GOP debate thread

This could be an interesting event depending on the amount of questions they direct at Huckabee and Paul. We all know Huck plays these things well with his quick wit, while Paul is a nut just waiting to crack if they'd only give him the floor for more than a minute or two.

An aside--I caught a few minutes of Rush's show today (he seemed to be backtracking and defensive with a few guests who thought he had given up) but the bigger surprise was a Ron Paul commercial in one of his breaks. Interesting.

HERE GOES NOTHING

Well, got in 30 minutes late (life beckons, sometimes). Already it's apparent that Paul was incorrectly seated next to McCain, who might end up throttling him by the end of the proceedings..

POPULIST PUNISHER

Mac wants to punish people on Wall Street for the sub-prime crisis. What does that mean, exactly?

SPENDING

Mac hearkened back to his old bailiwick, cutting spending, yet he's been in Congress about 400 years and has never seen any spending cut significantly. How does he figure to do it?

BORDER/IMMIGRATION

Huck is seemingly equivocating on this, talking about a fence, then being compassionate, then dignity, then enforcement. Mitt was nailed on a comment he made about deporting people within 90 days, to which he dropped back to talking points. His plan is rather grandiose, though, using arbitrary numbers that could produce chaos. Then he deflects by nailing McAmnesty's Z visa proposal. And he says it all with a smile! Mac says the American people didn't trust them with his bill, yet he's got open borders Juan on his advisory team.

GOP DEMISE, BUSH'S FAULT?

Mitt--the GOP has gone down, but Bush has kept us safe and made the right statement on winning in Iraq and made a pitch to Reagan Republicans.

IRAQ

Mitt--hit a double on the softball lobbed to him about the timetable charge because he idled on too long. McCain's reply? Scorched earth. Of course Mitt's a liar (well, he didn't say liar). But none of this really amounts to a hill of beans.

RON! PAUL!

At least he nailed the "hill of beans" exchange for what it was. But now he's prattling into his stock Democrat talking points which include nothing about long-term consequences of leaving. Which were handled by Huck. Where have we seen this before?

PUTEY POOT

Mitt just exposed the four strategies for world domination in play right now that included Russia, Chiner, AQ and us. Interesting. Not sure I've heard anyone say that aloud before. Mac then chimed in and belted him with the timetable thing again, which caused Mitt to talk to himself. McCain's language, body language and eye movements are all reflective of a heavyweight fighter going for the knockout.

THE END OF THE TABLE

Paul just nailed the fact that presidents are (not) CIC of the economy or people--people should be free. Then he went right back into his Democrat talking points. Huck is rambling too long, groping for time. He was asked about his qualifications as CIC and his answer was something about being a governor.

THE BIG R ENDORSEMENT

Would Reagan love the candidates? Mitt says yes. I can predict Paul's response--"Reagan would never have gone to Iraq, he bailed out of Lebanon". I posting this now..

Surprise, he talked about the gold standard instead. Huck answered correctly, but geez, I sure miss some of Fred Thompson's short quick answers. All these guys are ramblers. And none of them are really stand-out impressive. McCain didn't do any damage to himself and may have done some to Mitt. Terminator endorses Mac. This may be over, folks.