So I watched the entire republican debate at the Reagan Library last night and noticed some things.
Mitt Romney has some anger buried in him and I'm always seeing it since he and that reporter had their little spat. He's very much in control of it, though. He's also a great speaker and has no trouble with communication. I don't think he's going to win over McCain and McCain knows it.
McCain is someone I could stand being president despite his agreements with some of the things the Bush administration has done. He seems practical and was certainly trying to hide his more liberal tendencies. I think he did a great job by saying that he reached across the isle to get things done, and I believe that is what he would do as president, so he can't be all bad. Of course it was a change from the campaign trail where he seems to only talk about al Qaeda and the Iraq war (which I think is what draws in his base).
Ron Paul was a welcome breath of fresh air as usual, but he knows he's not going to be president. Every time he was asked about being president, instead of talking himself up, he just spat out a lot of naysaying about monetary systems. That is why even if he was a heavy-hitting contender on either side he would fail miserably, because he is no good at selling himself. Actually, Anderson Cooper wouldn't even let him talk for most of it and cut him off a few times after he had only been talking for a few seconds. Now, I know that they have to do that because it's clear he's not going to be president, but I think it was rude and unfair. There was a funny point in the debate where Paul was allowed to speak and was doing his naysaying and they showed a blonde woman in the audience roll her eyes and huff at the same time. It was brilliant that they even caught it.
Huckabee got a lot of time to talk, and every time he did, Romney would try to stare him down. It made Romney look silly and Huckabee look stronger. Huckabee is every bit as eloquent speech-wise as Romney is, if not more so, but for some reason he does not get as much of the vote as McCain or Romney. I think it has to do with his image, he doesn't strike the Republican voting base as 'strong' or 'agressive' enough. I think he's very likable, though, and my guess is that he is going to do a LOT better when he hits the Midwest states. He might even get enough of a boost to be a major contender. We'll just have to see.
The main thing that we all knew was going to happen, especially being in the Reagan Presidential Library was for each candidate to invoke the name of Reagan as if he were a god or something. If it were ever appropriate, this was the debate for it and I think the best answer for "If Reagan were alive today, would he endorse you and why?" was actually given by Ron Paul. He said that Reagan actually did endorse him before and that there was no way to know who Reagan would endorse today. Unfortunately, phoney and safe is what Republicans want, not real or negative.
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In the Republican Debate last night, Romney threw the gauntlet down. Romney clearly stated that if he was President, he would give the illegals in this country a definite time period to get their affairs in order and then they would have to go back to where they came from and get in line with everyone else who is waiting for citizenship OUTSIDE THE US. Romney can't be any clearer than that. McShame, as usual, was lying through his old, yellow teeth about not signing an amnesty bill if it came across his desk. He told Tim Russert, just a few days ago, that he WOULD SIGN AN AMNESTY BILL IF IT CAME ACROSS HIS DESK! Romney understands the economy, McShame doesn't. They're probably equal on national defense.
Romney would actually do better than McShame against Hillary or Obama because McShame/Hillary/Obama are all amnesty candidates. Illegal immigration would hardly come up. In a long general election, Romney would bring up the illegal immigration issue up again and again, and Hillary/Obama would squirm over and over about it.
If you're against illegal immigration and don't want any amnesty and don't vote for Romney, then you'd better not ever b*tch again about amnesty because he is your best hope for preventing any future amnesty.
