First Debate Results

The first debate is over and one point is very, very clear. I hate MSNBC with a passion. Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman should have been wearing their Bolshevik hats, holy shit are they communists. Anyway, I took notes during the debates and here is what I came away with. I’ll rank the candidates from worst to best for the purposes of how they performed last night.

10. Tommy Thompson – extremely boring, did not say anything that really piqued my interest. I’m guessing he’s the first to pull out and will do so soon

9. Duncan Hunter – very strategical individual with a strong affinity for the military. Was articulate. No notable quotes from him, he has no chance at the nomination but due to his tactical knowledge, will be in the running for Secretary of Defense when we win the 2008 election.

8. Sam Brownback – I liked him as a person. Always have. He pops up from time to time on Fox. Comes across as someone that everyone likes but he won’t get the nomination because he is too conservative socially, which is not a bad thing at all, but it’s just the reality of this election cycle. Is in favor of the national flat tax (which is a great idea) as opposed to our current tax system. Also highlighted the main difference between our party and those of the Defeatocrats. He accomplished this by refusing Comrade Matthews’ attempt to get him to criticize Giuliani when he said their debate and campaign will be on ideals and complimented all of the candidates for being the party of ideas and being cordial to one another despite differences of opinions on many issues. Ideas, cordiality, difference of opinion are terms not found in the Democrat’s party. Class act.

7. Tom Tancredo – Best on the issue of immigration. Matthews didn’t like the guy so we didn’t get to see too much of him, but he has a definite no-nonsense aura around him. I especially liked his using his highly suspect and skewed limited time by calling for the pardon of the two border patrol agents**** who are inexplicably in jail when Matthews tried to give ammo the Democratic nut roots when he asked about Scooter Libby.

6. Jim Gilmore – Another candidate who did not get much air time, but he let it be known that he is a very consistent candidate who has not changed his position on the issues and has a staunch conservative record. A little boring, but was well spoken and got a lot accomplished on limited time.

5. John McCain – He was very angry last night and that’s not a good thing. I’ve always like McCain but he did himself some damage seeing as he was in first or second in most polls lately. Had an outstanding line when he asked, “The Senate Leader says we’ve lost the win so who wins? Al-Qaeda. What were they cheering for in the House? Surrender. The war on Iraq is now on the right track after being horribly mismanaged.” Also chimed in “I will follow Bin Laden to the gates of Hell,” in reference to capturing the camel rapper. But man was he angry, and he also waffled a bit on religion.

4. Rudy Giuliani – First the bad. It was painful watching him explain his position on abortion. I knew it would be tough for him, but wow he tanked that. He also relied too much on his time as mayor. He can’t keep doing that or he’s asking for trouble. However, he did make great points, I especially liked when he said the AMT and death tax goes to 0 in 2010 and that creates a terrible incentive before going back up in 2011. For those who do not know what this means, it means that if someone dies in 2010 everything they leave to their heirs is tax free. So you can see what incentive Rudy is talking about. He also called out the Democrats in that “not one Democrat mentioned Islamic Fascist terrorism”. Great point. He struggled a bit explaining the differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims, but it’s interesting that not even the trap laying Matthews mentioned Wahabi (see Saudi Arabia). Overall not too bad of a performance, but it definitely wasn’t his best.

3. Ron Paul – I know what you’re thinking. A lot of hardcore conservatives probably think I’m an idiot. Let’s look at his faults. He opposed the Iraq war (voted against it), and is very Libertarian. However, I myself am a little on the Libertarian spectrum as compared to true conservatism, but I am a proud Republican. That being said, I do favor a national ID card system (a photo voter ID card would be sufficient) to cut down illegal immigration and stop the dead from voting or having another person cast your vote (something the Democrats are notorious for in inner cities) since they no longer have to ask you for your voter registration card because it’s “harassment”. Stupid Democrats. That being said, he says he is not a flip flopper because “I voted to impeach him,” in reference to Mr. Clinton. Good line. Wants to abolish the IRS and cut taxes by taking a non-interventionist foreign policy. He also keyed in on the internet which was pretty revolutionary since most candidates just touch on it, or in Barak Obama’s case, steal people’s web pages*****. He also was the only candidate in either party to mention how IMPORTANT it is TO KEEP THE INTERNET TAX FREE WHEN YOU BUY THINGS ONLINE, and issue we should all get behind. He said he trusts the online news more than mainstream media, which is happening almost everywhere, and you can see that by the declining newspaper subscriptions nationwide. Wants to eliminate the inflation tax, which is a great idea, but didn’t say how this was achievable. He also stated it’s the governments job to protect the privacy of all citizens, which means he is not in favor of ID cards (bad) but is in favor of fencing off Mexico (good). Overall, he’s pretty original, charismatic, and a good public speaker. I found myself really liking this guy, and I would love to see him run the IRS…..into the ground….as Secretary of Commerce.

2. Mike Huckabee – Extremely impressive and very likeable. Made a big point of saying that it’s criminal that CEOs can outsource jobs and then turn around and take huge bonuses while families are shit out of luck. On religion he had a great, great quote, and it’s unclear whom he was talking about but said, “Real faith should have an impact on all your decisions, and if it does not you have marginalized your faith.” Classic. Another gem, “We celebrate life, going in the rescue he miners in West Virginia and the climbers at Mount Hood. It was separates us from the jihadists. Jihadists strap bombs to children’s bellies.” Awesome job here too. In reference to the Clintons (being that he too is from Arkansas) he said, “No one knows the Clintons more than I do. It would be a mistake to have either one of them in the White House.” I really like this guy. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he winds up being the Vice Presidential candidate on the ticket in ’08, if for no other reason than I don’t see the Big 3 take a VP seat. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy if Huckabee pulled this off based on his performance last night, but since money is such a huge factor, I’ll pull hard for him to be the VP.

1. Mitt Romney – Yeah, hands down he won. It’s funny because yesterday I talked to someone who was a big fan of his and he told me to give him a fair shake and I did. Wow, was he impressive. Extremely articulate and has an awesome presence on the camera. There is no doubt he’s crush Hillary RODHAM Clinton in a debate as he is very fluid and seems to be speaking from the top his head with pure ease. He promised to Veto overspending, pointing out he did that very often in Massachusetts. He came out as very much opposed to anti-cloning and seemed way ahead of everyone in the room including Matthews who tried to trip him up over the stem cell issue and was almost confused when Romney started to talk about nuclear technology to create additional stem cells. This was important because it shows he’s up on the issues and technology, something I know the Dems aren’t up on. He also said “The Gang of Three running the war on terror, Clinton, Reid, Pelosi,” would be disastrous. Very True. He also spelled out radical Islam very well by stating their objectives of creating a caliphate, brining down the USA, and that the war is more than just Bin Laden. Going into this debate, I had him fourth or fifth on my candidate list, but he shot up the list real quick. He is very innovative as evidence by how he campaigns (i.e. letting students keep some of the money they raise for his campaign). I’m expecting the MSM to go after the Mormon faith any day now, which of course will just be hypocrisy out the ass because supposedly Dems favor Freedom of Religion, which of course they don’t. Hands down the most impressive person on stage.

Overall, I’m getting a bit more excited about our candidates. After having watched the debacle that was the Democrat’s debate, you can see how much stronger our candidates are. They fielded questions they were not prepped on, had questions come in from ordinary citizens, and were not over coached, as were the Democratic counterparts. The advantage of this debate, run by a hard liberal network, is that now they will all have the experience of being asked stupid, moonbat questions right out of the gate and will be better apt as far as what to expect. Another advantage will come when the eventual winner gets into the Town Hall Debates with the Dem candidate. After watching tonight, I’m convinced that if someone from this field wins the nomination (Fred Thompson will be a top 3 candidate when he announces) it will be Giuliani or Romney. They did no harm to themselves, and gave some excellent answers. McCain may have royally screwed himself by being so angry and throwing some quotes out that may burn him badly. All in all, a good night.