Republicans Debate; This Time, With Thompson
I watched part of the Republican debate last night, in time to catch some of the “lightning round” questions and Fred Thompson’s response about whether he entered the race too late.
Turns out I missed the slug-fest that happened between Rudy and Mitt Romney:
Mr. Giuliani went to assert that per-capita taxes and spending under Mr. Romney had increased while per-capita taxes and spending under Mr. Giuliani had fallen.
“I led, he lagged,” Mr. Giuliani said, speaking to an audience in Dearborn, Mich., at a debate that focused on economic issues and was sponsored by CNBC, MSNBC and The Wall Street Journal .
Mr. Romney responded sharply. “It’s a nice line, but it’s baloney,” Mr. Romney said. “I did not increase taxes in Massachusetts. I lowered taxes.”
Although I like the subject at hand, the squabbling over statistics sounds like a schoolyard argument - “I’ll lower taxes more than you, nah nah nah.”
One other thing I didn’t like about this debate - and most of these two-dozen candidate debates - is that candidates have so little time to respond that they respond to questions with three different answers to unrelated topics. The candidaets have a message to get out, so they have to force in different answers in one segment. Here’s how it goes:
Moderator: Senator McCain, what do you think about immigration?
McCain: First, let me say that I agree with my colleagues that I’m glad to be here in Dearborn, Michigan. I also applaud the outstanding service of our military. Third, in regards to taxes…
[buzz!]
Moderator: Sorry Senator, that’s your limit. Senator Thompson, same question.
Although this race already seems like it’s gone on forever, it’s only going to get more exciting as the less electable candidates get weeded out and we start seeing smaller debates.
Remember in 2000, in the Town Hall debate between Gore and Bush, and Gore got up and walked over to Dubya as he was talking? Who knows how many people laughed as Dubya awkwardly nodded back at him and Gore feigned flabbergast. That’s the kind of moment that only comes with smaller debates. Do we really need anyone but Rudy, Mitt, Thompson, with maybe a wild card like Huckabee, at this point?
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