Well, I didn’t watch the full debate but I’ve been watching a few clips and observing quotes from the debate itself.
From what I can tell a few things stood out.
Romney and Rudy’s fight.
Romney stating something about checking with his lawyers first, though I haven’t read the context of that.
Romney’s quip about law & Order, and Fred’s rebuttal about not being the best actor on stage.
Fred’s closing line about it starting to get boring without him being there.
And, Christipher getting smacked down.
I haven’t seen the whole debate, I haven’t watched most of it. But these are the items that I see popping up everywhere on blogs and TV.
Only two of these stand out to me. Romney checking with lawyers...I REALLY need to read the full transcript to see if it’s as bad as that sounds. And the Christipher smackdown. If Romney’s statement IS as bad as it sounds, it’s not the final nail in his coffin but it’s a self inflicted flesh wound.
No one cares about the Rudy/Romney fight.
Fred’s closing joke and the Romney/Thompson exchange added some levity but it’s forgettable.
That leaves “Christopher”. That’s what REPUBLICAN voters are going to take from this and remember. They hate the media, they love when the media gets smacked, and Thompson did so effectively. So, yeah, I’m going to say long term he won this round. I don’t know if it’ll show up in the polls, but his smackdown of Matthews is the main item folks will remember a couple months from now. It’s the main item that resonates in the GOP base.
September 25, 2001
MEMORANDUM OPINION FOR THE DEPUTY COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
You have asked for our opinion as to the scope of the President’s authority to take military action in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. We conclude that the President has broad constitutional power to use military force. Congress has acknowledged this inherent executive power in both the War Powers Resolution, Pub. L. No. 93-148, 87 Stat. 555 (1973), codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1541-1548 (the “WPR”), and in the Joint Resolution passed by Congress on September 14, 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224 (2001). Further, the President has the constitutional power not only to retaliate against any person, organization, or State suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks on the United States, but also against foreign States suspected of harboring or supporting such organizations. Finally, the President may deploy military force preemptively against terrorist organizations or the States that harbor or support them, whether or not they can be linked to the specific terrorist incidents of September 11. http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/warpowers925.htm
I haven't seen it yet... on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 = "I paid for this microphone", how would you rate it?