Republican Debate: Quick take

Just finished watching the debacle of a debate on CNN. Anderson Cooper and company did an absolutely terrible job of moderating. Huckabee and Paul may as well have been invisible, and were not given nearly the same amount of time to speak as McCain and Romney.

In my opinion, Huckabee did the best in terms of actually answering the questions posed to him, without dissolving into rhetoric. He wisely took the high road on trick questions such as "Would Ronald Reagan endorse you for President, and why?" and "Did Ronald Reagan make a poor choice when he appointed Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court?" I think Huckabee presented himself well, and did the best overall.

Romney and McCain were like two kids tussling in the schoolyard, and McCain came off badly in the end. The guy had the world on a string today, with Guiliani dropping out and endorsing him...this was his night to come across as a "uniter" who could bring the party together, and instead, he got down into the muckity muck. The Governator is reportedly going to endorse McCain tomorrow, and he's going to need it, because he certainly didn't do himself any favors in his debate performance tonight. He came across as addled and bumbling, playing fast and loose with the facts a few times.

Ron Paul was treated with contempt, by CNN and by McCain and Romney (their patronizing smirks when he was talking were awful). I thought Paul gave some solid answers, particularly on the economy and the War in Iraq, but was completely marginalized by the format of the debate.