Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #1~ Reagan Library 05/03/07 - Official Discussion Thread

[CounterCounterCulture]

Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #1 – Reagan Library 05/03/07 - Official Discussion Thread

• Sam Brownback
• Jim Gilmore
• Rudy Giuliani
• Mike Huckabee
• Duncan Hunter
• John McCain
• Mitt Romney
• Ron Paul
• Tom Tancredo
• Tommy Thompson

  The debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and will air live on MSNBC from 8:00 to 9:30 pm (ET) and stream live on MSNBC.com and politico.com and will include audience questions gathered on politico.com.

[George W. Bush]

I hope I never have to see another debate with Chris Matthews in charge.

The guy who moderated the Dim debate was waaaaay better. Witty, urbane, conversational.

Then they give the Republican debates to yappy-dog motor-mouth Matthews.

Not an accident. PMSNBC made that choice deliberately, using a bad moderator to try to make our candidates look poor by comparison.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Just remind yourself how many minutes Romney has held those views. Freshly minted they may look okay, but will he lead by them or is he lying to you? Even if you believe him how can we choose a flip-flopper when that has been our main criticism of the past two Democrat candidates. They won’t even have to try to criticize our candidate. They can just recycle our own material.

[SoCalPol]

see your FRmail

[unspun]

I think the Libertarian Internet-geek network ;-) is backing Ron Paul.

[Mensius]

I agree and I might change my mind on him IF Thompson doesn’t run.

But Fred will get in. Heck, he's already running. Feel much better with a fallback position though.

[jonathanmo]

Political junkies view of the debate...less tinged with partisans...probably a good general snapshot ...

[AliVeritas]

LOL

[CheyennePress]

McCain has never looked old or feeble to me. Nor has he ever been particularly inspiring, though. He’s someone who I can respect a lot, but putting him in as the leader of our nation and the Republican party would be a mistake.

Good assessment.

[jackieaxe]

“Who won the first debate?”

I hate this question. If the audience gets to see a compare and contrast of views, the debate has achieved it's purpose. It's too bad Chris Mathews and the moonbats at politco (kinda rhymes with Politburo) got the keys to the debate. I'm still dizzy listening to the questions.

[NeoCaveman]

I just voted for Mitt, because Rudy did not win.

[harpo11]

Thanks for your right minded perspective, and sadly, I agree, our side always has a leftist media bullseye on their backs. Seems a shame though, it would have been very pleasant to see an intelligent moderator such as Brit Hume conduct this first debate rather than such a democrat political hack job.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Then it will be MITT vs. OBAMA, won't it?

Because Americans will vote much more on "feel" rather than "think", (charisma vs. issues). It was this way in 1960, in 1976, particularly in 1980/84, and again in 1988, not to mention 1992 and 1996, and then 2000 and 2004. In each case, the less charismatic person lost, not necessarily a battle over policy.

[unspun]

Think of Fred Thompson, think of John McCain.

[Suzy Quzy]

I only watched half of it, but I thought they ALL did well....some did GREAT!! I was proud of 99% of what they said and how they conducted themselves!

[redgirlinabluestate]

The winners!

Well done, men!

[AliVeritas]

Don’t know. I think he’s definitely gonna run.

[Constitution1st]

I like Romney too; have been watching him for a long time(Salt Lake City Olympics). He looks too much like presidential timber, and I knew he would run eventually.

[TAdams8591]

Mitt is running on a conservative platform. His presidency will be far more conservative than his governorship, where the legislature was 85% democrat.

Stop trying to ruin the only candidate who can defeat Guiliani. People like you will give us Guiliani as the R nominee and Hillary for president.

[HitmanLV]

Fred would have been obliterated tonight - he talks way too slow and his answers aren’t suited for 30 seconds at all.

Romney did very well in this format.

[AuntB]

Hunter being interviewed MSNBC now.