Reagan Library Republican Presidential Debate: January 30, 2008 (Official Thread)

CNN ^ | January 30, 2008

[khnyny]

Reagan Library Republican Presidential Debate: January 30, 2008

SIMI VALLEY, California (CNN) -- Republican presidential hopefuls will face off Wednesday night without a familiar face as ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is expected to drop out and endorse front-runner Sen. John McCain.

The remaining candidates will take the stage in a debate -- sponsored by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Politico -- beginning at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday.

The event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, follows McCain's Tuesday night win in the Florida primary.

McCain topped former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 36 percent to 31 percent in the hotly contested race.

Giuliani placed third with 15 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 14 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was fifth with 3 percent.

Giuliani is expected to end his White House bid and endorse McCain at a campaign event in California later Wednesday, Republican Party sources said.

Minus Giuliani, the debate will be a four-candidate affair -- McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Paul -- with CNN's Anderson Cooper moderating.

[MinuteGal]

Indian Rocks is too far south from me, but I'd sure love to see the Great White (from the beach, of course!)

Leni

[floriduh voter]

In Fla, there was voter fraud but it wasn’t a McLandslide.

[floriduh voter]

I must be in the twilight zone - Cooper is tagteaming with Romney.

Cooper finds Romney attractive?

[HonestConservative]

Of course.

The early voting is a recipe for mischief.

[floriduh voter]

There were NO ATTACKS ADS in my area in Florida by Romney. There were a bunch of lying/slandering push polls by the McCain foot soldiers though.

[rintense]

Of course there were!

[seekthetruth]

“The pic means “Me Tarzan, you Jane”.”

Good one! I would caption it:

McCain: “Did you know I was in the military and a POW? Me, yes I am the leader! Me, me, yes I am the one responsible for the surge success, not General Petreaus. Me, me, the one who served in the military and was a POW. Me, yes, I am the real leader!”

Romney: “But Senator, you are for amnesty, open borders, McCain/Feingold, McCain/Kennedy, McCain/Leiberman, closing Guantanamo, and against tax cuts, and even endorsed by the New York Times, and I am not.”

McCain: “Did you know I was in the military and a POW? Me, yes I am the leader! Me, me, yes I am the one responsible for the surge success, not General Petreaus. Me, me, the one who served in the military and was a POW. Me, yes, I am the real leader!”

[floriduh voter]

You’ve been warned. LIEBERMAN CAMPAIGNS WITH MCCAIN.

[floriduh voter]

www.mittromney.com

[floriduh voter]

Ambien and Lexapro can really knock one on one’s behind.

[snippy_about_it]

McCain's stubbornly WRONG.

He's crazy. He wouldn't let go of that "It's a buzz word, it's a buzz word". Geez. He sounded nuts.

[snippy_about_it]

It fits the situation. That’s why we call him McQueeg sometimes. Last night it was him hanging on that “timetable was a buzz word” garbage.

[Kellis91789]

The idea that somebody needs a military background to be President in wartime is not very convincing to me. I think GW has done fine and he had essentially none. What matters is how comfortable somebody is with making the tough choices. Romney is good at evaluating options and absorbing a lot of information — any successful CEO is. Romney will be able to weigh the consequences to people’s lives — any CEO that has ordered restructuring and downsizing has had to do that, objectively seeing people as numbers on paper. I think McCain’s experiences actually work against him in that regard. He wants to close down Gitmo, and ban waterboarding — a procedure that poses no physical danger to the prisoner — no matter how many lives it might save. I just don’t understand people that can’t see the difference between that and torturing someone with beatings, blowtorches, and broken bones. What does that tell you about his willingness to accept collateral damage ? I consider McCain psychologically damaged. If the tough wartime decisions are actually HIS to make, instead of just kibitzing from the sidelines, he’ll fold.

[floriduh voter]

I worked on the RTC aftermath. What a mess!

[floriduh voter]

When McCain starts robocalling people and push polling them with lies, hopefully, they’ll see him for the liberal liar he is. He did this in Florida. If this happens to any pubbies, they should contact www.mittromney.com so they can be informed as to what the lie was. There were numerous lies about Romney spread in Fla. McCain doesn’t do attack ads. He does slanderous push polls on the last day.

[floriduh voter]

The great white shark is 12 feet long estimated. Maybe Drudge has it by now.

[floriduh voter]

Repetition is a temporal-frontal lobe disorder.

[Polybius]

The idea that somebody needs a military background to be President in wartime is not very convincing to me.

You do not need a military background but it sure helps not to be clueless about military matters.

Read my post again.

********

.....even when Bush, Rumsfeld, the conservative pundits, the media, the Democrats and a glass-jawed American Home Front wanted no part of The Surge that is now winning the war.

Published: Wednesday December 27, 2006 .......... Novak: McCain's 'aggressive surge' stance backfiring

********

It is The Surge that is now winning the Iraq War for us.

The same Surge that neither Bush nor Rumsfeld nor hardly anybody in Washington except McCain was pushing for in 2006.

People with military experience can be fools. Take Jimmy Carter for example.

However, people without any military experience can be just as foolish. Take Bill Clinton, for example, when U.S. forces in Somalia were denied heavy armor because it might "look too belligerent". Too many good men lost their lives during the Blackhawk Down incident because of that foolishness.

McCain, in the Iraq War, has proved that he can chose the right course and champion it to the end in spite of opposition from everyone from the White House to the pollsters.

In short, in the Iraq War, McCain has proved himself to be a LEADER.

A poll driven panderer like Romney does not have the moral courage to even say that he would verbally discourage abortion from the Bully Pulpit let alone prosecute an unpopular war to final victory.

I think GW has done fine and he had essentially none.

George W. Bush took one of the most decisive battlefield victories in military history and almost turned it into a defeat because he cannot lead worth a damn.

Have you not noticed that his handling of the war has lost the Republican Party the control of both houses of Congress to the Democrat defeatists and that the American Home Front was almost completely demoralized before McCain's "Surge Strategy" was adopted?

George W. Bush will go down in History as one of the most ineffective war leaders the U.S. has ever had. If we win this war (a big "if"), it will have to be won by Bush's Republican successor to the White House. If the backlash against Bush's leadership loses us the White House too in November, the war is as good as lost.

Abraham Lincoln was a President that suffered many devastating battlefield defeats, one right after the other, in the first half of the war and, through his leadership, brought the U.S. a final victory.

George W. Bush was a President that was given spectacular battlefield victories in the first half of the war and, through his utter lack of leadership, brought the U.S. to the brink of defeat.

Romney is good at evaluating options and absorbing a lot of information

These are the only options and information that Romney cares about.

[tallyhoe]

Jeez get off of it Even Ronald Reagan wasn’t a Republican all his life he changed. At one time he was the president of S.A.G.You are allowed to change your mind or your opinion.

[tallyhoe]

The liberals and Moderates love him and of course the Media so conservatives are suppose to love him also.