Some Thoughts on the CNN/YouTube Republican Presidential Debate

All I can say after watching the Republican Presidential Debate last night is I am glad I am a Democrat.

CNN started out the Debate with YouTube questions pertaining to illegal immigration, an issue they knew was sure to light up emotions and they were right. The first exchange was between Governor Mitt Romney (Mass) and Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Romney began with accusing Giuliani of supporting safe haven for illegal immigrants and Giuliani firing back about how Romney had hired illegal immigrants to work on his home.

After a continued exchange between the two, the other candidates took turns talking about how tough they would be on immigration. This exchange set the tone for the rest of the debate as the candidates did their best at being able to say "I got you" to each other.

I will not be voting for any of them but I would say that Governor Mike Huckabee had the best night of all of them and utilized several good one-liners for laughs. Whether it was being for getting rid of the IRS, or welcoming support from the Log Cabin Republicans even though he opposed same-sex marriages, he came across as genuine. One of the good one-liners was a response to a YouTube question concerning what Jesus would do concerning the death penalty with Huckabee saying that Jesus was too smart to run for public office. Another was in response to supporting putting a man on Mars by 2020 and while he did not directly answer the question he did say he would put Hillary (Sen. Clinton) on the first spaceship to Mars.

Governor Mitt Romney just came across as totally plastic and continued the Republican candidates practice of ignoring President George W. Bush and instead spoke about his commonality with former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Senator John McCain looked tired and his continued support of the war in Iraq seemed to also be wearing thin among Republicans. Senator Fred Thompson scored some early points with some strong language on immigration but faded after that answer. All of the candidates were able to show a campaign video and his video was the only one that attacked other Republican candidates with taped "I got you statements" of what they had said at some point in their political careers. This video received a negative reaction from the audience.

The rest of the candidates did not receive much attention although congressman Ron Paul did get audience reaction when he spoke of bringing the troops home from Iraq now. His populist approach is appealing to some and his campaign is doing extremely well in fund-raising online, raising 4.3 million in one day.

An interesting question asked by Anderson Cooper to Giuliani concerned a report by Politico (their link is on the right hand margin under Media on our Home Page) concerning security provided to him, his girl friend and his wife when he was Mayor and improper accounting of the expense to taxpayers. Giuliani denied any wrong doing here and was not asked any additional follow up questions. More will come out on this so stay tuned to this story.