Are any of the GOP candidates actively courting Nancy’s endorsement?
The scales have fallen from my eyes.
I just caught the re-broadcast, and it had a few good laughs. When asked to give George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war a letter grade, A through F, Governor Huckabee said, basically, it’s too soon to tell.
One of them slipped in an aside about how Ronald Reagan’s steely resolve in the first two minutes of his presidency got the Iranian hostage released, which is complete crap. Was that Huckabee, too?
I was impressed by Giuliani’s reply to the question about the theological distinction between Sunni and Shia Islam. I expected him to flub it, but he nailed it (AFAIK).
Also, on the evolution question, Chris asked anyone to raise their hand who disagreed with evolution. It was one of those side-shots, so it was hard to see exactly who raised their hand, but three or four of them did (rewinding the DVR, it looks like Brownback, Huckabee, Tancredo).
That was Giuliani, IIRC.
So, just so we’re clear, are you a Democrat making fun of Republicans, or a Republican making fun of Republicans?
According to AP, Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee all raised thair hands.
I’m an Independent (who generally votes Republican) making fun of Democrats (notice I spelled them demoNcrats) who make fun of Republicans. Think of Stephen Colbert with a twist.
You know, I didn’t notice. Wow, now you’ve really impressed me.
Not even the Freepers are enthusiastic about this lot. (They seem to be holding out hope Fred Thompson will announce.)
No, you’re not.
I was very impressed with Mitt Romney. He was sharp, witty, and extremely likable. Guiliani came off as just pandering to the conservative right. He is pro-choice but has agreed to strongarm the judiciary with pro-life justices if elected. :smack:
Many people have said in this thread that the questions were terrible. I agree. But maybe these are the type of questions that conservatives are most concerned about?
- Honesty
Hasn’t Giuliani promised to appoint Justices in the Scalia vein? (Haven’t they all?)
Drum:
BG & I agree.
Seventh Seal is opened.
glad… is embarassingly Republican, and I’m speaking as one who can has also been that way (witness my recent Pit-gloat over the Supreme Court’s PBA decision, in which I was unprepared for the challenge & rightly got my ass handed to me.) I’m also speaking as one who prefers to call himself a Right-wing Christian libertarian, which of course means I vote Republican but want to sound less partisan.
Re the debate himself-
Chris’ Qs could/should have been more (apologizing in advance) hardball.
Romney stood out more than I expected.
McCain maintained his place.
I think I could happily support either.
I’m not sure about how Giuliani did-
I know I still don’t want him as the nominee.
Tancredo, Thompson & Gilmore (the latter whom I did not know) did make themselves heard & didn’t embarass themselves.
Several pundits expected Tancredo to be the Gravel of this debate with
his harping on immigration.
He and Brownback may have been the Kuciniches, but not the Gravels.
Ron Paul is always a refreshing change of pace- he’s principled, consistent & (President-wise) unelectable.
My personal favorite is Huckabee- also pretty much unelectable right now,
maybe he could win some other office & gain more exposure & gravity,
and then have a better chance for the Presidency later on.
The twist being the omission of humor and wit?
I happen to think the Republicans have quite a strong field of candidates. I do agree with Ramesh Ponnuru that a lot of people are uncomfortable with it because it is somewhat of an unorthodox bunch.
Nevertheless, in the top tier you have a distinguished senator and war hero, a very successful mayor and former federal prosecutor who between the two jobs tremendously improved his home city, and a phenomenally successful businessman who rescued an Olympic committee from scandal and bankruptcy and served a reasonably successful term as a state governor.
Positions and policies aside, I’d stack these candidates against the top tier on the Democratic side any day of the week. The only one in their top tier who has done nearly as much in both public and private life as these three is Hillary Clinton, and she was able to do much of that because of who she was married to. John Edwards is a self made man who hasn’t made much of an impact on policy, and Barack Obama simply doesn’t have the experience yet to compare.
Right now, for various reasons, I’m leaning toward Giuliani.
The debate was at the Reagan library in front of an audience of Republicans-- presumably Reagan-type Republicans. Besides, it’s an easy way to avoid mentioning Bush. Makes plenty of sense to me. These guys are vying for the Republican nomination, after all.
There’s still time to draft Pete Domenici and Olympia Snowe.