Oct 10, 2007
Here are some of the highlights and lowlights in the Republican
Presidential debate which concluded a fw hours ago in Michigan. It
was on CNBC, and will repeated tonight at 9pm on MSNBC:
Fred Thompson: started out
nearly comatose, and then settled in. But he's fuzzy on most of the
issues, and looks like Dwight David Eisenhower on a bad day. His
best moment was responding to a pretty good crack by Romney, about
the Republican debates being like Law and Order - a big cast, and Fred
Thompson comes in at the end. Thompson smiled and said, pretty
good, and I thought I was going to be the best actor up here.
Mitt Romney: his response
to whether the President needs to consult Congress before going to
war - Romney said he'd leave that to the attorneys - was one of the
lowest points, not only in this debate, but in American history,
period. (See Ron Paul's response to this, below.)
Rudy Giuliani: his
response about whether the Internet required FCC-like cultural
policing was troubling, to say the last. He's not in favor of
creating new government agencies, but he might look into it, if the
problem doesn't subside. But, what's the problem? No one disputes
the need of police to go after predators, on and off line. The
question was about the "cultural" problems of the Internet (porn?)
and what should be done about that. A better answer would have
been: "The FCC is unconstitutional even as a regulator of
broadcasters. The last thing I would do is extend its violation of
the First Amendment to the Internet." Too bad Ron Paul didn't get a
chance to answer that question. Fortunately, Ron Paul did get a
chance to respond about the President going to war...
Ron Paul: his finest
moment was his outrage over Romney's gibberish about consulting
attorneys. Read the Constitution, Ron Paul said - it clearly says
that Congress, not the President, has the power to declare war.
You don't need to be a lawyer to understand that. You need to be
just minimally literate.
Also admirable was Ron Paul's unwillingness to blindly support
whoever gets the Republican nomination - that nominee would need to
stop following Bush's disastrous and unconstitutional foreign
policy.
It's rare indeed to hear a political candidate in either party
speak such plain truth to the American people, and to the
world.
You\'ve just pointed out what makes Ron Paul so special: he is unshakably principled; his message is the same no matter the audience. Those of us fed up with politics as usual adore Ron Paul for this, even if we do not agree with his every position.
Well said - I agree with you 100%!