Republican Presidential Forum
6 January 2008I vastly prefer the format of the Republican Presidential Forum tonight vs. the standard debates. Issues are dealt with on a much deeper basis and the candidates have the opportunity to actually answer question in depth. Tonight was outstanding. Chris Wallace was relentless in seeking answers to the questions he asked and he was equally tough with all the candidates.
This isn’t really an analysis post, rather, it’s some of my impressions for tonight.
The biggest problem with John McCain is his inherent inability to admit that he has even been wrong. He’s implied he was wrong on immigration reform by switching his position to border enforcement, yet he steadfastly refuses to admit that what he supported previously was amnesty. Chris Wallace hammered this point home and McCain still claimed he’d never supported amnesty and never would. Now McCain says he just wants to move on. Well Senator, admit the facts and moving on will be far easier.
Huckabee was again asked about his support of in-state tuition for the children of illegals and whether his recently announced plan for immigration didn’t “punish the children for the sins of the parents” just like denying in-state tuition would. Huckabee vehemently denied that it would. This is an issue on which I disagree with Huckabee and his response to the question seemed particularly strained. He did, however, point out that Reagan signed the amnesty bill in the 80s.
The fact is, everyone one of the candidates in the forum except Fred Thompson, have significant weaknesses on the issue illegal immigration. Giuliani ran a sanctuary city, McCain supported the amnesty bill, Huckabee supports in-state tuition and Romney had illegals working at his house.
Thompson’s point was clearly the best. Our policy must not encourage more illegal immigration.
Overall I think all the candidates came out okay tonight. No one committed a big gaff and no one hit a home run. The focus group on FOX said Romney clearly won. I completely disagree with them and so did all the pundits. It was a great informational forum and I think the real winner was the voters who watched. If anyone lost tonight it was probably John McCain. He didn’t look good on immigration or taxes. On taxes he still maintains his vote against the Bush tax cuts was right because he wanted to reign in spending. I’m with him on spending but that’s like a drowning man refusing to raise his nose out of the water because he can’t also raise his mouth. Okay, drown then!
As for my candidate, Huckabee, he did fine overall. He clearly defended himself once again against Romney’s “half truths” as Huckabee put it. He isn’t likely to win New Hampshire but he will do good enough there and perhaps better than expected. He’s in this race for the foreseeable future and he will be a force to be reckoned with.
Tomorrow I’ll make my predictions for the New Hampshire primary.
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Tags: Debates, Elections, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Politicians, Politics, Republicans, Rudy GiulianiRelated Posts
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January 7th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
You didn’t mention Huckabee’s handling of the tax questions at the beginning. I think that’s very bad for him, because it is a major concern for conservatives, and he botched his answer up bad, not to mention doing it right at the outset of the debate. I think he’s got good qualifications for his actions in Arkansas, and it’s a shame that he didn’t do a better job of answering the question. He let Romney railroad him at that moment anyway. Overall, I think he did well, but that first little bit was scary.