I'm a little late on this because my ISP went down this evening. I wanted to save the rest of you from wasting your time watching. As for the actual "debate", we learned that each candidate is against high taxes, government waste, unfair trade and for energy independence. We learned that Giuliani took a lawsuit to the Supreme court to overturn the line item veto. Romney called him out for it, and Rudy countered that he had beaten Bill Clinton in the case. He still thinks any line item veto is unconstitutional unless in a constitutional amendment. Ron Paul, not surprisingly, was the only candidate with a real plan to save money. He pointed out that wars are expensive. The rest of his comments consisted of rambling diatribes against central banking, unsound money and living beyond your means or living beneath your means. I was a little confused on that last point. In fairness, Tom Tancredo also would save money by stopping illegal immigration, which is a huge net drain on us. Romney came out against government subsidies, except for agriculture, science, R&D, education, health insurance and energy independence. I'm not sure what would be left, but he is against it. John McCain, whatever his other faults, does have some credibility on wasteful spending. He has never made a dent in it in his long Senate career, but he has annoyed a few people. Fred Thompson made his inaugural appearance. I thought he did ok. He mentioned that social security and medicare could be problems, which seemed to make the other candidates uncomfortable. Nervous references to the third rail. In the all important hair contest, Romney clearly won. His hair is simply outstanding, anchorman quality really. Dark but with hints of grey around the temples to lend him gravitas. This is what a well-done dye job looks like. By contrast, Sam Brownback looked like someone who had loaded up on Grecian Formula. For some reason Huckabee makes me uncomfortable, so I am giving him low hair marks too. Thompson only has a few strands left on top, but he had them slicked back smartly. Thompson also stands head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Literally. He is a big man and made the rest of them look like midgets. This could be very crucial as, with the obvious exception of President Bush, the taller candidate almost invariably wins.
I saw that CNN was attacking Thompson's performance. I guess that means he is the candidate Hillary fears the most. Look for a full court press by the mainstream media to knock him out right now before he can get sorted out.
LOL. CNN attacking Thompson's performance? How about Nixon attacking Thompson's intelligence: May 1973 recording: "He's talking to Fred Thompson. I said you're not --," Haig begins. "Oh sh--, he's dumb as hell. Fred Thompson," Nixon interjects. In another conversation some weeks later, Nixon and his advisers were still describing Thompson as not very smart but at least beginning to play ball. "Our approach is now, we've got a pretty good rapport with Fred Thompson. He came through fine for us this morning," White House counsel Fred Buzhardt says on a tape from June 6. "He isn't very smart, is he?" Nixon asks. "Not extremely so, but --," Buzhardt says, interrupted by the president. "But he's friendly," Nixon says. "But he's, he's friendly," Buzhardt echoes. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/nixon-on-thomps.html
I only seen a few highlights, but of what I did see, Fred was by far the better comedian. and I thought I would be the best actor here.