The 2008 GOP Race Comes Home

Last night I watched the 2nd Debate between the Republican Candidates for President, and while I can't say I was all that impressed, this was certainly much better than the 1st one on MSNBC, which was basically a contest to see who could say "Ronald Reagan" the most. Part of the reason for that, of course, was the fact that FOX hosted this debate, and they did an awesome job. The questions were tough, the format was good, and the only real flaw was that they seemed to completely ignore Duncan Hunter. The debate was hosted right here in the great State of South Carolina; although, despite this fact, the candidates, surprisingly, weren't overbearing in their attempts to pander to South Carolina's social Conservatives.

Alright, well, enough with the blah, and on to some real (well-sort of) analysis of the candidates!

Ron Paul would be golden if he could just manage to utterly and completely avoid talking about foreign policy. Seriously, the guy nails fiscal issues and domestic policy on the head....but then he starts talking about 9/11, Iraq, Iran, and other International issues and I suddenly get this burning desire to smack him in the head with a baseball bat.

On the other hand, he could be Tommy Thompson, who makes me want to wail on his ass with a baseball bat every time he opens his mouth. Please, GOP, if you have some decency left in you, do all that you can, use the Police if necessary, to prevent this man from coming on stage at the next debate. He adds abso-freakin-loutely nothing to the debates - and he....Just. Needs. To. Go.
For that matter, Jim Gilmore can also be banned from coming up on stage. While he's not nearly as irritating as Thompson, his presence on stage, like Thompson's, serves no purpose other than to waste air time that could be spent on other, more important, candidates.

As much as I like the guy, Tom Tancredo (who after bombing in the 1st debate, did very well last night) has absolutely no chance at the nomination. Zippo. None. However, I do hope that he stays in the race so that he can keep chiding the other candidates on Illegal Immigration.

Duncan Hunter, as mentioned above, was completely and utterly ignored. Honestly, I think he got 4 questions total during the entire 1.5 hours. He nailed what he got, but it's hard for a lesser-known guy to make headway when he gets no airtime. Brit Hume, you must work on this for next time.

Sam Brownback is just another run-of-the-mill, big-government Republican. Unless you really dig the hardcore evangelical thing, there is absolutely no reason to let this guy back into the debates. I don't dig the hardcore evangelical thing. Therefore, I think he should join Gilmore and Thompson on the sidelines. Besides, he has no chance anyways.

John McCain, so far, has looked extremely defensive in these debates. For him, that's not good, since his campaign numbers, recently, seem to have been going in the wrong direction. He needs to take a new, more aggressive approach. He's certainly not my favorite of the candidates out there, and won't be voting for him, but I have to admit, I do admire (and agree with) the principled stand he has taken on Iraq and on foreign policy in general. You gotta admit, at the end of the day (despite Rudy's whole "I was Mayor on 9/11" thing) McCain does have the most credibility of this batch when it comes to National Security issues.

Speaking of Rudy, he clearly had the line of the night when he smacked down Ron Paul's childish "blame America for 9/11" argument. Clearly, National Security is Rudy's forte and he looked very comfortable there tonight. However, there is this little problem he has; that being this whole 'pro-choice' position he's got going - and he got crucified for in this debate. Rudy's chances of winning the nomination now sorely rest on his claim (which he, interestingly, hinted at on stage tonight) that he is the only Republican nominee capable of beating Hillary in the general election. Unfortunately, he may not have the chance to prove that. In my opinion, tonight, Rudy lost any chance he had of winning the crucial S.C primary. In this State, a fair number of Democrats are more pro-life than Rudy, and for most of the Republicans, this issue ranks pretty high on their list of importance. Put another way, South Carolina doesn't have some of the Nation's strictest abortion laws for nuthin'.

Mitt Romney treaded water tonight. Not near as great a performance as he had in the 1st debate, but he didn't really hurt himself. Of course, given how low his poll numbers are in S.C (he's polling behind 2 guys who haven't even declared yet!!), that may not be what he wanted or needed. Indeed, while Massachusetts may have been ready for a Mormon Governor, it appears that the South is still not ready for a Mormon President. It sucks and it's unfair, but it still may be his doom.

The former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, was, in my estimation, the man who clearly came prepared tonight. In the past, I haven't thought highly of his chances, but he turned in a standout performance tonight. His comparison of Congressional spending to John Edwards in a beauty parlor was the most memorable line of the night, and he clearly, more so than any other candidate, helped himself up there last night. He scored some good points with S.C voters when he took Rudy to town on abortion, he had excellent responses to the challenges/though questions that were posed to him, and of all the guys who were there, I thought he was the winner.

However, overall, as I said earlier, I'm still not, in any way, overly impressed with this GOP field. However, the coming of late entrants into the field may be a saving grace. Here, of course, as political junkies will surely know, I'm speaking of former Tennessee Senator and long-time actor, Fred Thompson. Indeed, while Huckabee was the winner of those present, the overall winner of this debate may just be Fred. In case you haven't heard, Fred has been rumored to be entering the race for some time now, and all indications are that he's going to jump in at some point. He's been polling extremely well among the GOP base, generally finishing in the top 3, despite not having yet declared; and sitting around and letting voters be unimpressed with the current crop of candidates, while they beat up on each other, may be a well calculated, and intelligent, move on his part.

So there you have it, that's my take on South Carolina's 1st 2008 GOP debate; and here's to hoping we have more debates that are as well-run as this one, and, while were at it, here's to hoping Fred Thompson is around for the next one.