Another Poor Debate Compliments Of ABC

I said it the last time ABC hosted the Republican debate, and I'll say it again - the Republican candidates should never agree to a debate hosted by George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer.  Last night's debate was another mini-travesty with the moderators asking utterly inane questions seemingly right out of the Democratic playbook.  The worst of the bunch was whether states have a right to ban contraception.  As Romney pointed out ten times to Stephanopoulos, that is not an issue any state has raised.  Then there was another 15 minutes spent on gay marriage - an issue in which the candidates have not an inch of space between their positions.  The only reason to dwell on it in a Republican debate was to prime the left wing pump for the general election.

Romney got through the debate without being seriously challenged by any of the candidates.  Newt hinted at a challenge, but could have been much more aggressive in comparing and contrasting his economic plan with Romney's, as well as his experience in creating the conditions for job growth.  At this point though, it might all be academic.  Michael Barone is calling it for Romney.  I will hold my breath until South Carolina.

As always in the debates, the best lines of the night came from Gingrich.  Chief among those was his response on the gay marriage issue - refusing to take the Stephanopoulos bait:

       

Even two of the most despicable pundits on the right, Coulter and Rubin, applauded Newt for that answer on twitter.  I can only guess that they feel Newt's candidacy is already mortally wounded, and thus it is safe now to show a bit of magnanimity.  If Newt was leading, I would expect the two of them to be banging the drum on how Newt's performance was dismal and how Romney shined.  They are a disgraceful pair.

Ron Paul was Ron Paul, taking shots at Santorum and Gingrich, though surprisingly not really taking any shots at Romney.  If you were not for Paul before the debate, nothing he said is likely to change your mind.

Santorum got asked a lot of questions and didn't fumble any of them.  My sense was that he neither helped nor hurt himself tonight.

As an aside, let me point out that I do not support Santorum for the nomination.  Indeed, I rank him just above Ron Paul.  My problems with Santorum are two fold.  One, he lacks charisma and seems humorless.  Two, my sense is that he is committed to social conservatism the way the far left is committed to progressivism.  He would push to ensconce his views into law without respect to federalism or majority views, as the far left has done with their own ideology over the past fifty years.  While I am a social conservative, I am a Constitutionalist first.  I do not think that Santorum is.  

Huntsman and Perry did not get asked many questions.  I can't see them staying in the race beyond South Carolina.

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McCain & Clinton Take New Hampshire

For anyone to prognosticate how this campaign is going to play out, their crystal ball is far clearer than mine. McCain's N.H. victory is no surprise, but it just further muddles the Republican picture. I would be happy with a McCain nomination, but I know a few of my conservative brothers and sisters will be reaching for the antacids over that one. Actually, I think any of the Republican nominees would be acceptable with the exception of Mike Huckabee, and I base that on his weakness in foreign policy and what his cynical trick on the eve of Iowa said about his character.

On the Democratic side, we've had the last four days of Obamamania and polls predicting a Hillary N.H. loss by ten points or more. That is just one more abject lesson in why reliance on polls is perilous at best - whether its placing bets on an election or, even worse, choosing how to govern. Beyond that, hopefully we will be spared more Obamalatio in the MSM for a few days, as well as more gender baiting from Gloria Steinem.

Hillary is clearly not inevitable, but her primary challenger, Obama, has nothing of substance to offer beyond a good smile and Kennedyesque rhetoric. That said, if one closes their eyes and listens to all his happy talk, it all sounds quite soothing, actually. As to Hillary, I can't close my eyes and listen to her. Both audibly and substantively, every utterance of hers grates down my spine like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I think the biggest change that will come out of New Hampshire is how Hillary chooses to campaign. She clearly cannot afford to sit on the fence and await coronation as she did in the run-up to Iowa. But we will see.

In any event, two down, forty-eight to go.

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Interesting News from Around the Web - 31 Dec. 07

The WSJ is reporting that Ron Paul might win the New Hampshire primary. This leads to the inescapable conclusion that the primary system is broken. New Hampshire is not representative of Republicans generally nor sanity apparently.

"Asked for his views on an alternative to the EU, Alan Sked, the founder of UKIP, famously noted that the alternative to suicide was simply not to commit suicide." Brits horrified at their country’s goose step march into that grand experiment in undemocratic socialism, the EU, are looking at an "anglosphere" alternative. Sounds about right to me.

And speaking of Britain, the country which gave us the model for our Second Amendment right of an individual to keep and bear arms with its Declaration of Rights of 1689 (which to my knowledge Britain has never repealed) does not even trust its constabulary to be armed. A female police officer was shot while investigating an armed robbery this morning in Lancashire and one of her assailants escaped.

And the Tories are as bad as the socialist Labour Party in the UK. They are still not making an unequivocal statement that they will allow the people of the UK a referendum on Treaty of Lisbon that establishes the EU as a state and Britain as a province. Labour’s Gordon Brown is refusing to allow a referendum. The Tory’s David Cameron is trying to hint that he will if elected without promising it. What a travesty.

Expected on January 1 in the binge drinking capital of the world - a lot of partying. Expected post January 1, a record number of abortions and STD’s.

"The Roman Catholic Church has vowed to "fight the Devil head-on" by training hundreds of priests as exorcists. Father Gabriele Amorth, 82, the Vatican's Exorcist in Chief, announced the initiative amid the Church's concerns about growing worldwide interest in Satanism and the occult."

Watch German multiculturalism in action. "A top member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has said Germany has too many criminal young foreigners and that immigrants must stick to the rules of Germany's "Christian-Occidental" culture . . ." Both seem reasonable. But not to Der Speigel and the rest of Germany’s left.

Iran’s greatest fear appears to be from internal dissent. That is not surprising. The IRGC is addressing this by taking better control of the theocracy’s thugs, the Basij, and expanding the force.

Fatah’s armed wing calls for the assassination of Fatah’s Prime Minister Salaam Fayad for "collaboration" with Israel and the US. Someone remind me why we are giving a dollar in aid to Fatah? It certainly has brought no stability.

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