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.

[redgirlinabluestate]

The post was about who won the debate. The answer is clear. Mitt won the debate. Which candidate Peggy Noonon supports is not my concern. Seems like just yesterday everyone had labeled her a RINO and a turncoat.

[brazzaville]

Oops.

sorry for the double post.

[George W. Bush]

Do you mean Mitt, The Life Long Hunter?

Hey, that's "The Lifelong Rodent Hunter"!

Actually, he made me laugh with that little speech. Clearly, the man just has had very little involvement with hunting or any experience of personal defense with firearms. Someone needs to take him down to a range and teach him how to shoot a handgun and give him copies of John Lott's books on the merits of CCW and handgun ownership, point out to him how important it is for women and the elderly to have firearms to protect themselves against thugs. That Mitt is a quick study if he's anything.

Mitt got the NRA endorsement when he ran. He's taken out a lifetime NRA membership more recently.

Let's trust the NRA-ILA to know what they're doing, at least for now. They have a lot of experience in picking the best electable pro-gun candidates. Their great CCW success in the states and that brilliant pick of the current NRA president show real political acumen that is only growing more sharp. I note that NRA is keeping their powder dry on Romney, knowing that he might be our most electable candidate and that we might do a deal with this Mormon businessman on respecting the Second. No doubt in my mind that NRA will unload with both barrels on the leftwing mayor, either directly or via state proxies. Romney? Wait and see is our watchword.

I want to hear what NRA says about him this fall. And what GOA/JPFO and other more radical (i.e. constitutionalist) RKBA's have to say.

[NittanyLion]

Rudi was pretty bad, wasn’t he.

He really did look like a mayoral candidate on a stage with presidential candidates. I thought he seemed unprepared, to be honest.

[Capt. Cox]

I believe we are set to have a clash of titans between Romney and Thompson. The others are done. And if Thompson can’t make up his mind then Romney will win by default.

[pissant]

60% may buy into the biased push polls that the big pollsters genrally use. When they asked the question a couple months back “do you want the US to win in Iraq”, even 50% of democrats said yes.

The polling groups have the same agenda as the MSM.

[blackie]

I did.

[PghBaldy]

REP. PAUL: I’m “no” because I am a strong supporter of the original intent.

MR. MATTHEWS: Oh, God.

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=5562636

[syriacus]

It's unseemly that Chris Matthews

1. got to run the debate and
2. was provided with such a huge opportunity to make (biased) comments about the debaters

He was the personification of a one-two punch against Republicans.

[PghBaldy]

REP. PAUL: I’m “no” because I am a strong supporter of the original intent.

MR. MATTHEWS: Oh, God.
http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=5562636

[George W. Bush]

I believe we are set to have a clash of titans between Romney and Thompson. The others are done.

A lot of us have been thinking the same thing. The other candidates are hardly finished though. Several still have a good chance but it's getting dimmer. Giuliani can't crossover to the conservative base which will doom him even if nominated and his support will dry up as it becomes more apparent. And McStain will never be forgiven by the RKBA/pro-lifers and the Christian segments, all key GOP primary voters. That means that both must try to appeal to and therefore split the indy/liberal-crossover vote in the primaries.

BTW, welcome to FR.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Thanks for the ping. FReegards.

[pissant]

Yep. Making Ron Paul irrelevant, as usual.

[Reagan Man]

If it was just one poll showing that most Americans oppose the war, I might agree with you. But that is not the case.

So, you believe that a majority of Americans support the war in Iraq. Well fine. One problem with that opinion. The 2006 GOP election loss was primarily based on Americans not supporting the war. You can denounce polling data, but you can't deny the results of the election.

Back to the reason for all this. You gave kudos to Rooty for pointing out the term "islamic extremists" wasn't used in the earlier Democrat debate. I said it was insignificant and meaningless because most Democrats oppose the war anyway. I stick with that logic. Rooty scored no points with that one.

However, Rooty`s support for abortion was exposed in all its glory. His campaign took a big hit on that issue, revealing him for the liberal he's always been. With more to come.

[pissant]

If you say so, Murtha.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

He was, but it’s a credit to all the GOP candidates that they were there... especially when you contrast that with the Democrats’ gutless boycott of the Fox News debate.

All in all, the Republicans came out way ahead. Chrissy’s snarky comments and amateurish moderating skills just brought it that much more into focus.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Let’s see... we’ve got the obligatory regurgitation of non-specific MSM polls, an idiotic and historically ignorant Vietnam comparison, a tired Democratic buzz-phrase about the “status quo”, and a bold prediction about Republicans going down in flames. And you’ve got that really conservative sounding screen name, and the libertarian platform in your tag line.

Oh yeah, you’re definitely a Marxist.

[pissant]

In addition, I thought Rudy looked pretty unpresidential in the debate, compared to Romney and Hunter and even McCain (who I loathe). His poor performance is pretty universally accepted on the right, from what I’ve read.

FWIW, one of our local radio talkers was very much pro-Rudy (fighter, cleaned up NY, etc). He said this AM that Rudy stunk....and just as importantly, that Hunter was the guy that suprised him with his style and stances.

The 2006 election was more than the Iraq war. The Dems fielded many “moderate” candidates, and most certainly did NOT run on “cut and run”; and most importantly, the GOP/RNC absolutely sucked for the last two years on giving Cheney and Bush ANY support on promoting the importance of the war. And even after that, the midterm losses were in a fairly normal range.

[red irish]

Chrissy always shows his nasty school boy tactics.Does anyone know if this person was a bully in school or maybe he might have been bullied. He just seems to be so smarmy!

[CounterCounterCulture]

I was there in September of 2000. That’s a new feature to the Reagan Library they hadn’t completed when we visited.