New Hampshire
As I said before I can only remain silent for so long…
I watched the debate last night, here are my thoughts.
The Republicans were snippy, mostly about attack ads that they were all doing, but trying to say the others were worse. Overall, they agreed on most things with the exceptions usually coming from McCain (amnesty, global warming) and Ron Paul (let’s get rid of our military & the depts of defense, education, healthcare, etc).
The Candidates:
McCain: He tried to look like he was having fun and generally came accross that way. He didn’t talk to much, which could be a good thing for him. He did a decent job defending his amnesty by slamming Romney, saying Mitt could spend his entire fortune attacking it as amnesty and it still wouldn’t be true. Funny thing - it is amnesty.
Paul: Inviting Ron Paul to this debate is like inviting a morphed version of John Murtha & Ross Perot. He believes government spending is out of control (no argument here), but he believes we basically don’t need a military, CIA, or any social departments. I think if you’d push him he’d probably be against having a Congress or a President. The only people supporting Paul are naive kids who don’t think we need military or extreme liberitarians. But watch out folks, I’m calling it here first… Paul could run as an Independent and I got to think that hurts democrats not Republicans.
Romney: He was ok, but constantly being attacked from all sides. For those who think mean spirited comments are disrepectful, Romney gained. For those who love it, Romney lost because he wasn’t a visionary as much as a defender. As far as issues, he (with Thompson) had the toughest view on Immigration. Nobody here illegally gets any benefit from that, period. Go home and apply with the rest of the world.
All the Republicans agreed to build the fence and keep people out first. No point in granting amnesty & ‘comprehensive reform’ when the front door is still unlocked.
Guiliani: This was a little odd to see Guiliani as what seemed to me as the second tier candidate. Every question needed a response from Romney, Huckabee, & McCain, but Rudy was fighting for time. Nothing bad to say about him, what I saw he seemed fine, but nothing inspiring either.
Thompson: The Cincinnati Bengals of Candidates. He came into the campaign with so much promise, but couldn’t get it done. I’ve never heard Fred say a thing I disagreed with, but like last night, he said it monotone and without passion.
Huckabee: Once again, he looked stately and he said all the right things. It really seems at this point, Mike is banking on voters ignoring his record and assuming he will do what he says.
So with that, I will rank the candidates on a the scale of “Better than ClintObadwards” (BTC)
1. Romney: 140 BTC
2: Thompson: 100 BTC
3: Guiliani: 80 BTC
4. Huckabee: 40 BTC
5. McCain: 10 BTC
6. Paul: 1.5 BTC
Filed by niekamp10 at January 6th, 2008 under Politics