The Republicans Take the Stage

Some observations after watching the first Republican presidential debate:

• Chris Matthews is a clown. His question about how the candidates would react to the idea of Bill Clinton returning to the White House was perhaps the stupidest question of all time. First of all, it's incredibly insulting to Senator Clinton to refer to the prospect of her victory as "Bill Clinton returning to the White House." But more importantly, this question is just an invitation for mindless Clinton bashing. Did Matthews think any of the candidates would say anything remotely insightful in response to this question? Of course not. This was Matthews was of ridiculing Clinton's candidacy.



• Angry ranting only works when it comes across as spontaneous and unscripted. McCain's angry ranting seemed well-rehearsed. It didn't work.



• Why isn't Mike Huckabee taken more seriously? I thought he was far more eloquent and comfortable on stage than any of his opponents. He strikes me as someone who has the potential to be a fairly formidable candidate.



• Giuliani wasn't bad. He didn't try to pander as much as I thought he would. He's clearly aware that if he goes too far in pandering to the GOP base, he'll come across as a phony and a flip-flopper.



• Romney is clearly not similarly constrained. He'll say anything and reverse any previous position if he thinks that's what GOP voters want to hear. That said, I still think he did pretty well. He reminds me of Aaron Eckhart's lobbyist character in Thank You for Smoking. You know he's a total phony, but he's good at it, and you sort of grudgingly respect that about him.



• Though it's fascinating to have someone like Ron Paul in the debate, what was really missing is the perspective of someone like Chuck Hagel. Though I don't think Hagel would have any chance of winning the nomination, I think he represents a sizable chunk of Republican voters whose views were nowhere to be found in that debate. There's nothing inherently Republican about the Iraq War. Hagel represents someone who is relatively clear-eyed about the war but is otherwise a completely mainstream Republican. That's what was missing, and it would have made the debate much more interesting to watch. McCain, Giuliani, and Romney can afford to ignore Ron Paul, but they wouldn't have been able to ignore Chuck Hagel.



• I was incredibly disappointed that no questions were asked about issues related to executive power, issues like the indefinite detention of American citizens, the torture of prisoners, and warrantless wiretapping. These are the questions that will help me decide which of the Republican candidates I fear the most.



• Overall, I think the biggest winner of the debate may have been Fred Thompson. By not appearing on that stage, he's able to maintain his mythical status as the savior candidate for at least a little while longer.

UPDATE: Here's what actual conservatives thought: Redstate, Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin, Powerline, The Corner (just keep scrolling). Seems like they hated Giuliani. Interesting.

. . . and apparently Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee don't believe in evolution. Oy.