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
Romney, who had the most face time of all of the candidates, showed himself to be the handsome, well-spoken candidate that he is. While his account of his flip-flops on abortion was not convincing, his homilies to family, God and country will sound good to Republican ears.
Huckabee (disclosure: a former client) was the most original and interesting of the candidates. His unique style came through when he defended his pro-life views by asking why, if we "move heaven and earth" to find hikers lost on Mt. Hood or in a coal mine, we don't defend human life in the womb. His explanation of how his faith leads him to embrace global stewardship in the face of climate change and to want to punish Enron-style executives who fleece their workers was both novel and intriguing.
Rudy Giuliani underperformed in the debate.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Morris is struggling to remain relevant.
Morris thinks McCain won the debate.
LOL
McCain and Rooty were the big losers last night.
Romney won hands down.
AGREED!
I like Fred but his slow talking would not HAVE BEEN GOOD LAST NIGHT.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/2008_republican_presidential_primary
I don’t think the vast majority of Republicans watched the debate so I don’t think it will have much of an impact on the polling numbers going forward. Right now, everything is word of mouth:
McCain is too old
Rudy is too liberal
Romney is a Mormon
etc.
Double agents are not to be trusted, IMO.
Romney got the most time because he used the time well, and had compelling, interesting answers. He seized the time from the moderators, who didn’t interrupt at the end because they were actually interested in the answer being given.
The moderators DID cut people off too soon, but almost always when people were giving pat, canned answers. Rudy did a lot of that. And he should have done more — no moderator made him botch the easy abortion questions.
The “Dickie the moot”. Every time I see him on Faux,I wonder,why they just don’t run a Viagra commercial?
You think so, too? ;)
There Is not any doubt about MSNBC being biased, in particular
with Chris Matthews moderating. Politico is new but founded by two former Washington Post reporters and similarly screwed.
Why didn’t they just let Helen Thomas and Keith Olbermann moderate the GOP debate?
I have serious doubts that Fred Thompson can beat Romney, and I do think that things are starting to tip in Romney’s direction as far as Rudy is concerned.
I think Morris is right on this.
He said Matthews is an old political operative for O’Neill, that the debate was orchestrated to give Rudy less face time than any other major candidate. I forget the numbers he quoted but it was like he got 2/3 the time of McCain or such.
The point Morrise was making was that Guiliani is the front runner, and puts the Dems in danger, so MSNBC deliberately submarined him to keep the Republicans from looking like they had a strong candidate.
He showed an ability to speak as quickly as needed tonight. Fred will adapt to whatever circumstances arise. Still, it’s wise for him to stay out of idiotic affairs like this past ‘debate’.
Might as well have!
I looks like he has braces on his teeth!
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