I'm a little late on this because my ISP went down this evening. I wanted to save the rest of you from wasting your time watching.
As for the actual "debate", we learned that each candidate is against high taxes, government waste, unfair trade and for energy independence. We learned that Giuliani took a lawsuit to the Supreme court to overturn the line item veto. Romney called him out for it, and Rudy countered that he had beaten Bill Clinton in the case. He still thinks any line item veto is unconstitutional unless in a constitutional amendment.
Ron Paul, not surprisingly, was the only candidate with a real plan to save money. He pointed out that wars are expensive. The rest of his comments consisted of rambling diatribes against central banking, unsound money and living beyond your means or living beneath your means. I was a little confused on that last point.
In fairness, Tom Tancredo also would save money by stopping illegal immigration, which is a huge net drain on us.
Romney came out against government subsidies, except for agriculture, science, R&D, education, health insurance and energy independence. I'm not sure what would be left, but he is against it.
John McCain, whatever his other faults, does have some credibility on wasteful spending. He has never made a dent in it in his long Senate career, but he has annoyed a few people.
Fred Thompson made his inaugural appearance. I thought he did ok. He mentioned that social security and medicare could be problems, which seemed to make the other candidates uncomfortable. Nervous references to the third rail.
In the all important hair contest, Romney clearly won. His hair is simply outstanding, anchorman quality really. Dark but with hints of grey around the temples to lend him gravitas. This is what a well-done dye job looks like. By contrast, Sam Brownback looked like someone who had loaded up on Grecian Formula. For some reason Huckabee makes me uncomfortable, so I am giving him low hair marks too. Thompson only has a few strands left on top, but he had them slicked back smartly.
Thompson also stands head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Literally. He is a big man and made the rest of them look like midgets. This could be very crucial as, with the obvious exception of President Bush, the taller candidate almost invariably wins.
As for the actual "debate", we learned that each candidate is against high taxes, government waste, unfair trade and for energy independence. We learned that Giuliani took a lawsuit to the Supreme court to overturn the line item veto. Romney called him out for it, and Rudy countered that he had beaten Bill Clinton in the case. He still thinks any line item veto is unconstitutional unless in a constitutional amendment.
Ron Paul, not surprisingly, was the only candidate with a real plan to save money. He pointed out that wars are expensive. The rest of his comments consisted of rambling diatribes against central banking, unsound money and living beyond your means or living beneath your means. I was a little confused on that last point.
In fairness, Tom Tancredo also would save money by stopping illegal immigration, which is a huge net drain on us.
Romney came out against government subsidies, except for agriculture, science, R&D, education, health insurance and energy independence. I'm not sure what would be left, but he is against it.
John McCain, whatever his other faults, does have some credibility on wasteful spending. He has never made a dent in it in his long Senate career, but he has annoyed a few people.
Fred Thompson made his inaugural appearance. I thought he did ok. He mentioned that social security and medicare could be problems, which seemed to make the other candidates uncomfortable. Nervous references to the third rail.
In the all important hair contest, Romney clearly won. His hair is simply outstanding, anchorman quality really. Dark but with hints of grey around the temples to lend him gravitas. This is what a well-done dye job looks like. By contrast, Sam Brownback looked like someone who had loaded up on Grecian Formula. For some reason Huckabee makes me uncomfortable, so I am giving him low hair marks too. Thompson only has a few strands left on top, but he had them slicked back smartly.
Thompson also stands head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Literally. He is a big man and made the rest of them look like midgets. This could be very crucial as, with the obvious exception of President Bush, the taller candidate almost invariably wins.