In fact, here it is on YouTube already.
As for the rest of the debate, and the participants thereof, I agree completely with fellow 'Stump' blogger David Knowles that the format and the moderators were much better. No punches were pulled with the questions.
John McCain: Did better than last time, and seemed a little calmer. No "gates of hell" type references this time. But he did claim to have never supported amnesty, which has a lot of us scratching our heads, remembering an immigration bill with his name on it last year. And the other sponsor was Kennedy. A point other debaters didn't fail to bring up.
Mitt Romney: His slickness didn't come off as well this time. Probably because Rudy and John did better. Didn't hurt himself, but didn't help either. He's stuck near 10% and he needs to break out. I saw nothing here that will help him do that.
Rudy: Much, much better, approaching the type of confidence in these forums that he usually has but did not display in the last debate. Got the best line of the evening in the aforementioned smackdown. Still, when the dust settles, his answers on abortion amounted to I support it, but want to reduce it. Which amounts to the "safe, legal, and rare" rhetoric of all Democrats. Not good, Rudy still has a huge abortion problem that he did not have in March.
The rest: While most did not distinguish themselves very well. Ron Paul is extremely whiny and hard to listen to. Comes off as a hard core libertarian, which I like, but will give hard core libertarianism a bad name, which I don't like. Mike Huckabee got the Edwards line off well with a great response, good for a second tier candidate and everyone will connect that with him, which is PR gold.
But the poll on Instapundit indicates that most of us are waiting for Fred.
Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 4)
46. If you want to know the truth play "Yo Momma" with your competition. John Edwards is so pretty, all the Republicans are attacking him. The gap between poverty and prosperity is growning faster than Hillary's hips. Anyone that still believes race doesn't matter tell them to "Ask Obama and the Secret Service." Who won the Republican debate-Ron Paul. He made news and help Rudy. Hucklebee got "Willie Hortoned." McCain's torture looks to be coming out at the wrong time. Romney flip-flops more than Kerry. Rudy ran New York and he led us through 9-11 and Diallo. The other also rans can't break the ice because the Party is so cold it scares us all. How bad is it for Republicans? Immigration reform is a simple issue and they are blowing it too. Find the friendlies, ship them to the border and build new border cities and a fence, and then unleash the full power of America on those that didn't come forward. Don't mess with Texas? Don't tread on me; America must respect our laws to be free. Democrats won that election because Republicans don't have the "stones" to put America first!
Cecil Jones at 3:34PM on May 16th 2007
47. No doubt most of the commenters here are left wingnuts. You people don't get it. Islam has been at war with the United States since before Jimmy Carter, we have only just begun to fight back. They hate us because their prophet told them to hate and kill all Christians and Jews and the U.S. is a predominantly Christian nation and is really the only one with the power to stand against the insanity of Islam. Paul is a simpering idiot.
Although Tancredo is not electable, he is neither polished nor persuasive, I think he is right on most of his positions. Fundamental Islam is about using hate and violence for political and monetary gain. Mohammed preyed on and eventually murdered his own tribe / clan for power and wealth. We must see Islam for what it is to protect ourselves for it. Islam is not striking back, we are. Paul should be ashamed of himself for blaming us for 9-11.
wiseone1w at 3:35PM on May 16th 2007
48. Wow, it looks like its going to be a landslide victory for Ron Paul to be the Republican Nomination.
All I can say is that the Dems must be really frightened at the thought of Giuliani getting the nomination and denying Hillary her birthright of being elected President. To be loading up this blog with how Ron Paul won the debate.
Ron Paul is a clueless isolationist, that doesn't grasp whom we are fighting. If you look at all the flash points in the world, you will find that radical Islam is involved in most of them. Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir, Darfur, Chechnya, Palestine, Lebanon, Philippines, Southeast Asia and the list goes on.
It is about time we stopped pretending that if only we left them alone, they would leave us alone or trying to fight a war in a Politically Correct manner. Read Thomas Jefferson’s account of fighting Radical Islam when he was President, no matter what we do they are never going to love us: we are infidels. Our problem is that they no longer fear us. That needs to change. It is time to go Roman, it takes 14 years to grow a terrorist. It only takes 14 seconds to kill one! If they can’t wait to see Allah, we should help them.
Joe at 3:48PM on May 16th 2007
49. Wiseone (#s44 & 46),
You fixate on Jerry Falwell-type attacks on Moslems, Jews, African Americans, Latinos, Catholics, etc. I am a Jew (and contrary to Falwell, not the antiChrist), not a Moslem, but I have read (in translation) enough of the Koran to know that reading the Koran is like reading the Torah or the Christian Gospels. Much depends on which passage is quoted, its context, and who translated it.
Please take a closer look. One thing that is clear is that in passages attributed directly to Mohammed, he says some things similar to things our military leaders say in context of war, but outside of that is a strong advocate of live and let live at least among 'peoples of the book' of whom at least Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are specified. Mohammed specifically forbids persecution of these people (though permitting some discriminatory taxation).
Furthermore, until Euro-US invasions and colonization of the area with forced or coerced conversions, for a thousand years religious refugees found secure refuge in Moslem lands while allegedly Christian crusaders ran roughshod with mass killings and torture of any even suspected of 'heresy'!
What is more, the deaths of some 2 to 4 million civilians at the hands of Anglo-American terrorist soldiers over the past decade and a half, as well as the second class status of Moslems in the West, even when as doctors, teachers, scientists and businessmen, they follow all the rules would rile me, too. It did my Dad when he had to overcome the entrenched and often legally enforced 'restrictions' on Jews before WWII and our own struggles made us acceptable to most Americans. It does rile me in the Bush client states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and others where the Bush investment groups use a form of Islam as distorted as 'Moral Majority" 'Christianity', and the militasrist versions of Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Marxism, Shintoism, etc....
Zev Aelony
VeganWolf.blogspot.com
Zev Aelony at 7:07PM on May 16th 2007
50. Wiseone (46),
"Left wingnuts"
Interesting that you identify those you class as 'left' as essential to keeping our industrial society from falling apart.
Again, let us ALL try to discuss issues rather than increasing the forces driving us apart!
Zev Aelony
VeganWolf.blogspot.com
Zev Aelony at 7:18PM on May 16th 2007
51. GOD BLESS RON PAUL !!
RON HAS THEM RUNNING SCARED, BUT MUST SAY...HE HAS THE MEDIA RUNNING SCARED TOO, SHEWW...AMAZING WHAT HONESTY CAN DO TO GREEDY PEOPLE.
WATCHING THE DEBATES LAST NIGHT WAS LIKE WATCHING GROWN CHILDREN IN LA LA LAND. I WAS EMBARRASSED FOR THEM.
DO THEY ALL THINK US AMERICANS ARE GOING TO SIT AROUND AND WATCH THEM PLAY STRATEGO WITH OUR LIVES!
TRUTH IS SO MANY THINGS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED IN THE BEGINNING. WE WOULD NOT EVEN BE DEBATING A WAR, HEALTH CARE, IMMIGRANTS, ETC. OUR LEADERSHIP HAS FAILED US.... YES WE MUST MAKE CHANGES AND DEAL WITH THE CONCERNS OVER THE WAR, (WE DONT HAVE A CHOICE) MISTAKE MADE!
IM TICKLED PINK RON IS **** OFF SO MANY. IT’S ABOUT TIME CHANGES ARE MADE. WE SIT HERE HEARING THE SAME O SAME O WITH OUR COUNTRY ONLY BECOMING DEEPER IN DEBT, OUR CHILDREN BEING RAISED WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS, CHILDREN GOING HUNGRY IN OUR COUNTRY AND MOST ARE WORRIED ABOUT ABORTIONS. GIVE ME A BREAK!
I REMEMBER WHEN OUR COUNTRY WAS STRONG, OUR MILITARY BASES WERE FULL. AMERICANS BELIEVED IN SOMETHING - HOPE - GROWTH. IT IS NO LONGER LIKE THAT, WE ALL LIVE ON THE EDGE (DAILY) MOST NOT EVEN KNOWING IF WE WILL HAVE A HOME, GOOD SCHOOLS, and JOBS & A FUTURE FOR OUR CHILDREN. ALL DUE TO THE FACT THAT OUR OWN GOVERMENT IS BLEEDING US DRY.
ITS REALLY ASHAME THEY CAN PLAY WITH OUR LIVES, WE ARE NOTHING MORE THAN BUMS TO THEM, THEY HANG MAJOR RULES AND REGULATIONS OVER OUR HEADS. IF WE DONT BEHAVE THEY TAKE WHAT WE HAVE. IF THEY DONT BEHAVE THEY HAVE A STIFF DRINK AND LAUGH ABOUT HOW MUCH MORE THEY GAINED FROM US THAT DAY.
WHY DOESNT ANYONE WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE REAL THINGS GOING ON IN OUR COUNTRY TODAY? I KNOW FOR OURSELVES, WE WORK LIKE DOGS, WE TAKE CARE OF MY PARENTS, HIS PARENTS, ALL KNOWS THE ELDERLY HAVE NOTHING, 600.00 A MONTH JUST DONT DO IT...WE HELP OUR CHILDREN MAKE ENDS MEET, SUPPORT OUR GRANDCHILDREN, SUPPORT OUR LOCAL TOWN & EVENTS, AND THEN PAY OUR TAXES, AWW THOSE GREAT TAXES THAT WHEN ALL SAID AND DONE THEY GET A GOOD 30% -PLUS OF EVERYTHING WE MAKE. THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS TO ALL THE HARD WORKING AMERICANS. NO WONDER WE HAVE SO MANY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, THEY COME TO HAVE THE BEST FREE RIDE OF THEIR LIVES, ON OUR EXPENSE!
JUST CURIOUS HERE?
WAS EVERY GUEST IN S.C. KIN TO RUDY GIULIANI? THEY SURE ACTED RELATED. 911 IS HUGE, (MAJOR) BUT GIULIANI WASNT THE ONLY HEROS DURING THAT TIME? JUST ASK THE NEW YORKERS.
ANOTHER ISSUE ON MY MIND FOR THE MEDIA: WHAT IS WITH HE LOOKS LIKE A PRESIDENT? HE CARRIES HIMSELF LIKE A PRESIDENT? HIS SUIT WAS PERFECT? HE IS YOUNGEST ENOUGH TO BE PRESIDENT? HEAVEN HELP US ALL, WHAT ON EARTH DOES SOMEONES IMAGE HAVE TO DO WITH RUNNING OUR COUNTRY?
THANK YOU RON PAUL, YOU ARE RIGHT ON TRACK, YOU ARE A REAL PERSON, I TIP MY HAT TO YOU HUGE TIME.
I PRAY YOU BECOME OUR PRESIDENT BEFORE SOMETHING REALLY, REALLY BAD HAPPENS (OUR COUNTRY IS SO WEAK RIGHT NOW)) o:
MARY at 8:08PM on May 16th 2007
52. Hmm, totally out of context! For those who really want to know the truth behind Ron's statement, watch it here:
Ron Paul smacks Rudy -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF3NtEWj6ws
BTW, Did you know where Rudy gets money from ?
Check it out ==> http://tinyurl.com/2wdu4b
John at 10:43PM on May 16th 2007
53. What did OBL say about 9/11? Need a refresher??
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,845725,00.html
John at 10:43PM on May 16th 2007
54. 9/11 would not have occurred if the NEO CONS and other interested parties (NOT AL QAEDA) had not Made It Happen! Guiliani knows this better than most of the Republican candidates which makes his attack on Ron Paul even more despicable.
DemolitionCrew at 10:01AM on May 17th 2007
55. its easy to get heated up to the point of insanity beacause we all care about this country.
so please realise im speaking civily with respect for your opinion.
we must resist the urge to project our views onto the candidates and to LISTEN to what they say and how theyve voted.
SECONDLY and more importantly these folks running for president are multimillionaires with all kinds of ties and obligations to big money- they are not "like you and me"
all the more reason to trust a guy like ron paul.
unfortunately the media and other candidates love to paint guys like him as a crackpot. because they are trying to tow the line of a common public denominator. life doesnt work like that. it takes strong people (like say , your parents when you were little) to take a lead on an IDEA and implement it regardless of its popularity. we no longer have leaders like lincoln because leaders now just say what the masses want to hear so they can get elected instead of leadsing by example. mob rule does not make great decisions.
thanks
spncr at 10:19AM on Jun 5th 2007
56. Ron Paul was the only candidate that sounded like he has common sense. It was refreshing to hear him but he needs more coverage. Finally I have someone to vote for (I hope).
Carol at 12:27PM on Jun 6th 2007