September 6, 2007
McCain Roars Back (Frank Donatelli)
When is an appearance in Bedford, N.H., superior to one on “The Tonight Show”? Answer: When you’re running for president and the New Hampshire primary is four months away.
Last night, the Republicans who participated in the GOP New Hampshire debate helped themselves far more than Fred Thompson, who announced his long anticipated candidacy on “The Tonight Show” in L.A. Thompson doesn’t need national identification. He has that. He does need GOP “street cred” by building organizations in the early primary states. There is no more finicky electorate than the good folks of New Hampshire, and the local media, led by the Union Leader, was strongly critical of Thompson for skipping this debate. Fred Thompson may be in the race, but he will be playing catch-up big time in the early primary states.
As for the main event in New Hampshire, most reaction favored Sen. John McCain as the winner of the debate. I agree that this was his strongest performance so far. He seemed confident and purposeful. He speaks with the most AUTHORITY of any candidate and his pronouncements on Iraq, torture, security and federal spending struck home with viewers. Even fellow candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee praised his courage and tenacity. He did himself a LOT of good in this debate. Best line: “Nothing we could gain from torture could possibly be worth the damage to the integrity of our country.”
Rudy Giuliani was criticized for bringing every answer back to his record as mayor of New York City. He was repetitive, but he didn’t make any major errors and weathered the now familiar jabs at his personal life and abortion views. He is clearly most comfortable talking about leadership and how he is a man of action. Best line: “I take only one pledge and that is to uphold the U.S. Constitution.”
Mike Huckabee continues to do well in these encounters. His poll numbers indicate that he is flirting with breaking into the first tier of candidates. He scored well by mixing it up on foreign policy with everyone’s favorite foil, Ron Paul. His “Fair Tax” proposal, which is a national sales tax, sounds fishy to me, but few know the details. Best line: “FedEx tracks packages better than the federal government keeps track of illegal aliens.”
Mitt Romney gave a workmanlike performance, but like the other encounters, it was nothing special. He faced hard questioning from Chris Wallace and a viewer about past comments he made about immigration and his sons’ service in his campaign. He seemed to want to separate himself a bit from the Bush surge policy, but quickly fell in line under criticism from McCain. It remains to be seen how well he will wear as the primary campaign grinds on. Best line (a comment on Thompson’s entry): “What’s your hurry? Stay out a little while longer.”
Three other candidates, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, and Sam Brownback, tried hard, but did nothing memorable. Every utterance by Ron Paul is memorable, memorable for ultra-libertarian views totally unconnected to the realities of the terrorist threat of the 21st century.
There’s far more to come. As the Carpenters song says, “We’ve Only Just Begun.”
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No Frank you are wrong. Paul is right. We are occupiers of a foreign country. We are oil stealing imperialists. And it is murder every time we kill for oil. The troops have been deceived. We never went into Iraq for noble ends.
The proof of this is the stealing oil contract and the power big oil will have in Iraq affairs.
Comment by Gary Anderson — September 6, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
In spite of last night's performance, McCain is done. The immigration topic may have moved to the second stage, but not everyone has forgotten his recent position on the issue and the leadership in the wrong direction he demonstrated.
Comment by Igor R. — September 6, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
Let's hope that McCain is too late in his surge.
How ironic is it that a candidate who speaks so forcefully and authortatively against torture supports the policy of pre-emptive war that makes the torture of detainees a question?
It is clear that McCain has lost sight of the forest for the trees.
The level of force and duration of operations required to impose a military solution on Iraq would further devastate America's overall strategic position, already ravaged by Bush's senseless and cruel War.
McCain's bellicosity, reflected in his intellectually shoddy advocacy of increased force levels in Iraq, disqualifies him from serious consideration as President.
Comment by robert chapman — September 6, 2007 @ 7:10 pm
robert chapman, you knock the one good thing about McCain. So bellicosity is bad? Because they taught you in kindergarten to be nice to everybody? But I bet you never had to deal with cold-blooded killers in kindergarten. You don't talk to them, you kill them, the faster the better. You don't devastate your country's strategic position by winning, only by losing.
NEVER trust a liberal on foreign policy. They fundamentally don't care other than about how "nice" they appear to the outside world, and it distracts them from redistributing income, their main tool of power. In this particular case, the desire to embarrass Bush trumps all other consideration.
Comment by Igor R. — September 6, 2007 @ 7:56 pm
Mccain is just a sore loser in Vietnam. We lost Mccain! Get over it!!!
Comment by Gary Anderson — September 6, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Here we go again. You spineless liberals talking about "oil stealing imperialists" and "Bush’s senseless and cruel War". Hahaha! My God, it is hilarious to me how spineless you actually are. So let me guess, we should pull out now and let the country drift off into third world oblivion? Maybe if Clinton had actually not let Bin Laden go when he had him detained we would not be in this mess. If war was such a horrible idea then why did your liberal democrats vote for it? Funny they are tough enough to make the choice to go, but only until it is hard.
If a dem was in office our country would be terrorized in a matter of months. Not only that but we would have a healthcare system requiring a 30 or above tax rate. And guess what that would eventually do? MAKE US BROKE!!! You have no idea what freedom actually is. You want the goverment to control everything and provide a nipple for you to nurse on. It is sad. The once reasonable democratic party is turning into a party of socialists.
Comment by Mark Hyman — September 7, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Mr Hyman. Is it wrong to steal? If it is we shouldn't be doing it. You are spineless for not standing up to stealing. You are the fear monger, and the coward all rolled up in one.
Comment by Gary Anderson — September 7, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
“Our elites have become so insulated from reality that they imagine America can suffer defeat without inconvenience to themselves. Defeat would be an embarrassment to President Bush, but nothing more.” —Jack Kelly
Comment by Igor R. — September 7, 2007 @ 4:53 pm