The Republican Presidential Debate

The first debate on MSNBC was an artistic failure. Chris Matthews' style on his Hardball show is almost too boring to watch. He brought that style to the first debate and it was awkward to say the least. Besides that his questions were very poor. The second debate on Tuesday night was telecast on Fox News and I think Brit Hume, Chris Wallace and Wendell Gohler did a great job in presenting questions and scenarios that gave the candidates the time and the opportunity to express their views clearly.

I disagree with the pundits who say that the Republican base is unhappy with the group of candidates before us. They are constantly pointing to Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich as examples of that discontent. Actually I'm impressed with all the candidates and have enjoyed their points of view. That being said I'll remove four of them from my presidential list:
1. Tommy Thompson is an impressive guy. He's done a great job as governor of Wisconsin as well as a cabinet secretary. Unfortunately he just does not appear presidential and comes off as somewhat inarticulate. I like him but he's out of here.
2. Jim Gilmore is more articulate and certainly has great credentials as governor of Virginia and head of the Republican Party. He's a true conservative but there's something about him that makes me think he just can't be elected.
3. Ron Paul is a true libertarian. I'm a libertarian! While I agree with many of the things he says in terms of restricting government intrusion into our lives he like all libertarians is too far out of the mainstream to be elected.
4. Tom Trancredo has a lot of good things to say especially on the immigration issue. He to comes across as a true conservative on virtually every issue that I care about. Unless something totally off the wall happens I can't see him as being electable.

That leaves what I consider to be the top six:
1. Rudy Giuliani is growing on me. I could vote for him and I think he would make a very strong leader. I'm willing to look past his mistakes on the Second Amendment and abortion. I've learned the hard way that one or two issue voters can be a problem in an election. My vote for Ross Perot taught me never to waste my vote again. I've watched Rudy on a number of interview shows recently and I've been very impressed with the way he's rebounded from his abortion gaffe during the last debate (which I like to call the Chris Matthews debacle). There’s something about Giuliani that makes me believe he can appeal to a broad spectrum in the general election and for that reason I think he may be our best shot at beating Hillary or another Democratic nominee. There is no question that he'd be a leader we could follow in the war against Muslim lunatics.
2. John McCain is pretty impressive too. I've also been watching him on a number of interview shows and he’s handled himself well. He presents himself as the best choice for leading us in war and I think he may be right there. Let's face it the guys been there served with distinction and is a hero. You got to give McCain another thing-- he sticks to his guns. Examples -- torture, campaign finance reform, immigration etc. I don't agree with him especially on immigration and to me that's one of the biggest issues of our time after the war. Still, I believe he can beat Hillary, he'd be a great war leader and he has good sense when it comes to budgets, government spending and taxes.
3. Mitt Romney impresses me. Perhaps more than any other candidate he exhibits true leadership qualities. If you think running the government is a challenge that needs a hands- on manager then Mitt's the man. He's a self-made millionaire, he's run the Olympics in grand fashion and he's been a successful governor in Massachusetts one of the most liberal bastions in the US (just about on a par with New Jersey and Maryland). The pundits keep harping on his policy view changes to the point where my anger rises from time to time. We all change our minds and I'm glad he's changing his mind in my direction in virtually every case. I could vote for Mitt but I'm not sure if the country will vote for a Mormon as our president and that's a problem.
4. Sam Brownback could be a sleeper. He's a true conservative. I trust him (after all he's a good Catholic!). I agree with virtually every view he has articulated. While he is not a top-tier candidate and does not enjoy the broad name recognition I think he may be able to overcome that in the general election. The last time we ran a guy from Kansas it was a disaster but he was past his prime. Brownback might not be the comedian that Dole is but I believe he can do the job. I doubt he'll get the nomination but I hope he finds a job at the cabinet level in a new Republican administration.
5. Duncan Hunter is another true conservative with impeccable defense credentials. He's already shown leadership on the immigration issue and I believe he has a good presence. His problem is name recognition but I think he may be able to overcome that. Again I doubt he'll get the nomination but he’d be a great secretary of defense or homeland security.
6. Mike Huckabee -- I love this guy, I trust this guy. He may end up being a real sleeper in this race. He's a true conservative and a very principled man. The fact that he's a Baptist minister would be a great help with our friends on the religious right and would really get under the crawl of the liberal secular democrats. Perhaps the best line in the debate last night was delivered by Governor Huckabee when he said "the government is spending money like John Edwards in a beauty shop".

The challenge for Republicans in the general election is that the party when it had control of the executive branch and the legislative branch totally botched the opportunity. The only possible salvation for the Republican Party in the general election is that the Democrats are even worse. I've seen the latest poll numbers that indicate an approval rating of 27% for Congress versus 33% for president Bush. WOW! It's hard to believe that some one or some group of people could be doing a worse job than George W. Bush, but the Democratic Congress is. One of the candidates in the debate last night I think it may have been McCain said "the Republicans came to Congress to change government and instead government changed us". How sad. How true. Rick