The Republican Party is doomed. Thanks for all your help George W. Bush !

Hey lookie here, hillaryclinton.com

Here is my assessment for last night debate; Huckabee won the debate hands down. As an African American, I’ll consider voting for him if he win the nomination compare to Hillary Clinton.

Mitt Romney was very uncomfortable with race and foreign policy questions. McCain schooled him on the issue of torture.

Giuliani did okay but not exceptional. In fact, yesterday debate provides another insight to why media want Giuliani vs. Clinton match up, which I think will be good for tabloid but bad for America.

McCain still remain a wild card in the race.

Ron Paul is the voice of anti war in republican

Big night for bible thumper Huckabee indeed....we learn he raised taxes as Arkansas Gov. by more than $500 million despite so called tax cuts that had nothing to do with him.  He makes off color comments that reak of sexism and immaturity against Hillary. Send her to Mars?  No, send you to Mars with all the republicans so that the IQs on Earth and Mars instantly increase!

There is no Candiate in this election compared to Ron Paul! He is a man of honor, pride and intregrity. Ron Paul will be the America's Hero and President.  No candiate is more honest and more patrotic then the one and only true candiate Ron Paul! Go Ron Paul, my husband and I support and stand by you all the way!! Ron Paul 08!!!! We love you Ron and thank you for fighting for America!

Clinton needs to see this health care blitz on Obama is a no go.  Reading comments on various sites regarding the mandates show that most people are not in favor of them.  It has the feel of big brother.
Coupled with her fiasco of 93, it is not something she needs to push on as her choice of topic to try to hurt Obama on.  
It is also at the same time as the Bill faux pas.  Which makes more headlines for two reasons.  The war is a sore subject with democrats and it highlights the very weakness of Hillary's.  The clintons are just too obsessed on polls and therefore come off as being untrustworthy as they base their opinions on polls.  This led to her bad judgment with Iraq and it may be reignited as a problem with democrats.
I do not like the Clintons, even though I'm a democrat but, I can see that unless she gets control of her campaign again she will be in deep trouble.
It has the feel of it getting away from them and that they are reacting and lashing out rather than the perfect control she has throughout the campaign.
they really need to sit down a rethink what they are doing and gain some control again or she is going to implode like Dean did.
We rib her supporters about her being desperate but, in truth, there is that air about things in her camp right now.
I am not being snarky, just observing what is causing her problems.

An independent voter's take:

Paul: A-
Huckabee: A-
Thompson: B-
Giuliani: C+
McCain: C-
Romney: D-

Romney would have been a F without his effective retort about his undocumented workers at the outset, most of the night sounding like he was reciting bullet points concocted in a staff meeting, and McCain would have been a F if not for his wonderful anti-torture answer; the fact that he got only 50/50 support with his pro-war rant against Paul FROM A GOP CROWD is a serious blow to McCain, and he jumped the shark when he mentioned Hitler and more of the crowd turned on him.  This was Thompson's best debate so far if for funny lines moreso than serious ones, Giuliani got hit a few times but had some strong moments, Huckabee was very likeable and effective, and Paul got a surprisingly strong positive reaction from a GOP crowd when he stood up against the war; his line about us paying to blow up and then rebuild bridges in other countries while ours are crumbling was probably the most memorable line of the debate, particularly to voters who care about our pressing fiscal problems.

The most nauseating moment of the debate, however, was the xenophobic trifecta of Rudy, McCain, and Hunter TOTALLY missing the point of a Muslim voter's question, each taking it as an excuse for a neoconservative diatribe, to the degree that it was intellectually offensive and essentially spat on her question.  Watching an ugly moment like that is almost enough to make one wonder if a Republican could ever be elected President in a general election anymore.

How this debate affects the early states, though, is what really matters in the race.  When one examines that angle, Huckabee decked Romney in Iowa, Paul just took apart McCain in NH, and Thompson probably passed Romney in SC.

On a side note, I heard the Clinton's campaign planted another question in the republican debate. The general that ask that question works for the Clinton’s campaign.

I am expecting Clinton's spin on this.

the very last person we as a nation, need in the white house is another religious ideolog. the president should have as a minimume requirment, the ability to reason and use critical thinking. beliving in the shear utter nonesense of the bible completely rules that out. as a baptist minister mr huckabee shoul withdraw from the running. their has been enough damage done to our constitution from bush and his cronies and we must all do our best to prservr the secular nature of our constitutional goverment, lest we end up all being forced to live by the rules supertitious dogma

The GOP did the best they could with what was given to them.  This whole youtube thing would have been better served on Comedy Central then a news organization trying to look like they are taking the debates seriously.  CNN has no business even hosting debates.  Now that the GOP has gone on the Clinton News network, let's see if the democrats have the stones to go on Fox news and have a debate.  Of course they won't.  Bill Clinton was the one man enough to go one on one with Chris Wallace.  Hillary is just a scared whipped little girl who can't handle tough questions and the other so called "men" in the democratic party are listening to George Soro's too much and need his money and support.

The bad news for them is that there’s very little coverage of Hillary’s tough speech on health care yesterday, which was aimed squarely at Obama.

Bad enough when the media chooses to cover why her plane was late for two hours, they seem to be getting tired of Hillary's little girl rant against Obama and his health coverage.  I don't recall Obama's plan being bought and paid for like Hillary's plan was.

the very last person we as a nation, need in the white house is another religious ideolog. the president should have as a minimume requirment, the ability to reason and use critical thinking. beliving in the shear utter nonesense of the bible completely rules that out. as a baptist minister mr huckabee shoul withdraw from the running. their has been enough damage done to our constitution from bush and his cronies and we must all do our best to prservr the secular nature of our constitutional goverment, lest we end up all being forced to live by the rules supertitious dogma

The corporate mediea wants the weakest Democratic canidate-obama- as the nominee.

That why the MSM doesn't cover the Clinton Heath care speeches. Clinton speeches make Edwards and Clinton look great

Hilary is going after Obama on Health Care because the polls tells her she's ahead on that issue. Like everything else, she'll soon be back peddling when Obama hits her and the voters with a fact check.  Her Health Care plan isn't all she says it is.  See for yourself.

http://www.factcheck.barackobama.com

Holy Mackerel! The media Jihad continues as all the Lame Stream Media outlets continue to push their anointed favorites to the dullard masses: MittRudy Romnialiani. They occasionally throw Huckabee a bone, a certified died-in-the-wool CLintonista, while ignoring the only candidate offering a NEW direction for America: Dr. Ron Paul.

After all the verbal stumbles of the Bush presidency we have finally discovered someone who can communicate republican principles with wit & wisdom. Huckabee won Hands down. He is the most articulate, humble, real candidate out of all of them-McCain came out ok. Romney just got a beating..wow..definitely NOT his night. I wonder what Hugh Hewitt and all those who were so ready to give Romney the mantle of conservatism are doing after this one. HUCKABEE is a force to be contended with, and tonight he showed WHY he is on the rise in Iowa. The Underdog is poised to take a bite out of Rudy McRomney on Jan 3rd. The others were all a distant..3rd...Duncan Hunter had some ok stuff and Fred is frankly coming across as kinda like..hey man ..someone please pick me for VP so I can sport my hot wife around DC. And what was with the INQUISTION Style question the crackpot youtuber asked about the Bible(As if he has ever read it)(and all the man on man gay questions...and the rebel flag...weird..there had to be some better questions that those...but wow did the gays in the military question make Romney look like a TOTAL flip flopper...what a bad night for him.

Paul is not real,Rommey sounded like Bill Clinton,Giuliani was weak and stumbled. The voices of Huckabee,McCain, and Fred Thompson were the voices of reason being steady,gentleman at all times and knew their issues and where the country should be going.Would trust those three more then the others.

Followup here... are you going to retract yesterday's claim that Richardson is the NRAs favorite candidate in either party?  Or better yet, if that's true, then I respectfully request that next time the blog owner, Chuck Todd, is on Meet the Press, he also mention (on national TV) that Richardson is the NRAs favorite.  Chuck... will you commit to doing that?  

I am a dedicated democrat. I have voted democrat all my life. All my colleges are mostly democrat. After last nights debate a majority of my colleges including me are beginning to lean towards Huckabee. If a candidate aspires to be president of this great nation I believe that the most important quality in a candidate should be a foundation built upon integrity. I do not agree on every stance that Mister Huckabee has taken, but his candor and his propensity toward honesty has caught my attention. I feel that Huckabee has a genuine concern for the American people. I am very ashamed of the democratic candidates because I do not feel that they care about the American people. I am ashamed because it seems my party is concerned with mud-slinging and the almighty dollar more than the welfare of all American people.

Democratic Iowa Caucus
Iowa Democrats: Clinton 27% Obama 25% Edwards 24%
Thursday, November 29, 2007


The Iowa Democratic caucuses remain a three-person race that is far too close to call.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the Iowa Democratic Caucus for 2008 finds Hillary Clinton at 27%, Barack Obama at 25%, and John Edwards at 24%. Bill Richardson is the only other Democrat in double-digits at 10% while Joe Biden earns 4% of the vote from Likely Caucus Participants.

These results reflect little change from a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted earlier in the month. In the previous survey Clinton had 29% support with Edwards at 25% and Obama at 24%. While the race in Iowa remains very close, Clinton retains a solid lead in the national polls and double digit leads in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida. Many believe that those figures may change based upon what ultimately happens on January 3 in Iowa.

Currently, in Iowa, Clinton attracts 30% of the vote from women while Obama earns 26% and Edwards 22%. Among men, it’s Edwards 26%, Clinton 24%, and Obama 23% (see crosstabs).

In terms of second-choices in Iowa, John Edwards tops the list of candidates. He is the second choice for 28% of likely caucus participants. Obama is the second choice for 18%, Clinton for 16%, and Richardson for 15%. Second choice preferences are especially important given the nature of the Iowa caucuses. In a particular caucus setting, if a candidate receives less than 15% of the vote, their supporters will be re-allocated to other candidates.

There are many challenges to polling a caucus, primarily around the question of who will actually participate. Those challenges are magnified this year by the timing of the caucus on January 3 forcing candidates and their teams to explore tactful methods of contacting voters during the holiday season.

When only voters who are “certain” they will participate in the caucus are included in the totals, Obama is supported by 26%, Edwards by 25% and Clinton by 23%.

However, when only those who are certain which candidate they will support are included, it’s Clinton 27%, Obama 25% and Edwards 22%.

Among those who have participated in a caucus before, it’s Edwards 25%, Clinton 24% and Obama 22%.

Collectively, these results show that the caucuses remain a three-way race and no candidate has a measurable advantage at this time.

Just 8% of Likely Caucus Participants say that there is a good chance they will change their mind between now and January 3. That figure includes 10% of Edwards’ supporters, 7% of those for Obama, and 5% for Clinton.

Overall, 68% of both Clinton supporters and Obama supporters say they are certain they will vote for their candidate. Earlier in the month, 57% of Clinton supporters were certain of their support along with just 45% of Obama supporters. Sixty-three percent (63%) of Edwards supporters currently say they are certain to vote for him. That’s up from 52% earlier in the month.

Thirty-six percent (36%) of Likely Caucus Participants think that Clinton is likely to win the caucuses. An identical number think that Obama is likely to win. Nineteen percent (19%) say Edwards is the likely winner, 3% name somebody else, and 5% are not sure.

When it comes to the Democratic nomination, 42% believe Clinton will emerge as the ultimate nominee, 28% say Obama and 17% Edwards.

Thirty-five percent (35%) say that the War in Iraq is their most important voting issue while 23% name the economy and 18% cite health care.

Among Democrats who name Iraq as the top voting issue, 28% support Obama, 25% Clinton, and 23% Edwards. For those who name the economy as the top issue, it’s Clinton 30%, Edwards 27%, and Obama 21%. For those who said health care is the number one issue, 38% prefer Clinton, 22% Edwards, and 19% Obama.

Democratic caucus participants are focused on an entirely different set of priorities from Republican caucus participants. Among the GOP voters, immigration was named the top issue by 25%. Only 5% of Democratic caucus participants say it’s their top issue. In the GOP caucus, Mike Huckabee at 28% and Mitt Romney at 25% have made it a two-man race.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Likely Caucus Participants have a favorable opinion of Edwards, 79% say the same about Obama, and 76% offer a positive assessment of Clinton. Richardson is viewed favorably by 69%, and Biden by 57% and Dennis Kucinich by 33%.

All polling for caucus events presents challenges in determining who is likely to show up and participate. In conducting and analyzing this survey, Rasmussen Reports reviewed results for many possible levels of turnout. While the results varied modestly depending upon the turnout model, all showed a very competitive race with Clinton, Obama, and Edwards in a virtual tie for the lead."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1/2008_presidential_election/iowa/democratic_iowa_caucus


Van

A big night for...who????

http://people.ronpaul2008.com/campaign-updates

And thanks fellas, for mentioning that Paul does a pretty good job of sounding rational when posed with (somewhat?) irrational questions.

First Read reports tht Romney was a "lightning rod" in last night's debates and took flak from other candidates.  He was even compared to Howard Dean 04.

Mitt Romney, once Crackpot Chris Matthews starts in on you with his "unvarnished press propaganda" on Hardball, you will be withstanding more than mere slings and arrows.

Romeny, you're too handsome for Chris and not the big beefy guys he so slobers over.  In other words you are not his annointed Rudy, so look out.

Matthews, who is obviously unwell and has been for years, along with his "paper trained panelist" plays the public for fools nightly.

Remember the little "slings and arrows" he shot at Al Gore for two years...questioning important issues like his 3 button suit, his cadence of speech, even his manhood.  

Remember how Matthews slobbered all over Bush...so likeable, just the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with...overlooked his obvious lack of experience
and all the gaffe's Bush spoke.  Of course now Matthews questions Bush's War...where was Matthews judgement back then and now?

So Romney, look out.  The multi-millionaire, Social Security hating (says it's a Ponzi scheme), woman hating, closeted Republican Matthews has you in his sites.

As a Republican, you'd think Matthews would cease and desist, however, Romney, you are in the way of his boy, Rudy.  

And Romney, don't look to the "career Democratic liberals" for any help with Matthews. They pretend to not notice when he totally trashes Democratic candidates with his lies and mudslinging.  For some reason the liberal and progressive press roll over pay dead for Matthews and even go after their own.

Yes, I know Mr. Romney, it's strange to us Democrats also.  We also know that Matthews needs help, meds,or at least an intervention. Aslong as no one has the courage to stand up and profile nutcases like Matthews the personal slurs, mudslinging, progaganda will continue nightly.

Sorry, Mitt, we liberals can't help you...we're too busy eating our own.

Sorry.

Quite frankly I don't care as much that this general who asked the don't ask don't tell question last night was a supporter of Kerry and is of Hillary as much as I care about the answer that was given by the GOP candidates.  With the military having problems keeping people and eliminating many barriers to people serving such as drug use and criminal backgrounds the fact that they still drum out people who are gay is a sad state of affairs.

New poll from Iowa released just now for Democrats, and it has Clinton staying ahead by a few points in what is essentially a three-way toss-up: http://www.campaigndiaries.com/2007/11/morning-polls-clinton-holds-on-to.html

While Im no fan of Mike Huckabee I do think he played his cards correctly in this debate. Taking the "moral high ground" on several issues seemed to prove fairly effective. In the one spat with Romney, Huckabee made him look like just another rich white man out of touch with the everyday Joe. He also looked like he was trying to grab some Ron Paul supporters with that IRS comment. Giuliani and Romney didnt bring anything new to the table. Other than Mccains torture comments I dont think he brought anything substantial. Ron Paul, who myself especially was looking foward to seeing, was asked ridiculous question. North American Union? An independent run if you dont get the bid? Absolutely ridiculous. Cut off Romney and Giulanis monologues and give that man some time to speak.

Sick of Rudy and New York, New York....He cannot maintain a stable marriage and this is Presidential material?? Mitt, flabbled on some questions but did look polished. McCain looked too ticked off too many times. For straight answers...when they actually got asked questions Huckabee, Paul and Tancredo gave pretty straight answers. Thompson looked like he had not slept in days... Clearly though the Anderson Cooper and the producers had a bias towards asking too many questions to Mitt and Rudy, a blind man would have seen that.

Could it bee Huckabee?? He was indeed buzzing yesterday! Making us feel all warm and fuzzy and safe inside...Like an understanding daddy...What really lies under all that soft spoken sheen? Is there a scary agenda being masked by all this niceness??

Thank you MSNBC for refusing to regurgitate the daily press releases sent by Howard Wolfson and Mark Penn to all media outlets.

I appreciate that you are willing to do your job of informing the American people with the facts as you determine them, not as determined by campaigns intent on "strong arming" the media.

Hillary's desperate efforts to control the discussion are harmful to the democratic party and to the American people.

A free press is our only hope.

Bee, I completely agree, I am a Democrat, if Huckabee wins the nomination, I will vote for him over Hillary Clinton!

Who is the Amtrak Corridor media elite? everybody who is not Chuck, Todd, and Domenico ?

Bee, I give you a, "d". Please use it in "compare(d). I will also give you an, "s", to use in words like win(s)and in this special offer, if you call right now, we'll include the word, "the", as a bonus gift to use (as in, "...will be good for (the) tabloid(s)...")
As a special gift for the season, a collector's copy of the holiday classic, "Grammar got run over by RAINDEAR (sic)...

Van

Huckabee is a nice enough guy, but I can't imagine him in an elected office higher than a local school board. Try comparing him to a Biden or Dodd. He doesn't have the experience or depth of either second tier Democratic candidate. I saw an interview with a panel of undecided Republicans afterwards, and one lady volunteered after watching the debate she was pretty sure she'd made up mind...to vote for John Edwards.

Hillary Clinton is toast.....

  Mike Huckabee is the media darlin today after the debates.  No doubt he can be a comedian and charming...he's been on stage as a minister, in a band, etc for a big part of his life so he's had plenty of experience there.
   Huckabee's humor is just ordinary "good old boy"
talk from Arkansas although the press doesn't know that.  The down home old boys are hilarious.
   BUT...comedy only goes so far.  Ask the people of Arkansas what they thought of Huckabee in a serious role as governor.  It was not pretty, folks.  
   Perhaps the media should look beyond charm and humor and check out Huckabee's governing and his stand on real issues.  Ignore the good old boy talk and how much fun he'd be to have a beer...Coke...with.
   People were fool by "that" eight years ago and look what we "really" got.

Romney's answer about black on black violence was one of the best answers of the night. He mentioned the father, and that in a nutshell answered where and why violence starts. Too many black kids grow up without responsible parents. That is the ONLY answer to the problem. Black society needs to take responsibility for its own actions instead of blaming the white man and republicans.

The biggest take from the debate is how tied in the Democratic Party is to the Clinton News Network (CNN). The media is so unabashedly liberal they don't even take care to be secretive any more. I enjoy this spectacle more than the debate itself. It took Bill Bennett all of thirty seconds to pick off Clinton's plant in the General. It only further shows who the cheaters are in politics.
Democrats would never present themselves in front of a mediator that wasn't drinking their KoolAid.
YouTube is so sophmoric - only a news network where no one over 20 watches would even think of using such a juvenile concept as a backdrop, except MSNBC of course.
Huckabee wins again. Romney did enough but is coming off too scripted - hard to get behind.
Look for Mitt and Mike '08...

z-My sentiments exactly! If the GOP continues to pander to less than 30% of the population hopefully they will go by way of the Whig party.

Thanks for good coverage of the next President of the United States - Mike Huckabee.
He's the RIGHT candidate - hands down!

I was surprised that Huckaby did not seem to know Jesus position on capital punishment. Jesus said render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and when Caesar's rep 'Pontius Pilate' sentenced him tn death, Jesus accepted that punishment with out complaint

I was very impressed with Huckabee. McCain, Paul and Huckabee appeared honest and sincere with their answers. They were the only major players that I feel that actually tried to answer questions. Guiliani and Romney seemed to be very guarded with their comments whcih concerns me. Out of the three that were honest, Huckabee seems like the only one that could work with both sides of the aisle and get something accomplished. McCain and Paul would be lightning rods and would perpetuate the same stalemate legislation we have today.

I would like to see a Huckabee/McCain ticket. McCain is the best person we have to confront terror today. However, if he were at the forefront he would have a battle with Congress as he applies limited filters to his message when angry.

The real question is how bad will the PACKERS beat dallas?

The real question is how bad will the PACKERS beat dallas?

 Have we sunk to voting for a president on the basis or humor, charm, and personality?  What about the real issues and throw in a little intelligence and leadership qualities.
 How many times can the media and some of the people be fooled?  
 Didn't we vote in 2000 for charm and personality.
Look what we got.
  Didn't the media and some of us fall for the Rovian orchestraed Bush, the non wind sufer, once again in 2004?
  Huckabee is charming, humoreous, but let's not be fooled ONCE AGAIN in '08.
  Check out his stand on real issues...cut through his sidestepping with humor.  Find out what he really
is about.
   Vote with your eyes wide open THIS TIME.
 

z is right the 08 election was decided long before these yahoos took the stand. That being said Huckabee was the clear winner, but he has no shot at the general.

Repubs really must miss Rove. Is he the only one wise enough to tell the Repubs that they have to turn out every inch of their bigoted consituency in order to win an election. The glue is gone, but before GW and Rove it wasn't really there either. Rove and GW exploited a perfect storm in order to unite some of the strangest bedfellows ever to claim the same political party. It's funny to watch these debates to see the splintered cells bash and clang against each other.

Huckabee- religious bigot or social conservative
Giuliani- Tough guy
Romney- CEO or fiscal conservative
Paul- Libertarian

The perfect storm is over and now the Repubs have a fractured party where each individual candidate does particularly well at their brand of Republicanism, but once elected can not draw together the rest of the coalition and after pathetic leadership over the past 7 years has zero likelihood of drawing in any independents. The only chance the Repubs have is running Huckabee against Hillary. If the Dem nominee is not Hillary then the Dems win in every single match up possible. Huckabee can carry the south with his bigoted religious views, and stands the greatest likelihood of winning over the CEO republicans as long as he looks like he will be able to manipulate the ignorant religious republicans enough to apply the rules of fiscal conservatism (which if you look he doesn't subscribe too).

While Dem debates often look like a tragedy because of the medias focus on promoting the Hillary candidacy, the GOP debates are certainly the best comedy going right now, since the writers strike has canceled most primetime shows.

Hilary to MARS

Brilliant!

They have no idea what a flip/flop looks like.

She'll be a queen.

Pat thanks for your 9:44 a.m blog for bringing a chuckle. I do enjoy reading them. Keep them coming!  

On a side note, I heard the Clinton's campaign planted another question in the republican debate. The general that ask that question works for the Clinton’s campaign.

I am expecting Clinton's spin on this.

Bee (Sent Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:47 AM)

--------
Bee, this is a total fabrication.  And even if it were a planted question, it was clearly appropriate...it was from a retired army general who was gay asking about don't ask don't tell, i.e., gays in the military.  

Huckabee is awesome. I wish the press would give him more attention - check out his website - seriously- he rocks.

The Bill Clinton psychotic episode of his stance on the Iraq war from yesterday will be the gift that keeps on giving. That will be the YouTube gem for this week that any campaign can link to anytime Hillary makes a statement on Iraq. These two, Bill and Hillary, are becoming a bad joke, and it's showing up in the polls. Sane people look at the insanity these two put out on a daily basis, and are deciding they have had enough of these two frauds.

Romney hired illegal aliens to mow his lawn at his house while governor. Romney didn't introduce governor's bills to legislature to cut taxes.  Romney approved shoddy work on the Big Dig that collapsed and then called it by a racist remark [tar baby].  Romney flip flops more than a fish out of water.

Huckabee raised taxes in Arkansas.  Huckabee would cut all funding to the sciences. Huckabee was a do nothing governor.  Huckabee would change this country's name to the Christian Funadmentalist Regime of America.  Huckabee is nothing more than a one liner debater.  

Anyone who votes for these two needs to get their heads checked.

As a Democrat who watched the debate, it was very informative and interesting.  Debates should show contrasting positions and last nights did.  There seems to be no unity on immigration, the war, torture or taxes even on the republican side.  These issues are the big rocks that Republicans pelt the Democrats with.  

I guess when the get a nominee, the words "glass houses" come to mind.

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