I just finished watching the 3rd Republican presidential debate, and thought I would share some of my thoughts.
10 is too big of a number. It makes the debate difficult to follow. That many candidates deserve equal speaking time. But they don’t get it.
2 Tiers — there definitely are two tiers of candidates. If you are one of the top 3 (Guliani, McCain, and Romney), you get twice as long to speak, and get asked twice as many questions. Part of the disparity can be traced to these candidates’ ability to raise large amounts of money quickly, and part of it can be traced to early polls and media tampering. The media has made it into a 3-way race, with Thompson and Gingrich as possible would-be contenders. Sure, I’m biased, and the media often merely reports, yet I can’t help thinking that if the media didn’t hype certain candidates, things might be different.
Mike Huckabee (the guy I’m rooting for), might be wrong. He is banking on the fact that the nomination should be and will be won on the basis of ideas and positions, not on the basis of how much money you can earn, and which big-time donor you know.
I hope people watch the debates and research the issues, because this year there are many choices. But we are all lazy, and will wait for Iowa and New Hampshire to decide the race for us, I think.
I wish that some of the similar candidates that are alike in values and positions would bow out in deference to one of their number. This would allow there to be a conservative and also viable option available besides Romney to rally around. I just am not comfortable with Romney on a variety of fronts, and hope that Huckabee can gain steam. In a recent CNN poll, he was the highest among the other 7 candidates in the debates (even though that was only 3%). Perhaps that is a good sign.
The debate went poorly for Huckabee. I’m not saying he didn’t perform well. He shined, which has become par for the course with him. But he didn’t get chances to speak on very many key issues. As he himself remarked, he got all the questions on moral issues (since he was a pastor before he was a governor).
I also think his character is limiting him. The front runners have no qualms about stealing the limelight, and going beyond the time-limits allotted for them. Not so, Huckabee. He is polite and gracious to a fault in this regard.
Well, that about raps up my thoughts for now. But I have to leave you with a clip of his answer concerning evolution. It is a very passionate defense of the basic belief in creation. He allows room for differences with respect to six literal days or not, but again I think it will be great that this video clip is likely to get a lot of attention across America.
Luv Huck, but he has no chance, sadly.
Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux
It was the first debate I watched, and I looked to see if Huckabee was as good as I have heard. I was not disappointed, except in his time allotment.
I’m hoping that this campaign can advance some of the causes Huckabee holds dear, and might prepare the way for a later run for the white house. Or perhaps he could gain a national office of some kind other than the presidency.
Of course, I’m still hoping that people in Iowa and NH will have heard his message personally and jump on his bandwagon, to give him chance.
Thanks guys for the comments.
Bob
The best part was when lightning struck the building while Rudy was answering a criticism from a Catholic Bishop…regarding his view on abortion.
When Big Media, i.e., Sean Hannity, keep pushing for the “lesser” candidates to be excluded from the debates, you know we are being duped once again. If, big if, the media’s Republican candidate can defeat Hillery, we will get another disaster like Bush. As long as the Republican Party insists on cooperating with the media and giving us faux conservatives, I refuse to vote for the Republican candidate. Oh, and I am voting for Ron Paul.
Thanks for commenting guys. I agree that ideas not money should be the focus of a primary.
In many things I respect Ron Paul, however his solutions won’t work. He is too radical. We need to slowly push America back to its moorings in the Constitution. And plus in a global econonmy and small world, diehard nationalistic isolationism won’t cut it.
Kooz,
The lightning was quite funny. Oh, the timing!