May 15, 2007
Liveblogging The 2nd GOP Debate
UPDATED.
End note. Tonight's debate felt more substantive than the last meeting of the Republican 10. Candidates got the same 30 seconds or so to answer questions, but there were fewer questions this time, which made the pacing seem more orderly. The questions themselves were also all serious, more or less -- no one got lobbed with an out-of-left-field query (unlike last time around).
Quite a few of the candidates seem to have learned something from McCain. There were more follow-them-to-the-gates-of-hell type responses on terrorism tonight. But no one capped it with a weird, triumphant smile. In fact, we didn't detect any gaffes at all. (If you think Ron Paul's performance qualifies as a gaffe -- you just don't know Ron Paul.)
Overall, the field feels more set in stone than it did before. Of the lower-tier contenders, Gilmore, Huckabee and Tancredo asserted themselves the most, but probably not in a way that will set their campaigns on fire. Thompson was oddly quiet tonight, as was Brownback.
Mercifully, the next debate, this time among the Democrats, is nearly three weeks away. And, most everyone in Washington hopes, a wartime appropriations bill will make it out of Congress and past the president's desk by then. In the time since the debate began tonight, the Pentagon announced the deaths of two more soldiers, one in Iraq and one in Pakistan. Clocks are ticking all around. And no one on that stage knows this more than the guys not named Giuliani or McCain.
FOXNews.com is streaming its debate analysis. See Captain's Quarters, The Caucus, The Corner and The Fix for their takes on the debate.
10:34. And it's over. Hunter had just gotten a chance to sound the alarm on China, his other pet issue after immigration. The center of gravity in the 2008 election will likely remain the Iraq war, and there's little he and other candidates can do about that. But how much longer can the front-runners campaign on Iraq and fiscal policy alone? Shouldn't they have to give serious thought to, say, China's growing economic influence and military growth as well?
10:30. Back to domestic policy, thanks to Romney. "The civil rights issue of our time is not what's going on right here," he said, motioning around the stage, "but what's going on in our schools, in the inner cities of America."
Romney was talking about the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, one of the feathers in this administration's cap. Chris Wallace, incidentally, had just asked Gilmore why all the candidates were male and white. Gilmore didn't directly answer the question but said that everyone should be judged on their record.
10:26. We have a winner! Tancredo: "I'm looking for Jack Bauer..."
10:22. And now we enter the War Games portion of the debate. While voters understandably want to know how the candidates would perform in the wake of another 9/11, there are so many variables in such a scenario that it is impossible to really know. Nonetheless, Brit Hume asks the question. For some of the candidates, this round is a race for who would push the red button first.
Brownback: "I wouldn't go to the U.N." Romney: "We ought to double Guantanamo." Hunter: "This would take a one-minute conversation with the secretary of defense."
10:14. Spoke too soon. The moderators bring up McCain's famous history with the Confederate flag issue, in which he seemed to back the flag on state property during the 2000 primaries, and then issued a heartfelt mea culpa after losing in South Carolina. (This is part of the reason why the media fell in love with him back then.)
South Carolinians love their Confederate flags, but they also love it when McCain says everyone should move on.
10:10. And here we hit the limit on where one can go with Giuliani. The Libertarian Paul is not long for this campaign, it's fair to say, and here is a good reason why: The Republican field is the wrong one in which to blame Islamic terrorism on American foreign policy. He goes there, and Giuliani angrily retorts: "I don't think I've ever heard that one before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for 9/11."
There's that famous Giuliani temper, and in this instance, it's OK with the audience. Probably the loudest applause we've heard all night.
10:00. Giuliani restates his support for a "tamper-proof ID card" and a database of immigrants. Putting aside for now the dubious efficacy of that card, which the White House also backs, Giuliani repeats this campaign standby: "I know more than anyone on this stage about how to secure a city."
So far, everyone in this field is staying far away from Giuliani's reputation as The 9/11 Mayor. But it's only a matter of time before the negative press in New York spills into the national media. Giuliani's claim that he is THE anti-terrorism candidate could very well have an expiration date, because the one thing he definitely knows more about than his rivals is being attacked by terrorists. Whether he knows more about preventing attacks -- that remains to be seen.
9:53. Tancredo gets to sound off on his pet issue, the very reason he is standing on that stage. This is the message his campaign conveys to Americans who feel passionately about illegal immigration: If elected, there is little Giuliani, McCain or Romney will do to address your concerns. Effectively accusing his rivals of overstating their willingness to clamp down on illegal immigration, Tancredo refers to their stated platforms as conversions "on the road to Des Moines." Ouch.
9:49. The Stick works both ways, as Huckabee so nicely illustrates. Taking an indirect hit at Giuliani's assertion that he is personally opposed to abortion but believes it should be legal, the former Arkansas governor says, "If something is morally wrong, then let's oppose it."
9:40. Maybe it's the frenzy of liveblogging, but Giuliani's new, stubborn stance on abortion is looking more and more sane. He points out that under his stewardship, adoptions went up and abortions went down in New York City. That's helpful to him on two fronts: He gets to say he's actually done something to reduce abortions, and he gets to use The Hypocrite Stick against some factions of the pro-life movement that seem more concerned with embryos than what happens to unwanted babies after they are born.
9:37. It's time to stop being polite and start being real, Gilmore says. He calls out by name Huckabee on taxes, Romney on health care, and Giuliani on abortion.
Giuliani's response: "I think that Rudy McRomney wouldn't make a bad ticket."
9:33. The longer-shot candidates have one very effective weapon to use against the top tier: The Hypocrite Stick. Gilmore's at bat first, repeating his mantra that he's "been a consistent conservative all my life," and slamming his rivals for their performance at the earlier Ronald Reagan Library debate. "Some of the people on this stage were very liberal in characterizing themselves as conservatives," the former Virginia governor says.
Tancredo wields The Hypocrite Stick next, calling out those on the stage who've voted for the massive No Child Left Behind and Medicare reform bill and prescription drug benefit, and asking how they can claim to be fiscal conservatives.
9:28. Paul sees Huckabee's let's-shut-down-the-IRS and raises him a let's-get-rid-of-the-Dept.-of-Education-and-the-Dept.-of-
Homeland-Security-and...
9:26. Thompson says he signed "over 1,900 vetoes" as governor of Wisconsin. It's an indirect challenge to Romney (subscription): You love vetoes? I'll show you some vetoes!
9:24. Looks like Giuliani's got a campaign theme song. Of his experience as mayor of New York: If I can slash deficits here, I can slash deficits anywhere. (That's a paraphrase.)
9:23. The first big laugh of the evening, courtesy of Huckabee: "Congress [has] spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop."
9:21. Romney dodges a question about his "flip-flopper" label ("Instead of talking about the same old, same old, let's streamline and make Washington more efficient") and is followed by an actual flip-flop. McCain restates his changed position on Bush's tax cuts -- he's for them now -- and again compares congressional spending to that of "a drunken sailor." Noting, as he did on the Sunday shows, that the quip is an insult to drunken sailors.
9:19. Gilmore offers a frightening vision of a nuclear race in the Middle East. In short: Freak the American people out enough, and they'll sign on to an attack on Iran.
9:17. Separating himself from the Bush administration on the war is Huckabee: "We're doing a lot of things over, maybe we should have just done it right."
9:13. Tancredo cites the president's vow that the Iraqis should "be in control of all 18 provinces of Iraq" by November, calling it "a good benchmark to set." But he doesn't answer this question: What if that benchmark isn't met?
9:11. Giuliani takes the first slap at Democrats on the war, and seconds McCain's prediction that the insurgents in Iraq "will follow us home."
9:09. Romney sees Iraq in the context of a "global jihadist" struggle. This is somewhat risky -- as more Americans see little point to being in Iraq, their idea of the U.S. military's presence in the world seems to narrow. Romney just cast a very wide net, in an expansive definition of the war on terror.
9:06. McCain's up first on Iraq. He notes that "only four of the five brigades" that are part of the Baghdad Security Plan have made it to Iraq, and vows to be "the last man standing" on the war.
9:04. The candidates, from left to right: John McCain, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo, Mike Huckabee, Jim Gilmore, Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback and Tommy Thompson. Romney seemed to get the most applause. Also, there will be bells to tell candidates when to zip it. Also again, no talk of Jerry Falwell.
8:45. Welcome to The Gate's liveblog of the second GOP debate. FOX News is playing host to the candidates this time around, with much less fanfare than competitor MSNBC used to promote its two debates. Why? Maybe it's because FOX is still trying to pin down a Democratic debate to host, or maybe it's that the chosen network of conservatives (according to some people) isn't feeling great about this slate of Republican contenders either. (You decide.)
Expect the temperature to be lowered somewhat this time around, insofar as Chris Wallace and Brit Hume are less manic in temperament than Chris Matthews, who hosted MSNBC's GOP forum. Also expect more pointed questions tonight -- the top-tier candidates didn't seem to do much to assuage Republican voters' concerns about them in the May 3 debate.
The bad news for the top tier is that the media are still atwitter over the non-existent candidacies of Michael Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Hagel and Fred Thompson. Those possible contenders are biding their time, content to stick their legs out and see if anyone whistles, as Dan Rather might say. But for now, and for Republicans more acutely than Democrats, the field they've got is the field they've got. Let's just hope something informative comes out of tonight.
The debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT on FOX News Channel and via video stream on FOXNews.com. Stay tuned....
(Graphics: Reuben Dalke)
Posted at 8:37 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Chuck Hagel, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, Tommy Thompson, WH 2008
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