Jun 06 2007
Republican Hopefuls Exchange Ideas/Jabs
The Republican Tribe of the new hit reality show Presidential Terminator 2008 exchanged words and jabs on Tuesday night:
President Bush drew startling criticism Tuesday night from Republican White House hopefuls unhappy with his handling of the Iraq war, his diplomatic style and his approach to immigration.
“I would certainly not send him to the United Nations” to represent the United States, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson said midway through a spirited campaign debate.
Not surprisingly the candidates are distancing themselves from the current administration and their 33ish% approval rating. But, what issues really got things going? Giuliani and McCain both tried to establish themselves as the alpha dog:
Rudolph Giuliani scuffled with Sen. John McCain over illegal immigration for the first time last night, accusing McCain of backing a bill that doesn’t fix pre-9/11 problems and “it is quite possible … will make things worse.”
McCain, in turn, accused Giuliani of ignoring parts of the bill that fulfill Giuliani’s wish-list. “Rudy,” McCain said in exasperated tones, “you just described our legislation.”
The best line of the night goes to Giuliani:
Mr. Giuliani also injected a moment of humor into the debate when he was asked about the writings of a Catholic bishop who was critical of Mr. Giuliani’s support of abortion rights. As Mr. Giuliani began to defend himself, there were crackles of lightning outside the debate hall — prompting other candidates to step away from Mr. Giuliani, as if a bolt were about to strike him.
“For someone who went to parochial schools all of his life,†he said, “this is a very frightening thing that is happening right now.â€
Careful, someone is watching!
So, what were the reactions to this first debate?
Blogs of War: Final Thoughts: Rudy distances himself from the pack, and much like Obama earlier this week, looks the most presidential. McCain almost wins me over with his no holds barred approach on terrorism but the love fades quickly as he moves on to other topics. I was most disappointed in Romney who lacked clarity and credibility in many of his answers. The rest of the field is just noise but noise that holds up better than the corresponding second and third tier folks on the Democratic side. The wildcard here is Fred Thompson. My gut feeling is that only Rudy can go toe-to-toe with him in a forum like this - but he has to show up first.
Captain’s Quarters: The third GOP debate is over, although there may be some who haven’t realized it yet. What it lacked in firepower, it more than made up in pointlessness. And while CNN may not have been anywhere near as bad as MS-NBC, they should still be embarrassed that their audience asked better questions than CNN’s journalists.
Little Green Footballs: Which Republican candidate do you think turned in the best performance in the third debate? Rudy Giuliani 47.7%
Well, who will be the first contestant to be voted off? Let’s wait until all the contestants get to the island first and then make that determination. I believe the Fred Thompson boat may be on the horizon.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Republican Hopefuls Exchange Ideas/Jabs…
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