Republican Debate / Second Half
Hmm . . . bias from the moderator? Chris just compared the "unrelenting" pro-life stance of most of the Republican candidates to Rudy's "nuanced" position.
Tom Tancredo just got hit with the softball of all time . . . but can't seem to articulate a reason why he's the man for President. (Given reality, perhaps that's not surprising).
Ron Paul can't think of a critical decision affecting lots of people that he's had to make . . . maybe that's why so few congressmen are ever elected president.
Mitt Romney has done a good job with the embryonic stem cell question -- drawing a good distinction between creating life to destroy it and altered nuclear transfer, which creates embryo-like cells that can be used for research. And smart to allude to the fact that he, like Mrs. Reagan, has a vested interest in finding a cure for terrible diseases like MS and Alzheimer's.
John McCain wants to use federal money for federal funding for stem cell research. Oddly, he starts out by thanking Mrs. Reagan for welcoming him home as a POW.
Good answer by Romney on the question of which tax he'd eliminate (and reminding people that, as governor, he's vetoed a lot of spending). I the idea of cutting capital gains for the middle class. Heck -- what's not to like about all the tax elimination ideas of almost the entire field (does anyone understand what Ron Paul, the GOP's Mike Gravel, is even talking about?)
OK, Tancredo actually made a good point -- John McCain has insisted that he'd veto spending bills, and Tancredo has rightly pointed out that the deficit isn't being driven by discretionary spending, but actually by entitlement spending that's already a structural part of the budget.
Rudy has been quizzed on the difference between Sunni and Shia -- his answer didn't dazzle. Earlier, Thompson was asked how many casualities there have been in Iraq. Where were these types of questions in the Democratic debate? Even so, candidates should be ready to answer them.
Romney just called 9/11 a "tragedy" -- grr, it was an attack. Came out for national ID cards, but did an effective job in invoking his leadership of 2002 Olympics. Oh good -- he and Giuliani have just made it clear that ID cards are for migrants, not citizens.
Interesting . . . gotta give Romney credit. He's had to go first with answering all the "down the line" questions, including toughies pertaining stem cells, Scooter Libby, stem cells, Terri Schiavo and a couple of others.
But why is Chris Matthews wasting time with a Libby question? Seems designed to raise Americans' hackles more than to shed any real light on candidates' philosophies. P.S. Ron Paul is a crank -- saying Libby
Romney has botched the Schiavo question. Congress didn't "adjudicate" the Schiavo case -- it merely said the case should be reheard in federal court, especially given some of the irregularities in the state court proceedings. Giuliani has made the same error. McCain has backed away from Schiavo, and is now saying Congress acted "too hastily" rather than pointing out that they were just allowing a rehearing before a young woman died.
Loved it -- Mitt Romney just asked Matthews "are you kidding?" when asked if it would be good to have Bill Clinton back in The White House. Followed up with a slam at the prospect of the "gang of three" running foreign policy . . . Pelosi, Reid, and Hillary C.
Well, give McCain credit -- he's been the first to bring up the importance of having strict constructionist justices on the Supreme Court. But isn't it a bit much to try to take credit for some of that, in light of the Gang of 14 debacle? Good thing he's limited himself to self-congratulations for Alito and Roberts -- he's best advised not to go near the appeals court judges . . .
Did Ron Paul just invoke Robert Taft -- and promise not to "abuse habeas corpus"? Pleeeeeze . . .
More analysis coming later or tomorrow, but strikes me that no one outside the top tier of Giuliani/Romney/McCain did anything to break out of the lower tiers. Nor did any of the top guys do anything to hurt themselves -- although, given the time constraints, etc., none of them really did much to help themselves, either. Some of Romney's charm came through, Rudy didn't seem in top fighting form, and McCain was, well, just McCain (that is, he knows best).
Tom Tancredo just got hit with the softball of all time . . . but can't seem to articulate a reason why he's the man for President. (Given reality, perhaps that's not surprising).
Ron Paul can't think of a critical decision affecting lots of people that he's had to make . . . maybe that's why so few congressmen are ever elected president.
Mitt Romney has done a good job with the embryonic stem cell question -- drawing a good distinction between creating life to destroy it and altered nuclear transfer, which creates embryo-like cells that can be used for research. And smart to allude to the fact that he, like Mrs. Reagan, has a vested interest in finding a cure for terrible diseases like MS and Alzheimer's.
John McCain wants to use federal money for federal funding for stem cell research. Oddly, he starts out by thanking Mrs. Reagan for welcoming him home as a POW.
Good answer by Romney on the question of which tax he'd eliminate (and reminding people that, as governor, he's vetoed a lot of spending). I the idea of cutting capital gains for the middle class. Heck -- what's not to like about all the tax elimination ideas of almost the entire field (does anyone understand what Ron Paul, the GOP's Mike Gravel, is even talking about?)
OK, Tancredo actually made a good point -- John McCain has insisted that he'd veto spending bills, and Tancredo has rightly pointed out that the deficit isn't being driven by discretionary spending, but actually by entitlement spending that's already a structural part of the budget.
Rudy has been quizzed on the difference between Sunni and Shia -- his answer didn't dazzle. Earlier, Thompson was asked how many casualities there have been in Iraq. Where were these types of questions in the Democratic debate? Even so, candidates should be ready to answer them.
Romney just called 9/11 a "tragedy" -- grr, it was an attack. Came out for national ID cards, but did an effective job in invoking his leadership of 2002 Olympics. Oh good -- he and Giuliani have just made it clear that ID cards are for migrants, not citizens.
Interesting . . . gotta give Romney credit. He's had to go first with answering all the "down the line" questions, including toughies pertaining stem cells, Scooter Libby, stem cells, Terri Schiavo and a couple of others.
But why is Chris Matthews wasting time with a Libby question? Seems designed to raise Americans' hackles more than to shed any real light on candidates' philosophies. P.S. Ron Paul is a crank -- saying Libby
Romney has botched the Schiavo question. Congress didn't "adjudicate" the Schiavo case -- it merely said the case should be reheard in federal court, especially given some of the irregularities in the state court proceedings. Giuliani has made the same error. McCain has backed away from Schiavo, and is now saying Congress acted "too hastily" rather than pointing out that they were just allowing a rehearing before a young woman died.
Loved it -- Mitt Romney just asked Matthews "are you kidding?" when asked if it would be good to have Bill Clinton back in The White House. Followed up with a slam at the prospect of the "gang of three" running foreign policy . . . Pelosi, Reid, and Hillary C.
Well, give McCain credit -- he's been the first to bring up the importance of having strict constructionist justices on the Supreme Court. But isn't it a bit much to try to take credit for some of that, in light of the Gang of 14 debacle? Good thing he's limited himself to self-congratulations for Alito and Roberts -- he's best advised not to go near the appeals court judges . . .
Did Ron Paul just invoke Robert Taft -- and promise not to "abuse habeas corpus"? Pleeeeeze . . .
More analysis coming later or tomorrow, but strikes me that no one outside the top tier of Giuliani/Romney/McCain did anything to break out of the lower tiers. Nor did any of the top guys do anything to hurt themselves -- although, given the time constraints, etc., none of them really did much to help themselves, either. Some of Romney's charm came through, Rudy didn't seem in top fighting form, and McCain was, well, just McCain (that is, he knows best).
posted by LadybugUSA at 5:59 PM
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