GOP Debate Roundup

I didn't think Mitt Romney did as poorly as the post-game TV commentary suggested. He was on the defensive all night, since a lot of different candidates targeted, but under the circumstances I thought he did okay. Mark Levin at the Corner agrees with me.

Mike Huckabee is clearly the best politician out of this crew -- everyone but him and Ron Paul looked tired, and Huckabee is really the only one who's in touch with the mood of the country. His policy solutions are empty or crackpotty, but since his rivals don't deign to engage with him that doesn't come across during the debates. Meanwhile, his empty or crackpotty solutions are aimed at real problems real people have. The others often seem to be living on another planet.

Comments

I thought Thompson helped himself--at least insofar as he was the only one who didn't give me a galloping case of the creeps.

Posted by southpaw | January 5, 2008 9:07 PM

I expect a LOT of hawks fans made a lot of money off of those vegas idiots who put them as 3.5pt underdogs in their own house as division winners against the wildcard team.

Posted by sherifffruitfly | January 5, 2008 9:16 PM

Fantastic summary of Huck relative to the Republican field. Huck's a crackpot, but at least somewhat engaged with reality. It's a little scary that the young earth creationist theocrat wannabe is the one of the Republican field most in touch with reality, but I guess it just goes to show that modern American conservatism is a more fundamentalist religion than even the more disturbingly fundamentalist brands of christianity.

Posted by R Johnston | January 5, 2008 9:22 PM

Nothing like watching five really intelligent, capable men with their heads up their asses.

Posted by Bill | January 5, 2008 9:34 PM

Actually, I think Huckabee's relative "normalacy" on issues compared to the other candidates isn't that surprising.

Remember, all these other candidates have been spending an absolutely unbelievable fraction of their time over the last year or so in a very "unnatural" social environment, namely surrounded by donors at endless series of fundraisers, dialing for dollars on the phone, buttering up top bundlers and lobbyists, and strategizing with pollsters and other operatives. They've been living inside a political/ideological bubble.

Until just a few weeks ago, Huckabee had no money and no real prospects of raising any, so he probably spent most of his time with more relatively normal people, probably just playing his banjo and chatting about Jesus or something.

That's really one of the biggest systemic skews in our very stupid current system of picking and weeding out candidates.

Posted by RKU | January 5, 2008 10:01 PM

Really, RKU? Whoever wins isn't going to talk to a single 'normal' person for the next four years.

Posted by nolaboyd | January 5, 2008 10:38 PM

MR. ROMNEY: We're going to have to deal with this in an honest way with the American people, and that is this is not something that's going to get solved in 10 years. We can't become energy-independent in 10 years

Isn't this the same Romney who in an ad last week said the next 10 years would have more progress than the last 10 centuries? He seems decidedly more pessimistic now.

Posted by right | January 6, 2008 1:01 AM

My general rule, Matt: if Mark Levin believes something, I believe the exact opposite.

Posted by Sam | January 6, 2008 1:11 AM

Haven't seen any talk anywhere about Fox's reversal allowing Ron Paul to debate- any one know anything?

Posted by MikeN | January 6, 2008 3:28 AM

Ooops, sorry, wrong debate.

Posted by MikeN | January 6, 2008 3:31 AM

matt,

thanks for finally recognizing what i've been trying to tell you for the last few months here in the comments section.
huck is an excellent politician, the best in the gop field, regardless of his nutty views.
huck's been honing his message for the last decade, doing stuff like going on the imus show and finetuning his schtick in front of that national audience.
all of you underestimate him at your own peril.

Posted by frankie d | January 6, 2008 3:58 PM

Mitt was pitiful. And, I say that as someone who found him relatively unobjectionable since the race began. Hell, I defended the guy over the MLK flap, and the phoniness rap. But, weak doesn't even begin to describe how he came across last night. He was like the pampered little rich fop the Bowery Boys threw in the drink once after he gave them the high hat. He looked like a silly-willie who'd brought it on himself.

Posted by Trevor | January 6, 2008 4:28 PM