Dave Barry's take on the ABC News debate

Don't think that Gibson would make a good president but I do agree with him that the candidates were pretty testy:

But those who watched the debates saw history in the making, as it became clear, over the course of the evening, that one person, and one person only, embodies the wisdom, the judgment, the maturity and -- yes -- the simple humanity that this nation desperately needs in its next president: Charlie Gibson.

Unfortunately he can't afford the pay cut. This means we're stuck with the actual candidates, who, as I say, are in a testy mood, as was evidenced in the Republican debate when John McCain and Mike Huckabee, during a particularly testy exchange over illegal immigration, gave Mitt Romney a wedgie. The Democrats, meanwhile, continued their ongoing obsessive argument about change -- who is the most for change; who has done the most changing; who can change with the changing times to bring change to those who need a change; who has taken the time, with all this tromping around New Hampshire night and day demanding change, to change their underwear; etc.

BTW, go check out Dennis Kucinich leer.

These people deserve President Obama

Are these people really Republicans or paid Democrat workers infiltrating the Frank Luntz focus groups? Because I can't believe anyone who is called "savvy and sophistic" would say that Romney was authentic and would dismiss Thompson (Romney is lying about his support of the Bush tax cuts). Thompson is the elder statesman of the group, he's the only one who is actually talking policy and he doesn't have to hide his record from the American people. If these "Republican" voters were as sophisticated as they think they are, then they would realize that.

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Livingblogging the Republican Fox News Debate

I fell asleep during Thompson's explanation of his SS plan.

Update: Not liking this format -- Thompson doesn't get to talk enough.

Updated again: Change theme again! McCain seems to using Clinton's argument. He's a change agent in Washington.

Update: this debate is so dull!!! I think Gibson did a much better job.

Updated for the last time: This is turning into a Romeny/McCain debate and I'm bored. I'm not interested in a Romney infomercial. Off to watch the Amazing Race.

Video: A teaching moment during the Republican NH debate

Thompson teaches Giuliani what the word "amnesty" means. I hope McCain was listening.

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Video: All of the presidential candidates on the stage in NH

They should do this every presidential election :-)

Link: sevenload.com

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Some thoughts on the Republican Debate

I liked the format, though I wasn't too thrilled with some of the questions and how long they stuck with the questions. The first two were really good but the one on healthcare was a waste of time except for this exchange:

Romney: "I like mandates."
Thompson: "I didn't think you were going to admit that."

Thompson also had the best response on illegal immigration: “attrition through enforcement.” That makes the most sense, if illegals can't get jobs, they'll leave. We don't have to round up anyone, they'll leave on their own. We also should make it easier to get into this country legally -- that would also help.

I liked the format, I liked that they could respond to each other. I thought Thompson came across as wise, an elder statesman who knew what he was talking about. Romney came across as thin-skinned and a politician making a stump speech. McCain came across as snippy and a smart aleck and he reminded me again why I don't want him to win. He still doesn't get why everyone but him realizes that he's talking about amnesty. Huckabee came across as subdued and uninspired. He stumbled in his response to the bunker mentality question and he didn't seem to say anything substantive the rest of the debate. No little quips or good humor. Did someone tell him that he couldn't use metaphors during his responses and that he had to be serious and humorless? Rudy almost made me want to vote for him -- he's a very persuasive politician. I can see why he's doing so well. But policy trumps persuasion as far as I'm concerned, that's why I support Thompson. He's good on policy as anyone who was paying attention could see.

And I really did like the end of the debate when Charlie Gibbson brought everyone on stage. It reminds you want is so great about this country, that we will be able to change government without blood shed. That we can be civil to each other. We have our differences but in the end we can still shake hands and let the best man win (hehe). But this is pretty funny.

I'll put up video when I find it.

Marc Ambinder on the debate:

On points, Fred Thompson won the debate.

Every answer was thoughtful and well-crafted; his tone matched the tone of the question; he wisely refrained from interjecting in the back and forth squabbling. He very deftly reminded viewers that he served on key Senate national security panels and is bringing his experience to bear. Even his insults were subtly and gently constructed In some ways, Thompson did McCain’s bidding. You skeptical readers can tell me that if Thompson had finished a solid fourth in Iowa, I might not be writing about Thompson at all, that said, he's still a candidate, and his performance tonight tells me his mind is not elsewhere.

I agree but I could be biased :-)

He also said this:

He and McCain sound like the adults on stage. Thompson is excelling on policy and style... McCain is even and cool-tempered... both doing what they need to do.

A whole bunch of people did a better job than I did liveblogging the debate. (How do they do it? I was trying to listen to everyone, when did they find time to type? :-) Here are some of them:

Sean Hackbarth at Fred Thompson's campaign blog.
Michelle Malkin
Political Radar which appears to be more process than content.
Jim Geraghty

Why couldn't our people get the nuke question?

I'm listening to the Democrat debate and what the heck is it that we get the healthcare question and they get the nuke question???

Update: Oh good! They're asking about entitlements.

Attention all you undecideds in the Manchester, NH area

You are invited to a Debate Watching Party at Thompson's headquarters:

When
Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 7:30 PM

Where
Fred08 NH Headquarters
23 West Webster St.
Manchester , NH 03104
(603) 669-0239

Who should come
Anyone who wants to watch Fred knock-em dead in the debate. Undecided voters are welcome. Fred supporters can come by to pick up signs and stickers.

The NH Republicans say there is a debate scheduled for Jan 6

And Ron Paul is still not invited according to WorldNetDaily:

Contrary to earlier reports, the Fox News Channel is hosting a Republican presidential candidate forum in New Hampshire, and, so far, Rep. Ron Paul has not been invited.

WND previously reported the event was canceled three weeks ago, but New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen confirmed today the forum is scheduled for Jan. 6.

The New Hampshire GOP is co-sponsoring the event, to be held at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, N.H., just two days before the crucial primary.

Candidates who have received invitations are former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

I wish they would make up their mind since all this back and forth is confusing to this poor blogger and to the many Paulians who have to plan their boycott of Fox News.

Nurse Ratched Parody

Lampooning the Republican debate moderator here. Pretty scary stuff!

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Fred Thompson would not show his hand!

On a question on global warming. Good for him! Don't let that reporter push you around.

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Chris Dodd summits a question to the CNN/YouTube GOP Debate

Oh. My. Heck! I guess he's not getting enough attention from the press or during his own debate, so he has to interject himself into the Republican debate. Maybe McCain should submit a question:

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Maureen Dowd: "Rudy will not be so easy to spank"

And neither will any of the other Republican candidates. Clinton isn't being well served by everyone rolling over and playing dead. She can turn her opponents into blithering idiots by her icy demeanor but she won't be able to do that to our candidate. She may have the moderator trained to follow her lead (Blitzer was more like a toy poodle than a Wolf) and go easy on her but our candidates won't. She can't intimidate them because they know that there is too much at stake, obviously her Democrat opponents don't get that:

She has continued to flick the whip in debates. She usually ignores Obama and John Edwards backstage, preferring to chat with the so-called second-tier candidates. And she often looks so unapproachable while they’re setting up on stage that Obama seems hesitant to be the first to say hi.

[...]

Other guys, like Rudy, wouldn’t even be looking for a chance to greet Hillary, as Obama always does. Other guys, like Rudy, wouldn’t care if she iced them.

But she can tell that Obama does care, that he doesn’t want her to not like him or be mad at him, that he responds to the sort of belittling treatment that she sometimes dished out to her husband and his male aides at the White House, yelling at them and calling them wimps if they disappointed her.

[...]

When Hillary walked onstage Thursday, Obama stood to her left waiting to shake hands and say hi, as he and Edwards had done with Chris Dodd. She turned her body away, refused to meet his eyes and froze him out. Again. And he looked taken aback. Again.

For the rest of the night she owned him. He was so off his game that he duplicated her dithering performance from the last debate on the issue of whether illegal immigrants should get driver’s licenses. After a tortured exchange with Wolf Blitzer, he ended up saying he favored it — one more sign that the law professor is oblivious to the visceral nature of campaigns.

Hillary brazenly leapt away from that politically devastating position and said she didn’t support the licenses anymore. And Obama didn’t even call her out on her third reversal on the matter.

These candidates are giving her a free ride, Wolf Blitzer didn't press her on her long string of flip-flops to the point of making her answer the charge and neither did her opponents. The Republican candidate will point it out that she hasn't explained why she has taken both sides on every major issue. Is this process helping her to prepare to meet the challenge of facing a real opponent who won't roll over and play dead? I don't see how.

Wolf Blitzer "warned" not to pull "a Russert"

According to Drudge:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne Malveaux

Could you imagine if this were a Republican? Sheesh! I would hate to see what they would do to him. Let's see what the MSM say about this. Is the MSM biased? Are they going to ignore the hubris evident in this demand?

Clinton says Russert's question was "breathtakingly misleading"

Was it? The Corner has the answer.

MSNBC: Clinton flip-flops on illegal alien driver's license

It's not flip-flopping, it's nuance! I think it's funny that Dodd's sensible answer caused Clinton to change her answer:

“ This is a privilege,'' Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said. “And look, I'm as forthright and progressive on immigration policy as anyone here, but we're dealing with a serious problem here. We need to have people come forward. The idea that we're going to extend this privilege here of a driver's license, I think, is troublesome. And I think the American people are reacting to it. ''

Clinton attempted to clarify her own response: “I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Gov. Spitzer is trying to do it. And we have failed....

“Wait a minute,'' Dodd interrupted. “No, no, no. You said yes, you thought it made sense to do it.

“No, I didn't, Chris,'' Clinton said. “But the point is, what are we going to do with all these illegal immigrants who are (driving )?''

“Well, that's a legitimate issue,'' Dodd said. “But driver's license goes too far, in my view. ''

“ Well, you may say that,'' Clinton said, “but what is the identification if somebody runs into you today who is an undocumented worker?'

“What Gov. Spitzer has agreed to do is to have three different licenses, one that provides identification for actually going onto airplanes and other kinds of security issues, another which is an ordinary driver's license, and then a special card that identifies the people who would be on the road,'' the senator from New York said.

It certainly sounds like she supports it to me.

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Fred Thompson's Post-Debate Interview

A feisty Fred Thompson!

Republican Debate Video: Who is the most conservative?

Tort reform??? That's what Giuliani comes back against Thompson?

Liveblogging the Debate

Thompson's campaign was liveblogging the debate yesterday and did an excellent job. You might want to check it out the next time the Republicans debate.

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More good reviews for Thompson's debate performance

With the occasional pan.