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Republican presidential candidates went head to head in the sixth GOP debate on Tuesday. The two-hour debate was held at the Univeristy of Michigan in Dearborn, and aired on CNBC. It was rebroadcasted on MSNBC later that night.
Hosted by Chris Matthews, of Hardball, the debate brought former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, Texas Representative Ron Paul, Coloroado Representative Tom Tancredo, California Representative Duncan Hunter, senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Samuel Brownback of Kansas together to discuss the issues most important to Americans.
John Cox of Illinois and Alan Keyes of Maryland were unable to attend.
The highlight of the debate seems to be the clash between Romney and Giuliani over tax cuts and spending as reported by MSNBC. Each candidate attacked the other's fiscal record and the sparring continued throughout the afternoon.
I have to say I'm rather surprised that Romney, Giuliani, McCain and Thompson actually showed up. They didn't make an appearance at the Republican All-American Presidential Forum held in Baltimore two weeks ago.
Fred Thompson really didn't trip my trigger. While this was his debut, he seemed unprepared and somewhat nervous and distant. I got the feeling he wanted to be anywhere but Dearborn. He seemed to be using scripted answers to the questions.
Move me, Fred. I want you to stop using the safe answers. What do you believe? What can you offer Americans?
As I listened to Thompson speak, I kept hearing the Law & Order "duh-duhn" theme song in my head. It didn't help that Romney said this debate was a lot like the show:
"It has a huge cast, the series seems to go on forever...and Fred Thompson shows up at the end."
Thompson responded by saying, "And to think I thought I was going to be the best actor on the stage."
Ron Paul annoyed me once again with his nervous tone and scattered speech patterns. I simply do not feel confident in this man.
When asked if the United States would have gone to war if we weren't dependent on Middle East oil, Paul replied, "Probably not, but that should not be a reason. That's an old theory. It's mercantilistic, it's neo-colonialism, that you have to maintain your supply routes and your natural resources."
Okay. What? Am I the only one who heard what he said, but didn't quite understand where he was going?
Kate's Chosen had better feeligns about Ron Paul:
Another candidate running for the conservative presidential vote is Congressman Ron Paul. I’ve followed his debates for years and believe he also has concern for our great nation. His grounded thoughts on liberty and freedom are a strong influence on me. I’ve heard him speak on these subjects many times.
Mike Huckabee shined as usual, proving he's an excellent performer. He's very believable which makes me a bit skeptical. I'm starting to like Huckabee, yet I wonder if he has what it takes to be President of the United States. He's charismatic like another former Arkansas governor I know.
I still don't know how I feel about Brownback, Hunter and Tancredo. They don't appear to make as much noise as their competition.
The one thing all the candidates have in common is their willingness to pounce on Hillary Clinton, especially Rudy Giuliani, and their refusal to utter President Bush's name. Hmmm. I wonder why?
I don't care for Hillary, yet I felt as though the GOP candidates were using her as a punching bag to "one up" each other.
MSNBC released a partial transcript of Keith Olbermann's interview with Sen. Hillary Clinton:
OLBERMANN: The Republican debate the other night -- you certainly did seem to come up fairly frequently. Do you think they're doing you a favor, a campaign favor, an advertising favor, by mentioning you so often?
CLINTON: Well, I guess if you don't have anything positive to say about yourself or your record or your vision for America, that might be an alternative, but you know, I'm running my campaign. I can't worry about what they're doing. It is something, though, that a lot of my friends have noticed, and one of them I thought, rather funny, who said to me, you know, when you get to be our age, it's kind of nice to have all these men obsessed with you. I guess I could put that spin on it.