The verdict: indigestion with a rough case of the runs.
I heard that Tom Tancredo attacked Sam Brownback’s mother for being in a union and a postal worker. I’m going to have to check the tape on that one. A reader comments:
“What’s the worst threat to our long-term economic security?”
Romney: “Our sense of optimism.” – WHAT????
Brownback: “The breakdown of the family.” – WHAT????
Halloween may be on the horizon, but no horror flick is more scary than the thought of any one of these people on that stage as president.
Reactions to the GOP debate are already springing up in the blogosphere.
Matthew Yglesias, “Best Debate Yet”
We learned nothing new about the candidates during this debate, but it was a lot funnier than any of the previous Republican or Democratic debates. The candidates seem to have gotten some good joke-writers or something. The best part was when Romney said something like “this campaign is a lot like Law & Order — it’s got a huge cast, it seems to go on forever, and Fred Thompson shows up at the end” and then Thompson fired back: “I thought I was gonna be the best actor on this stage.” Laughs all around. Plus: I agree with both of them, Thompson is an empty suit and Romney is a pathetic liar.
Andrew Sullivan, “Romney vs Paul”
This line about whether the president can go to war without Congressional approval is not likely to win over the bomb-and-torture-’em-first-ask-questions-later base:
“We’re going to let the lawyers sort out what he needed to do and didn’t need to do.”
Paul’s response won applause:
“This idea of going and talking to attorneys totally baffles me. You’re not allowed to go to war without a declaration of war. It’s in the constitution. This is just war propaganda … preparing the nation to go to the war not only into Iraq but also into Iran.”
But we’re at war, Congressman. Haven’t you got the GOP memo that in wartime, i.e. for ever, the president is the constitution?
Oliver Willis, “Shorter Republican Debate”
“I can beat Hillary!”
“No, I can beat Hillary”
“Snooze.” (Fred Thompson)
“The Iraq War is a fraud.” (Ron Paul)
“Close the border!” (Tom Tancredo)
“I can beat Hillary Clinton!”Hillary Clinton: I’m in yer polls, beatin’ all you Republicans.
Scroll through Ken Layne’s liveblogging of the debate at Wonkette. (Apparently, Richard Nixon didn’t like FDT’s performance tonight.)
Watch the replay on MSNBC at 9pm E/6pm P.
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Okay, full disclosure: I want Thompson to win this thing because I think he would get absolutely chewed up in the general. I don’t even think he could beat Gravel. Anyway, a little trolling on RedState suggests that people on the right are feeling re-assured, if not blown away, by his performance. He didn’t fall asleep, he looked presidential, and he stood up to Chris Matthews, which takes strength and courage since Chris Matthews can be super-mean, especially to the poor little Republicans. His strategy is obviously to keep his head down and put in a minimally competent performance in the next few months so he can exceed expectations in IA and NH then ride the favourite son thing to a win in SC and then to a southern sweep, which will give him enough delegates to edge out Rudy. It’s so crazy it just might work.
Left by The Sleep Thief
October 9, 2007 at 8:46pm