Tonight’s GOP debate was truly the Huckabee and McCain show. Huck demonstrated the same smooth, articulate, can-sell-snake-oil-to-a-merchant demeanor that has propelled him to where he is now: one of the Big Five that actually deserves to still be attending these debates
A funny line but Huckabee needs to make sure he’s not seen as the presidential comedian up there. Sunday night, he took strides to do that. He made sure to speak tough on terror, he refused to take part in the political bickering between candidates. And then he turned serious about Hillary Clinton:
“But I want to say this — you’ve asked: What’s the difference? No matter which one of us is on this stage — and, look, I like to be funny, let me be real honest with you. There’s nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being president. Let me tell you why.
If she’s president, taxes go up, health care becomes the domain of the government, spending goes out of control, our military loses its morale, and I’m not sure we’ll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country’s ever faced in Islamofascism.
We’ve got an enemy that wants to kill every last one of us. We cannot be soft. We must be strong. We’ll sign crazy bills like the Law of the Sea Treaty and give away our sovereignty. And that’s why, with all of the fun we’re going to have talking about it, there’s nothing funny about Hillary being president.”
Mike Huckabee: After the FRC summit, he’s the social conservative choice, and if he gets the nomination, Hillary won’t know what hit her. This guy can sell ice to Eskimos. Kept his momentum, and played against his “the funny one” typecasting with his argument, “there’s nothing funny about Hillary Clinton as Commander in Chief.”
October 21st, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I like Huckabee!
I like Giuliani/Huckabee even better.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:11 pm
No praise from Jonathan Martin?
October 21st, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Rett,
We all had a good night. Do we really want to start this?
October 21st, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Plus, I’d use the author of the posts name’s so it doesn’t come across as an editorial staff opinion, with the exception of Brody. One person doesn’t speak for NRO or Redstate.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Rett, I’ve noticed people can’t help but like Huckabee.
The hysterical unfounded attack jobs done by supporters of other candidates demonstrates just how much they fear him.
I’m glad to see Huckabee finally getting his due as the best communicator in the modern Republican Party.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:34 pm
[...] post by Rett Hatcher and software by Elliott [...]
October 21st, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Well, on the ground Rudy had the best organization by far, but agreed all the cnadidates had a great night (except Ron Paul). It is true, there is nothing like being there in person, the atmosphere is electric and if it every comes to yall’s town, go come hell or high water
October 21st, 2007 at 10:37 pm
“one of the Big Five that actually deserves to still be attending these debates”
How many Big ____ are there? Now there are five? Is the top tier consisting of five candidates now? Ridiculous.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I do not agree about the Huck/McCain show.
I would say, as Matthew E. Miller says, this was the “Embarassment of Riches” show. We have an awesome group of candidates who have different strengths and weaknesses.
We are, indeed, blessed.
Just think of the poor liberal democrats who have only their so-called “annointed” Hillary, their charismatic but shallow and inexperienced Obama, their narcissistic John Edwards and resident Hispanic Richardson.
When they go to debate they all sound alike.
They don’t have the healthy back-and-forth that our guys have.
Face it — the Republican Party is the party of healthy and robust debate.
The Democrat Party is the Party of Political Correctness.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:39 pm
The whole Presidency IV forum made me very proud to be a Republican
October 21st, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Huckabee would have outperformed, but alas they barely gave him any time to speak.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Huckabee did great for what little time he was given (I think the two most common words from the panelists tonight were “Governor Romney….”). All of his answers were good and on key. He didn’t have the top one liner tonight (that would go to McCain) but I think he did help reassure other conservatives who might unfairly see him as only a SoCon kind of guy. He spoke intelligently and eloquently about Social Security, health care, and escalated tensions on the Turkish/Iraqi border.
McCain delivered a couple good lines and was pretty solid. I’m glad to see him finally put the “drunken sailors” metaphor to rest. I hope he does the same thing with “here’s a little straight talk…”
Rudy does great in the role of wise-cracking New Yorker, and is probably the only guy who could insult New York as he does, but he was definitely evasive on the question of what separates him from Hillary when it comes to abortion, gay marriage, etc….
Romney was decent, and he’s always smooth. The fact that he invokes “Reagan” every tenth word diminishes him, however.
I thought Thompson was pretty lousy on the whole. His closing couple lines about being lazy were decent, but on the whole he doesn’t speak well off the cuff, which makes him appear ill informed, and his speaking is about as fluid as a sponge. When he looked down at his notes his last few strands of hair made it obvious, and the constant note checking again makes him look like he’s in over his head.
Hunter was of course better in content than delivery. I would like to hear more from him how our trade deficits contribute to our Soc. Sec. crisis.
Trancredo makes some interesting points when he’s not being a Johnny-One-Note on immigration.
Paul would be fun to have in a more academic setting with more time and interaction between speakers. Some of his ideas are better than the way he presents them. But he comes off as a screechy crank.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I’m very happy FOX News let us, theaudience, actually voice our opinion, after all, one of my favorite moments was booing Ron Paul.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Here’s the thing. Sure, “Redstate” called it the Huckabee-McCain show. The author then bashed Romney. Any objectivity concerns here?
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:55 am
[...] Hatcher of race42008.com posted a few early reactions from conservative blogs, including RedState and the National Review’s Campaign [...]
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:20 am
[...] ALSO: The Guerilla Women Race42008 roundup Bill Hobbs McCain’s Moment (VIDEO) Powerline Daniel McCarthy Jim Geraghty Share and Enjoy: [...]
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:22 am
Huckabee/McCain might be a good ticket.
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:43 am
i will not vote in 08 if huckabee is our nominee. its either romney or giuliani for me. i would probaly show up for fred too, but without much enthisiasm becuase i am sure he would get clobbered by hillary after a year of flubs and lazy campaiging by him.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:14 am
I thought all of the candidates performed well, maybe except Paul. He sometimes sounded hysterical. There was a little more substance and I appreciate Wendell asking specific questions about healthcare. The lowpoint of the debate was the Hillary-bashing. I find it distasteful to attack someone who is not present. Also, I thought Romney went overboard with playing to the crowd when asked whether Hillary was fit to be Commander-in-Chief. The question was borderline and Romney should not have taken the bait.