California Republican Debate Reactions
Mitt Romney completely outshone the other candidates during the debate. McCain only came across as vindictive and disingenuous. McCain kept saying that Romney supported a set withdrawal date for getting out of Iraq. Romney never said that. McCain kept going after Romney and in so doing kept shooting himself in the foot. McCain, I thought, did the most poorly of any of the candidates in the debate. Ron Paul was his normal self. He makes a lot of good points but just doesn't have the support to get the candidacy. Huckabee kept up his quips and sounded good but he again showed his platform shallowness (he also kept saying, "Look at me! I need some attention.").
McCain kept attacking Romney for changing positions - which he did on abortion (and he recognizes that and apologized for it) - but he has not changed on other positions. Romney is by and large the most representative of Republican Party ideals. Romney is the most like Reagan (except Romney would cut back government and Reagan did not). I used to like McCain a lot more than I do now; I'm originally from Arizona and always respected him. However, I get really sick of his, "I've been in Washington for 25 years. I'm a war hero. I know foreign policy. I'm a straight talker. [I'm not a politician]. I'm entitled to the Presidency." He not only is part of the Establishment, he is part of the Entitlement. McCain tries to portray himself as someone who is above petty politics when that is what he does. He's the one who attacked Romney's character when Romney only attacked McCain's policies. Mitt Romney has his faults but none of them are what McCain has been attacking him over. The only two really honest people on that stage were Romney and Paul. Huckabee is likable but he, like McCain, tries to say that he is above politicking when that is what he's very good at.
Overall, I think Romney earned an A- for his performance tonight. Ron Paul earned a B. Mike Huckabee earned a B-. John McCain earned a C+.
Iowa Republican Debate
I think the CNN headline is telling: "GOP Candidates Stay Polite." There is hope for America when we can have a political debate (which I did not watch) and have mostly positive comments (i.e., focused on personal policy and not on each other). I know that sometimes candidates need to point out flaws or weaknesses in their opponents but that can be done cordially or with humor. That is one thing I really like about Mike Huckabee - he is very polite and runs a positive campaign. I still think that his popularity is more infatuation than substance (it could turn into substance later but now it isn't) and might die down quickly.
YouTube Debate Thoughts
Now that the Republican debate is over I'll post a few thoughts and reactions.
1) I enjoyed the candidate videos from Ron Paul and Mitt Romney and the other candidates who did not show attack ads. Fred Thompson attacked Romney and Huckabee while other candidates attacked Sen. Clinton. There are too many issues to address in campaigns; candidates do not need to resort to attacking other candidates.
2) Mitt Romney came across as wishy-washy in some instances (especially when asked about water boarding). You have to understand his personality and modus operandi to understand why he came across that way. Mitt Romney is very analytical. He likes to have all sides of issues presented to him before he makes decisions. So even though there were a couple times that he did not appear to answer questions directly (e.g., water boarding and gays in the military), I think he did the right thing even if it appears to be dodging questions. He basically said that if he is elected president, then he'll make firm decisions; it is hard to make good decisions without all the facts.
3) Ron Paul made some good points but did not present himself well. I actually was not very impressed with him during the debate. I want him to do well, he could make a lot of positive changes in the country, but he just might not be political enough.
4) John McCain made a great point about water boarding. He has good moral ground to stand on regarding the use of such interrogation techniques.
5) The three candidates who stood out the most and came across the most positively were Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and John McCain. Fred Thompson did relatively poorly and Tancredo just didn't stand out. Huckabee and Romney both have a lot of charisma though. John McCain is just too grizzled. He's a great guy but he just does not have the polish of the other two candidates and unfortunately image matters a lot in politics.
I thought the debate was good overall but not enough issues were addressed. The final question was about Giuliani supporting the Red Socks. There are too many real issues to talk about to spend time on that, no matter how humorous it is. We needed to hear about education, science (not just space exploration), and other important issues. Granted, immigration, taxes, and the Iraq War are major issues but I would have liked to hear more.
YouTube/CNN Republican Debate
The YouTube/CNN Republican debate is tonight. Expectations are high for both Republicans and Democrats. It provides both camps the opportunity to learn a little about what each candidate stands for and how each candidate responds to "average" people (granted, the video questions are selected by CNN staff and potentially censored as well as fit to specific candidates to potentially create controversy - after all, that's what the media does best, report and create controversy).
Hopefully everyone remains level-headed and reasonable. Anything less than that makes them look silly, albeit human. However, we don't expect our leaders to be human; we want them to be more than human - infallible.
I'll post my thoughts about the debate once it is over.
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