Nate, The Debate, etc.
Nathan Greene
3 Comments
By Emily Geiger
Okay, so I have to say that I’m not quite to the point of getting out the pom poms for John McCain like Nathan is. I do think McCain will be strong on national security, which is obviously a plus.
I guess I look at it like this: if I can’t have Huckabee (which, loyalist that I am, I haven’t totally given up on yet) that means my choices are McCain or Romney. If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you know how I feel about Romney. He’s changed his mind so many times and he’s been caught in so many lies, I just don’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth. Bottom line: even if I don’t agree with him on everything, I think you can at least believe what John McCain says.
That being said, I still think there is a glimmer of hope that the candidate from Hope can rack up a decent number of delegates on Super Tuesday… I don’t know if he can get enough to keep him in this thing, but perhaps enough to make him a power player at convention.
Now to the CNN debate…
I think McCain did just an OK job. In typical John McCain fashion, he tends to stumble and fumble in his speech a bit. I do think he came across as very sincere, and people appreciate that.
I thought the first part of the debate was a little Mitt-heavy in terms of questions asked by the moderators. Then, Huckabee started giving some strong answers, and I think he started getting some more time. Once again, I think Huckabee came across as very at-ease, very sincere, extremely articulate, and got a few laughs out of the audience (and even the other candidates). He had a great answer to the Sandra Day O’Connor question… turning it into a question about the pro-life cause, an issue he dominates among those candidates left in the race.
Mitt is Mitt. He seemed like he was somewhat on the defensive at this debate. He doesn’t like it when his quotes from the past are used against him, and you got the overall impression that there was a chink in his shiny armor. And he needs to get rid of that smarmy smirk he has when others are answering questions.
I almost felt bad for Ron Paul, getting cut off mid-answer by Anderson Cooper. But on the flip side, if I actually had to sit and listen to him talk, I’d be wanting Anderson Cooper to cut him off, so I guess that’s a wash.
In terms of actual content, there wasn’t much in the way of surprises. One issue on which the candidates did differentiate themselves was the economic stimulus rebates. I thought Romney’s rationale for his support of the economic stimulus rebates was weak, especially for someone who is supposed to be an economic expert. I thought Huckabee had an excellent point that investing in infrastructure would be a wiser option than giving people a few hundred bucks that the government is going to have to borrow from China so that people can go buy shoes made in China. But then I though McCain raised a good point that a big part of a recession is psychological, so in that way, rebates might be somewhat of a band-aid for the situation.
The dust-up over military withdrawal timetables was entertaining, but I think the whole debate over the GMA quote was a little nit-picky on both sides. I do think Mitt should not have used the word “timetables” in an interview on network television, and his answer for why he wouldn’t initially say whether or not he supported the surge (“Because I was governor and I was busy with state issues”) was pretty weak. And then McCain had another good point: If Romney doesn’t like people throwing mud at him, maybe he shouldn’t have started it in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Great answer from Huck on Putin and how you have to judge people by their actions because their eyes can lie (cough…. Mitt Romney… cough).
By the end of the debate, with all the questions to McCain and Romney about who would be the best commander-in-chief, the debate was getting rather lopsided again. And then we went back to Ron Paul’s rant for a while. And then finally to Huckabee for the finish as he talked about how he has the most experience to be president, what the role of government should be, and how real leaders realize the effect their decisions have on all people, even those at the bottom. Huck ended with an extremely eloquent monologue that hopefully will sway a few undecideds in Super Tuesday states.
And I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who thought Huck did well…
Your thoughts???
Reader Comments (3)
I agree. Strong debate for Huckabee. Average for everyone else. No new revelations. Probably not likely to change things a whole lot. Unless Mitt decides not to do much or any media buys in Super Tuesday states, then I think Huck will be helped even more by the debate.
I think you're being a little too kind to McCain. I thought it was a pretty bad night for him, but I"m still not sure it will matter.
I will not vote Republican unless Ron Paul is the nominee.