Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #12 – Johnston, Iowa 12/12/07 - Official Discussion Thread

[CounterCounterCulture]

Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #12 – Johnston, Iowa 12/12/07 - Official Discussion Thread

Live at 2PM EST on Iowa Public Television, CNN, C-SPAN3, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN Radio, and Fox News Radio

Candidates participating:

• Rudy Giuliani
• Mike Huckabee
• Duncan Hunter
• Alan Keyes
• John McCain
• Ron Paul
• Mitt Romney
• Tom Tancredo
• Fred Thompson

Live streaming at desmoinesregister.com

[seekthetruth]

I agree totally with what you said, and you said it so well! You should send that to Britt! GO FRED! :)

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

Yes, it sure did.

Go, Duncan Hunter!

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the run down.

[CounterCounterCulture]

TRANSCRIPT
(note: it'll ask you if you want to save or open file... also, it's in ALLCAPS... I'll see if another transcript is available)

[spectre]

Good observation,Pro. "Let the two minutes of hate begin" against Huckabee..by Dane is indeed a quote from Orwell/1984.

Now for the rest..THIS is Dane.

"But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on the screen, as though the impact that it had made on everyone's eyeballs was too vivid to wear off immediately. The little sandyhaired woman had flung herself forward over the back of the chair in front of her. With a tremulous murmur that sounded like 'My Saviour!' she extended her arms towards the screen. Then she buried her face in her hands. It was apparent that she was uttering a prayer."

sw

[RDTF]

not yet

[CounterCounterCulture]

Replay video here... although it's buffering rather slowly for me right now.

[CounterCounterCulture]

TRANSCRIPT
(Note: This is a raw transcript of the debate. An edited version will replace this one when it is available.)

[qman]

I think we may be concentrating on Hillary a bit to much, I really think she may loose the primary. I have prayed to god that that would be the case. After 20 years of Bush, Clinton I hope the people have enough since to MoveOn.org.

[Finny]

They should have had the courage to promote Hunter.

Hunter should have had the courage to promote himself during 26 years in California politics. You think Tom McClintock got to be what he is in California because he wasn't hampered by media elitists???

[SouthTexas]

This is the OFF season!

Don-o, you can have braggin rights, but you get no points.

[Finny]

Oh, don't get me wrong! I trust my gut instinct, more the older I get! I just don't think it's fair to use it as a main qualifier in politics. Records come first -- judging a tree by its fruit, so to speak.

part of his political persona ...[Romney] would do whatever it takes including twisting himself into a cardboard character to win. Either is unacceptable.

I do not think he is a con man. Huck may be.

Huck is an amateur con man. Doesn't take long for people to know they're being conned. The professional con-men refleece their victims for decades, sometimes. They're also overtly very religious. And they make very high incomes doing their cons. Nothing to do with politics, my research on this group of people, but something about Romney reminds me of them. I guess you could say ... I trust my gut! ;^)

[don-o]

but you get no points.

[msnpatriot]

Any interesting polls on the debate out there? Just voted in the FR poll so far.

Like Fred alot!

[Edit35]

For what it's worth, Fox & Friends defended Mitt this morning on Huck's Mormon slam.

Fox & Friends has been showing the good side (boosting) Romney for weeks.

So has most of shows on Fox news.

So have almost every top talk show host in the nation -- Medved, Prager, Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity - ESPECIALLY when the REAL possibility of Huckabee winning became apparent two weeks ago.

I am good at interpreting pro-Romney voice inflections and insinuations, and almost all pundits with an ounce of political saavy can see that Huckabee, while a nice enough smart man, would be DISASTER for the GOP.

Brian Kilmead, Michael Smerconish, Laura Ingraham, the list goes on and on.

Can you just imagine the dread of having to defend against the Democratic charge that the "Republicans want to launch an American theocracy" --- over and over all this summer into next fall.

Heck, I would almost begin to believe it, especially in light of the idiotic remarks made by ordained Baptist Preacher Huckabee the past few weeks.

PRO-ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT Huckabee, that is.

I am almost ready to pack my bags and head to Iowa to help the Romney campaign. Or Hunter, or Thompson, or (gulp) even McCain or Guliani.

At least these would have a prayer (pun intended) of a chance of winning over Huckabee.

[TheLion]

C-Span2 will re-air yhe debate at 9pm Eastern.

[snippy_about_it]

He could sell used cars and probably keep that smile while lying through his teeth. I don’t trust him. He gives me bad feelings.

Go Thompson/Hunter!

[JohnBovenmyer]

I have to give the poor schlemiel a partial defense. His reasoning was quite incomplete, but to the brief extent he had any reasoning he had a point. He's take was about the first opinion Fox offered and he did back off once he heard competing thoughts. Mort based his take on the conventional wisdom that Huckabee had to be hit on the multiple problems we've seen sprout online regarding him over the past couple weeks. The idiot moderator asked no such questions and minimized chances for the other candidates to hit him. About the only hit on him I saw was Mitt hitting his claim to have the best education record and Tanc trying to hit him on immigration. Mort basically said Huck went in ahead and took no big hits so he maintained his lead. This was the last pre-caucus debate so Huck won by default. The reasoning was sound as far as it went. What Mort didn't consider was that while playing prevent Huck was hitting himself all over the place.

By taking the high ground and not making mistakes Romney regained momentum. Iowa Public TV will broadcast reruns both tonight and tomorrow at 7pm so this could have a large impact statewide.

Fred was the other candidate who significantly helped himself. Fred's clearly the best counter-puncher of any candidate, any party, but he's cursed with looking old and tired the rest of the time. He'd have been a great candidate before the TV age and if he could get in like Ford he'd likely do an excellent job, but his appearance in this age, amplified by the media mantra of being lazy, falsely or not, makes his rise difficult even with his eloquence. Several anecdotal reports of his having a disorganized campaign staff have reinforced the media's take on Fred. News today that Fred won't be on the ballot for the DE primary 2/5 because most of the signatures he submitted weren't registered as Republicans as DE required is just the latest example. Fred and Mitt will likely pick up whomever Huck loses, whether that will be enough to give Mitt his desired 1st and Fred his desired at least 3rd, time will tell.

As for the idiot moderator, Lunz's group of undecided Republicans missed a chance for a second home run. They did hit the Huckabomb, but when asked to provide a one word description of the moderator, they couldn't find "Hillary!"

[MinuteGal]

"Isn't there any organization that will sponsor a round table where the candidates can talk to each other.......?

I haven't heard any peeps yet about The League of Women Vipers doing their usual debate sponsorship. They usually never miss hosting or co-hosting one every four years.

Of course, the League members will have Obasms if they can manipulate the perfect socialist scenario......Hillary walking up the aisle to where her husband will crown her, with Kucinich directly behind holding up her train.

When Hillary reaches the coronation rail, she'll grab the crown out of Bill's hands and place it on her head herself.

Leni

[Eddie01]

"It was the Mousse"

...hope you get the ref.