Posted on 09/06/2007 9:21:16 AM PDT by pissant
I found the debate frustrating. Neither of the top tier candidates -- Giuliani and Romney -- had a good night. Giuliani took a big hit early over his 1994 statement welcoming illegal immigrants to New York. Thereafter, he seemed to answer most questions by referring to New York city crime statistics. He needs to diversify
Romney seemed defensive and, at times, evasive. His answers on Iraq were rambling. When the deputy sheriff in the restaurant called him out for not articulating an "end game" strategy, Romney was unable, I thought, to take advantage of the opportunity.
McCain did pretty well. At a minimum, as always, he answered the questions. I can conceive of him having a "surge" in New Hampshire as the "straight talk" candidate, particularly if Giuliani and Romney don't step it up.
Huckabee had another decent night, and I give points to anyone who takes on Ron Paul. But (as Romney pointed out) the "broken pottery" analogy in Iraq misses the most important reason for why we need to keep fighting -- namely the implications of the outcome on the war against terror. Huckabee also totally ducked the final question concerning what we should do if Iran continues on its present course towards becoming a nuclear power.
Duncan Hunter was, once again, the best of the rest.
Sam Brownback continues to be a huge disappointment. If the best he can do is channel Tom Friedman, it's clearly time for him to withdraw.
UPDATE: For what it's worth, Fox's focus group agreed with me that McCain did better than the two front-runners, and that Rudy talked too much about New York.
Frankly, Hunter was the only one on the stage other than Paul who did not have to tapdance around his pathetic record. Rudy lied through his teeth, again, saying he did not go after guns, but criminals. Huckabee stinks on illegal immigration, and Fox's use of his quote calling anti-amnesty people racist sunk him. Tanc has decent answers but is a nervous nellie up there. McCain is still defending amnesty. And Mitt was pretty good, though rambling on Iraq, and his record does not match his rhetoric.
All in all, another pretty good night for Hunter. The only one who never sticks his foot in his mouth.
DH Ping
At least 5 more minutes.
Paul is not tapdancing around his pathetic record ... his anti-American stance is a clog dance.
I thought Duncan didn’t get enough air time, it seemed they were avoiding him. Especially the first question about FRed.
Groups like Club for Growth don’t seem to be very high on Hunter. What is your opinion on that?
Hey, as Dennis Prager says, “I appreciate clarity”. Paul is a nut. He never fails to demonstrate that.
He’s a patholgical liar. In every campaign he’s in, he morphs himself, and he believes his own bs.
Which one? LOL
Uncalled for. The flag is waving, targets are up and you get Maggie's drawers. Paul does not want Americans to be the targets as nation builders.
Last night he stated that the admin said Iraq would be a “cakewalk.” The only other places I’ve seen that lie parrotted around is DU, Kos, etc. Maybe that’s where he got his material.
Guilani is just narcissistic, and spin meister.
However, for me there are only two candidates left, and that’s all I care about now.
FRed and Duncan.
That is a legit argument. But saying that AQ does not want us on the Arabian peninsula is the weakest possible argument imaginable.
I never got a Maggie’s drawers ... my aim and is straight and true ... Ron Paul is your Maggie’s drawers!
In the long-run, however, my vote will be for anybody but Hillary Clinton, John Edwards or Barrack Obama.
I’m a member of the Club for Growth and I will defend Duncan against their rating. The CFG rates all spending/pork as a negative, even if it is military spending. This has been the main negative they have with Duncan (spending.)
He just wants all Americans to be easy targets for terrorists at home and abroad.
An almost exact quote of the administration is ‘this will be a long, hard fight’.. President Bush never said cakewalk..
Say what? I wish that one of the other candidates would have challenged him on that one by saying, "Think about what you just said, Rudy".
That was the outrage of the night--and no one really 'called him on those idiotic comments'!
So Rudy has no problem with 'law-abiding' illegals??? Huh??? By definition, ILLEGALS are not law-abiding citizens--they ARE breaking the law.
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