Posted on 09/06/2007 6:01:57 AM PDT by Reaganesque
Riehl World View's Dan Riehl: "Based solely on my viewing the flow of the numbers from start to finish - on average, I honestly believe Romney resonated most strongly with the most people, conservative and moderate, in terms of the over all debate." (Dan Riehl, Riehl World View, http://www.riehlworldview.com/, 9/5/07)
Conservative Blogger's William Smith: "Mitt gives a great answer with regard to the responsibility of city government and state government." (William Smith, Conservative Blogger, http://www.conservativeblogger.com/, 9/5/07)
The American Spectator's Jennifer Rubin: Romney "[s]ays we have to have concern for the mother and change hearts and minds. Very nicely done." (Jennifer Rubin, The American Spectator, AmSpec Blog, http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp#7970, 9/5/07)
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "The focus on Romney and Giuliani reinforced the notion that the race right now is between those two men with former Sen. Fred Thompson who did not attend the debate as a potential wildcard." (Chris Cillizza, "GOP Debate Wrapup: Frontrunners Under Fire," The Washington Post's The Fix, http://blog.washingtonpost.com, Posted 9/5/07)
Heading Right's Macranger: "Romney immediately scored with his point about de facto amnesty, and he talks about shutting down the 'magnets'. Romney's doing great so far..." (Macranger, Heading Right, Heading Right Blog, http://headingright.com/page/2/, 9/5/07)
The Washington Post's Eric Pianin: "Romney's response drew loud cheers; Giuliani's polite cheers. It speaks to the difficulty of any candidate who has something less than a black and white position when it comes to immigration." (Eric Pianin and Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post The Fix Blog, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/, Posted 9/5/07)
- Pianin: "Romney is working hard to make sure viewers know that he and Giuliani differ when it comes to immigration, seemingly slipping in the fact that New York was a 'sanctuary' city at every turn." (Eric Pianin and Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post The Fix Blog, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/, Posted 9/5/07)
National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "That was a serious answer from Romney [regarding intelligence and the War on Terror]. It channelled [sic] his own decision to refuse protection for an Iranian tyrant - one of those who is against us - while governor of Massachusetts. Going into mosques if they preach terror is a reasonable and necessary position. And one that someone who gets the stakes would espouse." (Kathryn Jean Lopez, "Going Into Mosques," National Review's The Corner, http://corner.nationalreview.com, 9/5/07)
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: "Otherwise, Romney, being very familiar with New Hampshire's inner maw, had well-thought out answers for every other question, even as three of the first four turned, in some measure, on whether he flip-flopped." (Marc Ambinder, "And The Winners Are......," The Atlantic Blog, http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com, Posted 9/5/07)
National Review's Kate O'Beirne: "Romney's '462 events' In Iowa and New Hampshire alone also effective." (Kate O'Beirne, "Ready For The Questions," National Review's The Corner, http://corner.nationalreview.com, Posted 9/5/07)
Townhall's Mary Katherine Ham: "Mitt has a good line about his 'right to be kept alive' with respect to the government's response to terror." (Mary Katherine Ham, Townhall, Townhall blog, http://www.townhall.com/blog/MaryKatharineHam, 9/5/07)
Heading Right's JASmius: "So far, I think Romney gave the best answer [on immigration and sanctuary cities]." (JASmius, Heading Right, Heading Right Blog, http://headingright.com/page/2/, 9/5/07)
How about?
“I am sorry to have offended you, sir. I misspoke and deeply regret it. We thank you for your son’s service to this country, and wish him a safe and speedy return. Once again, I do apologize for my thoughtless remark.”
How about something like that? I know I sure would have appreciated it.
I enjoyed the duel between Ron Paul and Mark Huckabee. That is what a debate is supposed to be. Hats off to both those men. (I won’t vote for either of them!)
I had to cringe at Huckabee's premise that what we did in Iraq was to "break it" so we "bought it". Sorry I wasn't impressed with nanny-state Huckabee's candy store illustration.
Taking down Ron Paul in that debate took no effort at all. Ron Paul showed himself to be the leader of the Cindy Sheehan wing of the Republican Party. I was disappointed that everyone on stage didn't just leave their podiums and walk over and beat the crap out of that little weasel.
Well here’s my take on it. First it was obviously a set up question in the first place going back to Iowa and Romney stumbled badly. It’s the standard “chicken-hawk” line of attack that we hear all the time from liberals. Second, Romney realizing he had stepped in it, later apologized although that seems to get far less coverage. I’m not sure he was as eloquent as you in the apology but as he said again last night he did apologize. Third, the Sheriff last night was another set up and I agree with you, Romney probably should have apologized again more profusely. Which of course begs the question, when you slip up and say something dumb, how many times doe you have to keep apologizing for everyone in the world to believe you are sincere? By the way I hope I’m not being too slick when I say that I do wish your son a safe and speedy return. I’m pretty sure all the GOP candidates would wish that too.
Daffy Duck was there...or was that Ron Paul?
I guess I must have been watching another debate. I thought Romney lost this one. Mc Cain slammed him down with his comments about the Surge when Romney was trying to hedge his remarks.
LLS
I’m supporting Fred but I’m not totally averse to Romney. He didn’t help his cause any last night as it was his worst performance to date.
Ron Paul did have the most fascinating line of the debate last night: the only pro-Communist soundbite from any GOP candidate.
We "broke it" in the sense that Dubya allowed the rules of engagement to be politicized. Had the initial invasion been followed by the Petraeus Plan, Iraq would be much farther along the road to peace.
I agree Romney did worse than he usually does - he looked tired. I can't support Fred yet because I don't know what he actually wants to do and I've only seen him in non-challenging interview formats so far. I'm glad he announced as I expect now to see more of him and I want to see how he handles the same type of "gotchya" set-up questions that all the other candidates have been handling for 8 months now.
I agree with you. His remark comparing his sons work on his campaign to military service was certainly a misstep and a more contrite answer to the deputy's question may have helped put this to bed. Having said that, it was also somewhat dishonest for the deputy to ambush Mitt by finishing his rather lame question with a personal attack. It almost seemed scripted. Carl Cameron denied any knowledge that this was going to happen and I guess we'll just have to take his word on it.
To say we "broke" Iraq is both inaccurate and demeaning to our troops. We saved Iraq from a monster. But in saving Iraq we are now responsible for ensuring that the life we saved is a life worth living.
If the guy, or you, wouldn't accept the apology the first time, why would you appreciate it more now?
It really was an insulting remark for military families as far I am concerned, and the real rub is that Mitt absolutely believes it. He got so much airtime for that, and none of it was good. Overall, Mitt and Rudy pretty much got all the coverage.
DUNCAN HUNTER WAS ROBBED.
Can you cite the first apology because I missed it, and I was looking?!
We can start by turning Iran into a parking lot. Muslims hate us now, so why worry about it? I'd be willing to bet there's plenty of moderate Muslims that would be breathing a sigh of relief if we took out Mad Dog and his henchmen.
I agree. I like Huckabee and would rather have him for president than the Mitt or Guiliani. I think. But he used a very poor illustration. I wonder if he realized how bad it was? It doesn’t seem to square with other things he’s said on the subject. I don’t think we “broke” Iraq. A lot of things happened there that we didn’t anticipate and we need to stay and help the Iraqis themselves get them straight. Iraq has been “broke” since it was created. I honestly don’t think he meant to say what he did. I’m willing to change my mind on that if presented the evidence.
(1) Giuliani did all right on defense issues, but his deep policy flaws on other issues like immigration were thrown into sharp relief.
(2) McCain did a good job fighting Romney on Iraq.
(3) Romney did all right - but McCain, as I said, got some good and well-deserved licks in.
(4) Gilmore, Huckabee and Brownback did credibly but didn't do anything to stand out from the pack.
(5) Hunter did great on defense, but then got bogged down in the whining over Ramos and Compean.
(6) Tancredo came across as a small and bitter man.
(7) Ron Paul said his usual crazy stuff. And, true to form, he soft-pedaled pro-life rhetoric, he spewed leftist rhetoric on the Middle East and demonstrated how little he knows about just war theory and history.
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