Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Florida Debate: Romney Scores, Rudy Close Behind
Captain's Quarters ^ | Jan. 24, 2008 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 01/24/2008 8:21:07 PM PST by jdm

Florida voters got their final head-to-head look at the Republican presidential candidates tonight, and the winner of the debate was Mitt Romney. He looked presidential, poised, and factually prepared. In a debate that spent the first two-thirds with everyone doing well, Romney not only broke out on his own in the last stanza, he successfully parried some strange attacks from Tim Russert as well.

Rudy Giuliani needed a big win in this debate and didn't get it. However, he did do a fine job, showing a little more personal engagement in this event. He looked very cool and confident and probably gave the most robust answers to the questions asked. He only had one weak moment, when asked to justify his Florida strategy, but recovered quickly. Unfortunately, he had no game-changing moments, and he sorely needs one.

John McCain did a good job as well. He showed flashes of humor and charm, as well as toughness and determination. He did well on the war questions, but his repetitive pillorying of Donald Rumsfeld has gotten old, a crutch that he uses far too often. He falsely claimed that a majority of Republicans worry about global warming, which shows him to be a little out of touch with the base in a very obvious way.

Mike Huckabee didn't do badly, but he didn't do well, either. His joke about the Romney inheritance fell flat, and he was mostly a non-factor throughout the debate. At the end, his natural connection to the audience came through, but on a question that really has much less draw (religion) than the pundits credit.

The debate structure was a little strange. The candidate questions turned out to be softballs, and Tim Russert and Brian Williams appeared to lose their minds in the final segment. For some reason, they seemed obsessed with Mitt Romney, giving him what I believe was a ten-minute stretch all to himself. They basically handed him the debate in that segment.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; elections; fl2008; giulaini; gopdebates; mccain; mitt; mittromney; romney
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 241-244 next last

1 posted on 01/24/2008 8:21:07 PM PST by jdm
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: jdm
Huckabee is running for Jester in Chief.

POTUS is a serious position and Huckabee is trying to joke his way there.
2 posted on 01/24/2008 8:23:25 PM PST by elizabetty ("Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." .Ralph Waldo Emerson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: elizabetty

Huck said the WMD went to ...Jordan.

No really, he did.


3 posted on 01/24/2008 8:24:48 PM PST by icwhatudo (Romney...because...well.....Hunter and Fred dropped out and a third party means clinton wins.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: icwhatudo


"What? What did I do?"

4 posted on 01/24/2008 8:27:22 PM PST by jdm (A Hunter Thompson ticket would be suicide.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: elizabetty
Did you hear Huck group gambling with prostitution and drug pushing? Huck, you’re welcome to join me in Vegas in May!
5 posted on 01/24/2008 8:28:28 PM PST by GOP_Lady (I'm a MITTen!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: jdm

I thought Rudy did poorly — he sounded like a policy wonk.


6 posted on 01/24/2008 8:29:57 PM PST by fideist (Proud Father of a U.S. Marine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jdm

Romney won hands down. Presidential, confident, honest, and itching to bury Hideous Rodent Clinton. No one else came close. Romney/Paul 2008


7 posted on 01/24/2008 8:30:32 PM PST by Binstence (Live Freep or Die)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: elizabetty

Huckabilly is finished. Praise the lord.


8 posted on 01/24/2008 8:30:45 PM PST by lookout88 (Combat search and rescue officer's dad.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: jdm

CQ has not been Romney’s camp, so for them to give the debate to Romney suggests ... well, that he really won.

Didnt see the debate though, so dunno.

As for the global warming answer from McCain - I’d throw a brick at the TV if I saw him say it, yes it IS ANOTHER REMINDER -Proamnesty-antiBushtaxcuts-proCO2caps-CFR-RINO John McCain delenda est!


9 posted on 01/24/2008 8:32:21 PM PST by WOSG (Proamnesty-antiBushtaxcuts-proCO2caps-CFR-RINO John McCain delenda est!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lookout88

Praise the Lord, indeed!


10 posted on 01/24/2008 8:34:02 PM PST by GOP_Lady (I'm a MITTen!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: jdm
For some reason, they seemed obsessed with Mitt Romney, giving him what I believe was a ten-minute stretch all to himself. They basically handed him the debate in that segment.

I noticed that they didn't exactly lob softballs either. It was like they were trying so hard to get him to say something they could use against him and the best they could do was pull an "I don't care about the voters" comment out of context.

I also thought McCain had a great performance and I say that as someone who could never vote for him.

Rudy was good and gave a solid performance. I find it hard to dislike him even though he is so far to the left.

Huckabee was charming at times and gave a good defense of the FAIR tax, but his little digs and sophomoric jokes were flat.

Ron Paul may be a moonbat, but I actually liked a lot of what he had to say. He should have been born 150 years ago. He would have made a great president had he run against Franklin Pierce.

11 posted on 01/24/2008 8:34:57 PM PST by Vigilanteman (Are there any men left in Washington? Or are there only cowards? Ahmad Shah Massoud)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jdm
McCaniac
He falsely claimed that a majority of Republicans worry about global warming, which shows him to be a little out of touch with the base in a very obvious way.

Courtesy comment:

Yep John is pandering to the RINO minority.

Wake up John take your Old Timers medicine and smell the roses.

Global warming is a sham.

The Russians came out today and said that Global warming reached it’s peak in 1998 and the earth will start to cool.

Just as McCaniac was out of touch on Shamnesty he is out of touch on this and just about every other issue that my focus group of I, myself and me cares about.

McCaniac should switch parties and sell his snake oil to Hillary and Osama Obama.

12 posted on 01/24/2008 8:35:06 PM PST by OKIEDOC (Kalifornia, a red state wannabe. I don't take Ex Lax I just read the New York Times.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WOSG
Didnt see the debate though, so dunno.

Believe me - Romney won big time. I was a Fredhead looking for someone who would lead. Romney stepped up big.

13 posted on 01/24/2008 8:37:43 PM PST by TexasNative2000 (Is this tagline governed by McCain-Feingold?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: elizabetty
Huckabee is running for Jester in Chief.

His quick wit and humor is just who he is. I've not been a Huckabee fan (I was a Fred guy) but now, after the Debate tonight, I see why he's doing well and why Duncan Hunter is endorsing him.
14 posted on 01/24/2008 8:38:18 PM PST by no dems (If we can't beat Hillary or Obama in '08, the GOP has become a sorry lot..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: jdm

Rudy is toast.


15 posted on 01/24/2008 8:40:09 PM PST by Agent Smith (“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!" AuH2O)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: icwhatudo
Get off it. I'm no Huckabee fan, but it was clear that he was merely using Jordan as one possibility. Frankly I agreed with him, I believe the weapons were there and that they were moved just prior to the invasion. My personal bet is Syria, but Jordon is not beyond the realm of possibility.

The only person that really came off bad in the debate was Chrissy Mathews who proves just how stupifyingly ignorant he is everytime I see him.
16 posted on 01/24/2008 8:44:03 PM PST by Sudetenland (Mike Huckabee=Bill Clinton. Can we afford another Clinton in the White House...from either party?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: All
Romney won, and minimized the obvious attempt to prop up McCain (Mr. Amnesty).

Giuliani did fine, but would be like a Mussolini. (No doubt he’d get the job done, but at what cost?)

McCain floating along with the mainstream media, he rises or falls on their whims.

Huckabee with ‘deer in the headlights look’, starting to spin into freefall.

Paul delivers his usual common sense answers, but throws it all away with running from the unstable middle east.

Debate? Obvious mainstream media attempt to keep McCain on life support.

NO in-depth discussion on illegal immigration, the biggest national issue.

We have to constantly demand discussion on illegal immigration. The President, govt, elites, media, local govt’s are all quietly installing the infrastructure to embed illegals into this country, and will seal the deal the moment we let up!

17 posted on 01/24/2008 8:48:19 PM PST by msnpatriot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: no dems
His quick wit and humor is just who he is.

It is all he is. He has nothing substantial to say so he jokes.

He is not a serious man and these are deadly serious times.

It doesn't really matter who Duncan Hunter endorsed because Duncan Hunter was not taken seriously by Republicans during the year he ran for POTUS.
18 posted on 01/24/2008 8:50:27 PM PST by elizabetty ("Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." .Ralph Waldo Emerson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: jdm
Looked like they were intent on not coming off like the Dims did. It was a boring debate, but Mitt definitely carried the evening. Every one, even McQueeg was playing nice-nice tonight...really disgusting.

Where was the blood? Where wee the teeth and eyeballs on the floor?

I think it's bad news for the Democrats, everyone of our candidates would, assuming they have the guts to attack her, stomp Hillary in a debate.
19 posted on 01/24/2008 8:50:52 PM PST by Sudetenland (Mike Huckabee=Bill Clinton. Can we afford another Clinton in the White House...from either party?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: elizabetty

Yes, indeed. Huck is a joke.


20 posted on 01/24/2008 8:51:26 PM PST by GOP_Lady (I'm a MITTen!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 241-244 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson