Thoughts on the First Republican Debate

Marie offers her Two Cents with:

I got this in the mail this morning.

Yesterday, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani continued their partisan bickering, this time over things like the constitutionality of the line item veto. While they played politics, Fred Thompson rose above it and took his conservative, small government, tax cutting message straight to the American people.

He talked directly to the American people about keeping more of what they earn. He talked truth about entitlements. He talked about keeping America safe. He made it known that when it comes to our national security, it won’t be his attorneys that Fred Thompson will first sit down with, it will be his generals.

Overall, he showed the courage and honesty to address the nation’s real problems, and the leadership to solve them. Fred Thompson may have been standing between Romney and Rudy, but he stood far above both of them.
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Fred was great for his first debate. I think Fred is going to do fabulous. My faith lies in Fred :-)

While Doug at Political Pistachio states:

The hope for a Red November is little more than a year from now, and the first debate to include Fred Thompson aired last night. Granted, I wasn't sure if having Chris Matthews as moderator was a good thing, but MSNBC hosting the debate showed that the Republican Party is not afraid of fielding questions from the Liberal Left. In fact, a number of the Republican Candidates have come on as guests on many of the left leaning news channels. Rarely, however, do you see the Democrats willing to come on shows like Bill O'Reilly's, Sean Hannity's, or Brit Hume's.

Anyhow, watching the debate what I saw was a bunch of politicians acting like politicians. There were a few high spots and low spots, but ultimately, none of the candidates impressed me much.

And Guess what? The Media acted like the Media as well. The questions were often loaded.

But the two big stories are about Romney and Thompson.

According to Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney made a big mistake during the debate. Romney stated that he would consult lawyers before taking military action on Iran.

According to Fox News: “I can’t imagine John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis … saying ‘I will check with lawyers,’” Giuliani said at an editorial board meeting with FOX News Channel in Washington, D.C. “It was one of those moments" when the candidate immediately wants to cover his mouth.

And how did Fred Thompson do in his first debate (better late than never, I guess)?

Well, he stood there mostly, and watched the pros go about their business. He watched Rudy and Romney spar back and forth, probably learned a bit from Huckabee's one liners, perhaps picked up a few pointers from Tancredo's strong position on immigration, and marveled at the intelligence that Duncan Hunter exudes. But for the most part, it seemed like Thompson was unprepared, although he did hold his own on substantive exchanges over the economy and foreign policy. Was he as bad on stage as Britney Spears at the MTV Movie Awards? Hardly. Perhaps he just needs a little more practice to keep from dropping that low.

So who won my vote last night?

The independent candidates.