Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #4 - Des Moines, IA 08/05/07 - Official Discussion Thread

ABC

[mainepatsfan]

I’ll settle for lower rates.

[Son House]

Hunter, Julliane, Thompson, McCain(of course, he would have to veto porky bills, as he said) would be my choices, that order.

[Son House]

Brownback, flat tax, put optional flat tax in tax code,

Only if the said tax payer voted for a candidate that would support that,

meaning voting Democrat will gaurentee higher tax rates.

[barnicus]

Therein lies why Fred might be the candidate. He’s got his wits about him to know that being in this “debate” should be a disqualifier for the conservative base to vote for you. This is not a debate, it’s a beauty pageant.

[Son House]

It would be so much easier to just ask the same questions they asked the RATS.

This way America really can compare and contrast all the candidates.

Great point, I’d like to see Democrats drilled on abortion issues.

[George W. Bush]

• Romney the frontrunner, clearly targeted by Stephi using Brownback's ads as proxy, deflected well. Romney got a great line in bashing Obama, made a challenge to RP's foreign policy ("What about 9/11?").
• McCain did well enough, conventional Republican policies, maybe a little closer to the Maverick he used to play.
• Julie-Annie did pretty well in the debate overall. He did take a few abortion/sodomy hits, otherwise emphasized governance and defense issues. I hate to say it but he did well for himself overall.
• Huckabee did well enough, steady performer, but I don't see him helping his standing much today.
• Senator Switchback's attack calls on Romney's changed abortion position) was hard-hitting initially but but I think Mitt deflected it reasonably well. Switchback went pro-life and whole-life. His foreign policy on a three-state solution and the failure of the Iraqi legislature was well-taken but countered by someone else pointing out that a federalism solution utilizing the 21 subdivisions of Iraq ("states") was the right solution.
• Duncan Hunter did pretty well on defense but like Huckabee didn't really help himself.
• Tommy Thompson didn't do well overall but had a few moments.
• Tancredo was okay but made no headway. He defended his nuke-Mecca policy and pounded the State Department, then got pounded by other candidates (Thompson, I think).
• I was disappointed with Ron Paul's performance. You can't turn a policy forum into a constitutional debate.

Strongest performers: Giuliani and Romney, possibly McStain

Weakest performers: everybody else.

[tlj18]

It’s kind of hard to get the political “pulse” without access to TV or radio, but I would say that it being still very early in the political season, and with something like 15-20 candidates in the mix (though half of them have practically no chance of winning anything), makes it kind of boring. The only two candidates that would want to vote for out of all of them is Duncan Hunter (but he has little chance of winning) and Fred Thompson (but he may sink before he starts sailing, and he may also not be as conservative as people think).

[Carry_Okie]

It a waste of time ever trying to placate this “My way our the highway” mindset of the Dinocons.. They have ZERO loyalty to anything.

It was the "Dinocons" who supported Nixon but were abandoned by the RINOs when Goldwater was the GOP nominee. It was the "Dinocons" who gave us Reagan, despite RINO objections that he was "unelectable." After Reagan's success, Bush I was such a wondrous moderate he couldn't get re-elected even with the fall of the Soviet Union and GW-I. After only two years of Clinton, a conservative charge took Congress. In response to that success, the RINOs offered Dole... After eight years of Clinton, the GOP abandoned "unelectable" conservatives for Bush II "because he can win. " Bush's squishy conservatism and "bipartisanship" have since empowered the Democrats, leaving the GOP in nearly total disarray despite the continuing outrage of public treason from the Democrats.

After successful Republican conservative governors in California (Reagan and Deukmejian), the RINOs proffered Wilson, who absolutely stiffed any conservative downticket GOP nominee and destroyed the local party infrastructure by turning the ground game into a feeding frenzy of mediot consultants. The "Dinocons" bailed out Pete Wilson anyway, and then got screwed by the RINOs when Bill Simon was the Party nominee. So when the "Dinocons" backed Schwarzenegger, what did he do? Well, he allied himself with the Democrats and withdrew ALL party support from the down-ticket Republican nominees.

See a pattern? We're tired of your BS.

[George W. Bush]

See my #146. The Big Three remain the Big Three.

Overall, ABC is obviously narrowing the focus to the Big Three, anticipating excluding the other candidates. You could see it in how much time allocated, where they placed them on the stage, the little mini-debate over Obama's remarks between Julie/Romney, etc.

RP's best moment was in speaking against Wilsonian intervention and talking about threatening Pakistan and Iran, that he supporting going after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan but objected to the neocons expanding to attack Iraq, forgetting about Osama. Good applause line. In truth, Ron Paul didn't get any more time than the other second-tier, if even as much.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Tommy Thompson has a plan.

[Beagle8U]

“Juliannne; restore hope, show experience”

His first words in his answer to what he would do was...”Exactly what I did in NYC”...bla bla.

No thanks Rooty, go back to NYC.

[steveegg]

Can you make him morph from Strangelove to Fonda :-)

No Photoshop here to do that.

[rineaux]

Thank you. Appreciate your updates. Read your 146. I just can’t believe Julie is doing well. Sorry to read about RP not having a good morning.

[Sun]

While the ABC poll (below) is unscientific, Duncan Hunter tied John McCain in the debate, and Hunter got FAR less time than McCain, but I was not able to see the entire debate, so correct me if I’m wrong. I think Hunter is starting to catch on.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/popup?id=3436272

Also, all the candidates didn’t have the benefit of Ron Paul’s spammers, probably college kids with a lot of time on their hands, and Geroge Soros’ spammers.

[JCEccles]

Tommy Thompson has a plan.

While the other Thompson has a nap.

Frail, elderly codgers like Fred need all the rest they can get.

[steveegg]

That someone else was Tommy “The Other” Thompson (you also got the “I think” on hammering the Tanc on his nuke-Mecca policy right as well).

[George W. Bush]

While the other Thompson has a nap.

Might have been a better use of Fred's time. LOL. I wish I would have had a nap rather than let Stephie suck out an hour of my life with it.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Frail, elderly codgers like Fred need all the rest they can get.

Like when Ronaldo Magnus was elected?

[George W. Bush]

Read your 146. I just can’t believe Julie is doing well.

I pointed out months ago many times that, in the end, the only way to stop Giuliani is to unite behind Mitt or possibly Fred. I think McStain has worn out his maverick trick and missed his chance in 2000.

I admit, the prospect is not attractive. At all.

[billbears]

Not watching the debates because frankly they're getting ridiculous. Did hear Dr. Paul's 'just come home' and the applause. I'll agree his problem is he's trying to teach the Constitution to masses that don't understand it in a forum that it doesn't work in. But I think there's something you may be missing. His supporters are coming out and off the internet. Look at some of his recent campaign stops since the St. Rudy flareup in May. And applause for 'just come home'?

You're right, this type of forum doesn't work well for him. But the message is still getting out. And being accepted by a growing number of supporters. At the very least there is now a middle tier. Romney, Giuliani in the top, Rep. Paul and McCain (with McCain getting ready to fall out) in the middle, and the rest in the third tier. As for Fred coming in, it may be too late.