January 10, 2008
The Facts
The Republican Presidential candidates debated each other tonight with moderators from Fox News. Those participating were Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee.
My View
If you missed the debate, don’t worry too much about it. With the exception of Ron Paul, much of what they all talked about was their latest hero Ronald Reagan. Then they all attacked Mike Huckabee pretty bad. What they did not talk about was George Bush. In fact, I don’t even recall anyone mentioning his name other than the fact that he is visiting Israel. Two of Fox News moderators, Brit Hume and Carl Cameron, seized upon every opportunity to assist & champion those who talked about Reagan and those who attacked Huckabee. Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Fred Thompson were obviously very comfortable with Fox News moderating the debate. Huckabee and Paul both knew that Fox and the Republican Party power house were against them; therefore they had to be fairly aggressive.
But to be fair, they did talk about a few things besides Reagan. There was good dialogue by some. They talked about the latest incident between the US Navy and the Iranian speed boats; our relationship with Israel; the current Pakistani situation regarding the way Musharraf is handling the Taliban and Bin Laden; and a little talk about illegal immigrants, immigration policy, & border security. Romney successfully defended his idea of changing Washington in a very clear & distinct manor, one of the only people I’ve heard actually define what he would change. Ron Paul did a good job of sticking it to the moderators when one suggested that he was unelectable because he did not hold the Republican Party values.
All in all, three things were confirmed in the debate; three (Giuliani, Thompson, & McCain) would basically continue all of the current Bush policies; two (Huckabee & Paul) are not wanted by Fox News and the Republican Party power machine; and one (Romney) falls somewhere between the two aforementioned groups.
One other thing that was not talked about was the plight of the middle class. However, that came as no surprise, as you very seldom hear a Republican talking about them except when they need their vote. But I did note one observation; either Rudy Giuliani doesn’t really care whether or not he gets the nomination, or he knows something none of the other candidates and the general public knows. And that observation isn’t just based on tonight’s debate.
Filed under: Presidential Campaign, Republicans
