Florida debate, florida republican debate, florida gop debate, romney florida, florida debates, republican debate
I’m watching Brian Williams on MSNBC moderate the Republican Florida primary presidential debate. This will be a partial live-blog, capturing my impulsive reactions while I listen with one ear. I like Brian Williams, and expect him to do a much better job than Wolfie did for the Dems the other night.
1. The opening questions are to Romney and McCain, and deal with the economic stimulus deal reached by the White House and the Congressional leadership today (about which I am not entirely up to speed). On the Giuliani follow, I loved this:
If America overtaxes, if America overspends, if America overregulates, if America oversues, then business and jobs and money go elsewhere, and we’re doing all four of those things…. Just how much business are we running out of the United States because of the excesses of Sarbanes-Oxley.
Awesome stuff, to my ears at least. Rudy wins my heart on the opening exchange.
2. Huckabee wants to rebuild our “infrastructure.” We’ve heard about this issue since the early 1980s. Yes, we always need to do it, and yes, it will always be done when governments have extra money around. It is not true that we have “done nothing about it,” and why does any Republican want to give a huge pile of money to the criminals who do construction for the government anyway?
3. Mitt Romney’s online research team is already pelting me with emails about McCain’s misstatements. No wonder the other candidates hate him!
4. Williams asks Giuliani whether the raising of foreign capital by American banks is “fundamentally un-American.” Rudy rejects the comparison to his famous rejection of Saudi money following 9/11, and says that we “are engaged in a global economy, and that when countries invest in the United States there is a mutuality of interest that is helpful.” This ought to be an ideal opportunity to mention Bill Clinton’s extremely lucrative and politically difficult ties to Dubai, but blows his chance.
5. McCain on why the Republicans are best to lead the economy notwithstanding public opinion polls to the contrary: “I’m going to give you some straight talk,” and hammers on pork barrel politics between Bush and the Donks. Is “straight talk” still a valuable brand?
6. Huckabee remains the populist, and with all these economic questions is working full time to establish unimpeachable RINO bona fides.
7. Mrs. TigerHawk re Romney: “He looks constipated. He always has this pained expression. Well-cut suit, though.” She’s really a lot deeper than that makes her sound.
8. A questioner from the audience claims that our military is “broken,” that our economy cannot sustain the war, and that every “expert” agrees with this. McCain answers directly, “you are wrong,” says that he does not know any American general who agrees with that, and attacks Hillary for “waiving the white flag of surrender.” He had fire in his eyes when he said that. Good for McCain.
Romney’s emailers are continuing to hammer McCain.
9. Romney: “What an audacious and arrogant thing for the Democrats to say that they are responsible for the success of the surge…” Refers to “General Hillary Clinton” to a grumpy murmur around the room.
Russert challenges each candidate to defend the premise of the war, that it was worth it in blood and treasure.
McCain defends the premise of the war, and says that the problem was the mishandling of the war by Rumsfeld.
Giuliani says he was for the war when “six out of ten were for it, and I’m for it when six out of ten are against it… as president of the United States you’ve got to be able to read polls, not be pushed around by them.” In stark contrast to Hillary, he adds. Good answer. Giuliani is the most articulate man up there tonight, as he often is.
10. Huckabee actually compared weapons of mass destruction to Easter eggs. “Just because you don’t find them does not mean they are not there.” Logically true, but Easter eggs?
Now for questions from candidate to candidate…
Romney asks a question to Rudy: “As we compete with China, how do we make sure that trade is on a level playing field? What kind of economic relations do we need with China?”
Rudy: “China is a great opportunity for America, and a great caution for America. Both.” “I see 20 or 30 million people in China climbing out of poverty every year in China. That’s 20 or 30 million more customers for America.” Indeed it is!
Also calls for an increase in the size of the military to “undo the damage of Bill Clinton’s peace dividend.”
Good answers both.
11. McCain asks Huckabee about the “Fair Tax”: “How do you answer the criticism that a flat-out sales tax would not cause lower income Americans to bear a bigger burden of the cost of government? How do you account for the resonance this is getting across the nation?”
What, is McCain tossing softballs? Huckabee launches into abolishing the IRS, and defends the Fair Tax on the basis of its “untax” components. “I want to put the IRS out of business.”
Russert observes that 93% of Americans pay less than 15% in taxes now, so how will they benefit if we implement a huge federal sales tax? A better question might be this: Given that 93% of Americans pay less than 15% in taxes now, how can anybody in their right mind claim that the tax system is regressive?
12. Mrs. TigerHawk: “By any possible measure, Ron Paul’s suit is the worst on the stage.” Do not draw the wrong conclusions about Mrs. TigerHawk from these non-representative quotations.
13. Huckabee tortures Romney over gun control, and its intersection with the Second Amendment. I admit, I have too much wine in me to understand Romney’s long-winded answer, except that he is against any “new legislation” to regulate assault weapons.
Giuliani also goes after Romney, asking a question about getting property insurance, and a national catastrophic fund, and whether Romney supports it, and swipes at McCain along the way. Romney does not want “say, people in Iowa” to support “people in Florida,” but suggests that “high risk states” should band together to solve the problem, and then drifts into a discussion on health insurance. Giuliani hits him well, I think.
14. Russert asks about climate change and its impact on Florida, saying that greenhouse gases threaten Florida in a very real way, and asks Rudy Giuliani why he is opposed to mandatory caps. One answer is that he is honest — no candidate is genuinely willing to endorse mandatory caps. Instead he lapses into a long riff about how the solution involves technology.
15. Stephen Green points out that I need a drink. I have had two glasses of wine, but they obviously have not done the job. Green on another point:
Once you start to think of Romney as a six-foot-tall erect penis, you just can’t see him any other way. I mean, watch the guy with that in mind and tell me I’m wrong. “We’re the party of fiscal responsibility. Bulging, thrusting fiscal responsibility.”
Sort of goes with my wife’s suit comment. Sort of.
16. Had to hit the pause button for a few minutes to deal with a teenage daughter situation. Coming back soon.
17. I really cannot stand it when presidential candidates debate about climate change. It always seems like arguing about religion. Can we ask Huckabee and the Mormon a few theology questions instead?
18. I’m about 15 minutes behind. But that won’t make this post any more interesting.
Brian Williams asks Giuliani why he has declined in the polls. Giuliani likens his prospects to the New York Giants, and claims he has “lulled them into a false sense of security.”
Tonight, at least, Giuliani is the most likeable guy up there, even more so than Huckatool.
Brian Williams channels John McCain’s mother, who said that the “Republican Party is going to have to hold its nose and nominate” her son. Is McCain a RINO? Not as long as Huckabee is up there.
Look, if, like me, you hate yard work, McCain’s position on immigration is not all that offensive. Apart from that and his disregard of the Constitution on the wonkish issue of campaign finance reform (a general election winner, by the way), he’s pretty darn conservative in an Arizona way. He’s not my favorite guy up on that stage, but none of them are… Or something.
19. Russert asks Romney how is going to run against Hillary and Bill Clinton. Romney says he hopes he has the chance, because he does not think that the American people want to think about Bill rattling around the White House with not enough to do. Heh. Then he gets serious, and delivers his strongest answer of the night.
20. Russert asks Romney how much of his own money he is spending, and Romney blows the answer, both refusing to answer the question about his own contribution, and bragging on the amounts he has raised from others. He has moved from his strongest answer of the night to his most douchebaggiest. There will be some ugly soundbites in this segment.
21. Now Romney gets the religion question, and he answers its well, claiming that Americans will not impose a religious test at the polls. I dunno. Depends what Huckabee’s friends tell them to do once they get there.
22. Ron Paul does serve a useful purpose, insofar as he perpetuates the idea that there is “no money there” for Social Security. Not strictly true, but a useful point to make.
23. Tivo pause: The TigerHawk Daughter just saw a friend blow chunks on video chat — one of her friends, apparently, is coming down with someting. Yuck.
24. After a none-too-brief Huckabee interlude, Russert asks Romney whether he would, as Ronald Reagan did, “raise taxes to save Social Security.” I’m too tired too comment on his serviceable yet trite answer.
25. Giuliani wants to “stop illegal immigration at the border.” Stephen Green:
How many Miami residents got there via boat from Cuba? Smart play?
No.
Williams asks Giuliani to distinguish between people who flee Cuba, and people who come from other disgusting countries. Seems like a softball to Rudy in Florida, and he smashes it out.
Chuck Norris says McCain is too old? This is a question. Seriously? Huckabee distances himself with humor.
26. Sylvestor Stallone has endorsed McCain? That could tip it for me.
27. Rudy defends himself against an editorial in the New York Times (quoted by Brian Williams) that claimed he is cruel by pointing out that he has never done anything that the New York Times approved of.
28. Williams now reads from some other campaign’s press release “faxed” to Williams mid-debate. Romney’s troops have sent me at least seven emails since the debate began. Why are the other guys using faxes?
29. McCain goes apeshit when Williams asks him about his temper. OK, not really. But I still think that Hillary might needle him into transporting rage in the fall.
Toolish question of the night: Williams quoting some clown to Huck that his religion gives the clown a “queasy feeling.” Huckabee, who always gets the god questions — nobody has the stones to ask Romney about the gold tablets and such — handled the question very eloquently. On the “feelings” questions, he cannot be beat.
30. Done. Stephen Green, who did not have to hit pause other than to refill his drink, has a recap post which is better than anything I might have written:
Giuliani needed to score big hits against both McCain and Romney to reestablish himself as the frontrunner in Florida. Instead, he squandered his opportunities trying to score points against Hillary Clinton. And that’s so November ‘07. So Rudy lost tonight.
Romney needed to be solid enough to keep McCain from sealing the deal tonight. He was solid, but was it enough? We won’t know until Super Duper Tuesday next month.
McCain needed to look and sound like a frontrunner. As a guy who would rather take a ball-peen hammer to his own knuckles than vote for McCain, I’m forced to admit that he did just that. For any other candidate, that would be a draw. But in McCain’s position, a draw is a win.
Also, Huckabee and Paul showed up, and neither one sprouted visible devil horns. That’s a win for their shrinking throngs of supporters — and a big Zero for each nutty candidate.
I thought that Giuliani did better than Mr. Green did, but probably not good enough to change the race. Indeed, he was remarkably mild against McCain and Romney, suggesting to me that he may be playing for VEEP — anybody’s VEEP, frankly. I also agree that McCain looked strong, and since I like him more than Cocktail Steve does I am in good shape. Romney was all over the place, generally strong on the answers, but unappealing on the vibes. His answer on the financing of his campaign was terribly unattractive, making him look like a real Wall Streeter for whom money is a proxy for points on a scoreboard. Not a good message for the average voter.
All in, though, it remains the case that I can live with any of the Mitt, John, or Rudy, and would happily vote for any of them.
Tags: Florida debate, florida debates, florida gop debate, florida republican debate, republican debate, romney florida