The verdict after the first G.O.P. debate?Tepid. No real fighting among themselves.
No one really defended Bush on much, especially Iraq. John McCain did say the war "was on the right track."
Early buzz says Mitt Romney did well. (MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said he won.) Likable. Excited to be there. Dare we say Presidential? The Drudge poll gives Romney the win. Others gave good reviews to John McCain. Rudy Giuliani certainly seemed confident. But what about that Sunni vs. Shiite answer? And can you hear cringing from the pro-life crowd?
Around the horn we go . . .
Andrew Sullivan gives the win to McCain because of his strong critique of Bush Iraq policy. Sullivan also finds Romney "smarmy." "The man will obviously say and do anything to get power or please a crowd. His low-point: "Gosh, I love America." Really?," Sullivan writes.
The Associated Press is leading with Rudy's "ok" comment, on whether it would be kosher to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
The lede . . ."Alone among 10 Republican presidential contenders, Rudy Giuliani said in campaign debate Thursday night "it would be OK" if the Supreme Court upholds a 1973 landmark abortion-rights ruling."
The Hotline . . . "Rudy Giuliani, confident, but culturally liberal. Mitt Romney looked to be charged up, if too practiced, and John McCain, with a scratchy voice, seemed a little nervous at first, but he was in the zone by the end."
The New York Times political blog called McCain's performance "uneven." The blog also notes, "the sheer number of candidates obliterated any sharp differences among them, except for Mr. Giuliani on the subject of abortion."
Mike Huckabee doesn't believe in evolution. Neither does Sam Brownback or Tom Tancredo, reports Politics1.com. They also think Giuliani looked weak.
But SurveyUSA disagrees. And instant poll gives Giuliani the win. (Take THAT Drudge!)
RedState.com hits back and says "forget who won," Giuliani lost. RedState.com also goes on to say that while McCain and Romney did well, the real winner was Fred Thompson.
Peggy Noonan finds it so tawdry to put it in win-loss terms, but hell, she goes for it nonetheless. "Mitt Romney won, Rudy Giuliani lost, and John McCain is still in," Noonan declares.
Hugh Hewitt also likes Romney's performance but knows the bar has now been set high. Hewitt also gets tough on Mike Huckabee . . . "Mike Huckabee – I look at this guy and wonder where he ever got the notion that he should be president. Even more than the Cranks (see below), his presence on the stage bothered me. Does this guy have anything interesting or original to say? Has he ever?"
Oh Hugh, you just haven't seen Huckabee play bass guitar like I have.
Overall impressions seem to be that conservatives believe this was a good night for Romney. Much like Democratic debate, the pundits seemed to go with one winner, and the polls seemed to favor another. (Hillary won the pundits, Obama won the insta-poll. Romney won the pundits, Rudy won insta-poll.)
Is there a disconnect here?
Time will tell . . .
2 comments:
In my book, Ron Paul was the winner.
Of course, the media will continue to ignore him, due to the following factors, among others:
1. He's not a "pretty" man.
2. He doesn't blow four hundred bucks on haircuts.
3. He's not a big-government tax-raiser.
4. He's against the U.N.
Neither CNN nor Fox News wants to report on this guy, which should make people think...
Romney lost me when he was asked what is wrong with America and couldn't come up with an answer other than "Gosh, I love America..." He had his change to talk about poverty, health care, the war, the disconnect between government and the people, and all he could come up with was creepy cliches.
His flip flop on abortion was disturbing to me. I could almost see the wheels in his robotic mind turning, what do I need to say to get elected.
He looked presidential, he sounded like he belonged on a stage in Branson.
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