31 January 2008¶ Republican debate
Last night I watched my first Republican debate. I have watched a couple of the Democrat debates, not out of planning on my part but because they happened to be on when I turned on the TV. I thought it was time to give the GOP a fair shake to represent themselves.
Wow. That was horrible. Instead of any rhetoric inspired to lead and inspire (as with Obama and Edwards), I felt like we had whining and pandering. Across the board, all four candidates involved look petty and seemed to take turns trying to insinuate themselves into the Regan’s legacy.
The worst of all was McCain. He’s move from sleepy to smirking to snide. Apparently, “real” conservatives hate the guy politically (I saw an attack ad last night that compared McCain to Hillary), but I find his distasteful from purely stylistic considerations. Maybe last night wasn’t representative of what the guy has to offer, but since it’s what I’ve got to go on, it’s what I’m taking.
Romney didn’t sound much better, but at least he was awake and fully engaged. I had expected a better debater, one who had more polish and could speak with the ease and fluency of a television newsreader. Instead I watched him again and again stumble over his words.
The most polished was Huckabee, as much as it pains me to say it. Of course, he was talking compellingly about building a wider highway up the east coast. I’ll bet the Governator loved that. “How would I stimulate the economy? By doing a major project in Florida!” Except the guy is a nutcase who doesn’t understand the economy and forces an anti-constitutional religious test for office and would put his religious beliefs before those of the constitution and is an openly a bigoted anti-Mormon, the guy seems to be the best speaker in the bunch. Oh, and he’s sometimes pretty funny. Only sometimes, because I think Chuck Norris is creepy.
Ron Paul is great. Not politically, of course, but he’s that guy who Just Doesn’t Care. He knows he’s not going to win, but so long as he stays on message they’ll keep him around. He’s as interesting as Nader was to the Dems in 2000. Interesting is good, since he really poses no threat to anyone, I say keep him around until the nomination is final.
All in all, I was shocked by the lack of excitement across the board. The more the candidates tried to lean right, the less I wanted to watch them. I had my finger on the FF button the whole time, and would occasionally skip forward 30 seconds on all of them.
Favorite moment goes to Ron Paul, who replied to a question about McCain’s 100-year-prediction/commitment with a rant about the war in general. It was interesting to hear such anti-war rhetoric in a GOP debate, and even more surprising to hear the biggest cheer of the night come in response.
How does this affect my vote? Not a bit. I don’t have to listen to substance yet because my primary isn’t for ages. I suspect that the field will change by the time the Ohio primary rolls around, and there’s no reason to decide today. So I’ll just wait and see and hope that, come November, the Republicans can discover an inspiring candidate to put on the stand. Its not that I want to see a good Republican for any ideological designs on my part, but I’d love to see a general election wherein both parties put forth viable candidates and I actually feel like I get to choose. Wouldn’t that be cool?
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