For those who missed last nights debates, let me tell you it was certainly the most entertaining debate of either party thus far. Although later in the night Jay Leno proclaimed Fred Thompson to be the winner of the debate (because he chose to be on the Tonight Show rather than attend the debate), the true winner of the debate is hard to pinpoint.

Rudy Giuliani who was the unquestioned front runner coming into the debate will most likely lose a little ground, not only because of the entry of Fred Thompson into the race, but because of his lackluster answers. When questioned about family values, an obvious reference to his 3 marriages, Giuliani sidestepped the issue and talked about his performance as mayor of New York. He did not appear to have the same energy he had in previous debates, and his answers were very redundant. All in all I would grade his performance a D+, and that is being generous.

John McCain who has been running third or fourth in most polls certainly should gain some ground after last nights performance. On several occasions other candidates quoted him in their answers. Giuliani reminded everyone that if he were not running he would be supporting McCain, and Huckabee praised him for his honor. McCain’s answers were straight forward and concise, and he left me with the immpression he may be softening on the immigration position which was his major weakness coming into the night. I would give him an A- for his performance and would be very surprised to see him not doing better in the upcoming polls.

My personal choice for winner of the debate would have to be Mike Huckabee. Although I do not believe he has much of a chance of receiving the nomination, in my opinion he stood out from the crowd by talking about the Fair Tax as well as his exchange with Ron Paul which you can watch here: Huckabee Vs. Ron Paul On Surge

PAUL: The American people didn’t go in, a few people advising this administration, a small numbered of people called the “neo-conservatives” hijacked our foreign policy. They’re responsible, not the American people. They’re not responsible, we shouldn’t punish them!

HUCKABEE: Congressman, we are one nation. We can’t be divided. … We make a mistake, we make it as a single country, the United States of America, no not the divided states of America.

*******
PAUL: No, we’ve dug a hole for ourselves and for our party. We’re losing elections and we’re going down next year if we don’t change it. It has all to do with foreign policy and we have to wake up to this fact.

HUCKABEE: Even if we lose elections we should not lose our honor and that is more important than the Republican party.

Ron Paul once again demonstrated he has no place in a Republican debate when he referenced that “We’re losing elections and we’re going down next year if we don’t change it”, and Huckabee answered him perfectly. Republicans should not be pandering to the people in an effort to gain votes, that’s the Democrats job, Republicans are expected to be straight forward in their beliefs even if it costs them votes (it’s a shame more of them aren’t).

For the record, I like Ron Paul on certain domestic issues, I have read most of the speeches he has given in Congress throughout his career and respect that he is a strict Constitutionalist. My issue with his candidacy for President was once again magnified during the debate when he referenced that we were attacked because of our foreign policy. It is scary to imagine a President dictating his foreign policy based on threats from terrorist groups as opposed to what he feels is in this best interests of his Country.

The idea that he wishes to do away with the CIA and FBI is also alarming, and he uses the excuse that they were not able to prevent the attacks on 9/11. What he fails to realize is that those 2 groups have most likely prevented countless other attacks from occurring.

This was without a doubt the best debate this year, and a reminder as to why the Democrats refused to have a debate on Fox News. Each candidate was asked tough questions, from Romney employing an illegal alien, to Giuliani and his 1994 quote about NYC welcoming illegal’s. I can only hope the next Democratic debate features the same tough questions.

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Election 2008