Jan 31 2008
Republican Debate Recap
Although I am tired of the completely dysfunctional debate formats that we have grown accustomed to, like a flame to a moth, I tuned into the GOP debate last night. The fact that the debate was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was the primary draw for me. CNN was definitely hoping for big hits by the positioning of the candidates. The say John McCain and Mitt Romney side by side. It would have been more interesting to put Romney between McCain and Huckabee.
Romney and McCain bickered about matters of minutiae, mainly because both would like to be painted as the consummate Conservative and neither really are. Huckabee was ignored and Paul ignored even more. CNN wins by inviting Huckabee and Paul and then win again again by ignoring them. For the first time Huckabee stood up for himself and requested to be included in the debate. However little his time allotted, Huckabee had one of his stronger performances in recent times. His answers were, clear, inspiring, honest, and issue-oriented. He wasted little time attacking his opposition while McCain and Romney devoted most of their time to attacking one another. I became so bored with John McCain. He is a lousy speaker. I became annoyed with the smugness of Mitt Romney. And, as always, I was amused with the lunacy of Ron Paul. McCain and Romney both looked as though they were fighting off the silent shakes (laughter) as Paul spoke.
CNN analyst Bill Schneider describe it this way:
Huckabee, I think, stood out in this debate as the one who made sense, talked as ordinary people do, and rose above politics. They may have scored. He connected. And that’s a problem for Romney, who would like to become the alternative to John McCain among conservatives who oppose the Arizona senator. But he has very tough competition from Huckabee, who’s forcing people to re-think his run at a time when he was supposed to be out of the game.
I am glad someone in the mainstream media finally noticed who among the field is truly Presidential.
