December 12, 2007
Ohthankgod: Liveblogging The Last GOP Debate Of 2007
4:37. In a post-debate interview on CNN, Huckabee said he apologized to Romney for the Jesus/devil remark while sticking to his earlier insistence that the remark had been taken out of context.
"He was gracious," Huckabee said of Romney's response.
There's nothing in the Times mag feature, by the way, to suggest Huckabee meant anything by that comment beyond an expression of genuine curiosity. Andrew Sullivan found background for the question on the LDS Web site. Anyone who used to go to Sunday school knows that according to the Bible Satan/Lucifer/the devil was a fallen angel. Before he went evil he was just a regular angel, and in that sense, according to LDS, the devil and Jesus are brothers of a kind. OK, that's enough theology from me.
3:50. It's over, and insane as it sounds it feels too soon. That's a product of there having been a few too many non-contenders on the stage, no doubt.
Did uncommitted Iowans get what they needed here? Depends on whom they're leaning toward. Nothing bad happened to Huckabee, which is exactly what he needed as his viability star rises. Tancredo tried to portray Huck as an immigration flip-flopper, but... he's Tancredo. Lucky for Huckabee, Giuliani only goes there at grave risk to himself.
Romney didn't get a chance to zing Huckabee, but with that ad on the air he may not have needed to. And Huckabee was not asked about that Jesus/devil comment or his own attack-ish ad. The absence of theology in this debate may not be what some campaign prognosticators wanted, but it was classy, for immediate lack of a better word.
First reactions: some thumbs down at NRO. Hot Air has clips. RedState on the moderator: "I never thought I'd long for Chris Matthews." Goodness.
The Democratic candidates go to bat tomorrow, sans Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich. (The explanation of why them and not Keyes is at the bottom of this post.) Check back with us for more liveblog coverage.
3:24. Is it some kind of rule that all candidate debates have to end with a silly question? (Help me out here, DNC/RNC.) Everyone declines to bite when asked which New Year's resolution they would suggest for an opponent. Everyone except Tancredo, that is, who asks Huckabee how he will convince America that his hardening on immigration is legit. Huckabee doesn't get time to respond.
3:21. Eesh -- 17 DNC press releases and counting. The only attack releases from campaigns I've got are coming from Thompson -- target: Huckabee.
3:17. Washburn asks a fiscal conservative vs. social conservative question, and we get a nice illustration of how stretched-out the concept of conservatism has become over the past couple of decades.
"Part of conservatism means not sending technology to our adversaries," Hunter says. O-kay.
3:10. Giuliani says that the billing for his then-mistress' security detail was done the way it was so it would be "more open to Freedom of Information Act requests." He continues: "I can't think of a public figure that's had a more transparent life than I've had."
He is, of course, making reference to his extramarital affair while he was mayor of NYC, but he's sort of set himself up here on his governing record. Giuliani was sued repeatedly, and lost repeatedly, by the press when he was in office.
3:07. I missed the explanation for the candidate videos we're seeing now, but they seem to be responses to different questions.
Paul: "The Internet is just delightful!" Yes, delightful to the tune of $5 million and a blimp.
3:03. Romney: "global jihad," entitlements, taxes, energy independence, education, health insurance for all.
Huckabee: "I like these laundry lists, but the reality is none of that's going to happen until we bring this country back together." His "first priority" would be to tackle political polarization and unify Republicans and Democrats. Good luck!
2:58. What would they tackle their first year in office?
Giuliani: Islamic terrorism, illegal immigration, taxes, size of government, energy independence.
Hunter: strengthen military, communist China, strengthen border, communist China, Islamic terrorism, communist China.
Paul: bring troops home, restore diplomatic credibility, bring Navy back from Persian Gulf.
2:53. More pouncing on "Huckananny," this time because he supports expanding arts and music programs in schools. Huckabee, for those who don't know, plays in a rock band and issued pardons to two of the Rolling Stones (for speeding, I think) before he left office. His response to Tancredo's attacks is that students benefit from well-rounded education.
2:49. These guys really are giving Washburn a hard time. Keyes gives her lip for not giving all the candidates a go at all the questions, and then when she allows him 30 seconds he gives her more lip for not getting 60. His answer on the education Q, by the way, is to stop allowing "judges to drive God out of our schools."
2:45. Lest anyone go on thinking the anti-immigration Hunter is a xenophobic racist: He used to work in "the barrio."
2:42. Can the Register host all presidential debates from now on? Good question on raising science/math literacy.
McCain: Some charter schools have failed but they are competing. A dig here at Giuliani, as he goes on to praise ed reforms in NYC "under Mayor Bloomberg and [education] Chancellor Joel Klein."
2:41. Anyone else surprised/pleased it took us 41 minutes to get to immigration?
2:35. Washburn nearly loses control over the candidates by scaring them into believing for a second that she's Wolf Blitzer: She asks those who believe in climate change to raise their hands.
"I'm not doing hand-shows today," Thompson barks. Romney and others applaud.
Once things settle down, McCain states he does believe in global warming and that skeptics ought to weigh the risks of being wrong. Romney: "We call it global warming, not America warming." That's a neat distillation of the GOP's position.
2:33. Thompson: "When our worst enemy is sitting at the negotiating table, who do you want on our side of the table representing you?"
2:30. ...Tancredo, for instance. He raises the "Mexican trucks" specter.
Hunter's next and he agrees -- NAFTA's been a disaster.
2:29. "The reality is, NAFTA is a good thing.... it just needs to be enforced," Giuliani says. Plenty of people in his party disagree...
2:25. Because we've got so many candidates and so little time, questions are only going to one or two candidates before moderator Carolyn Washburn moves on to the next one.
2:23. Why should you be president? McCain: I have the most extensive experience with national security issues of anyone here. Unfortunately for him, the 2008 campaign is becoming less about national security issues by the day, it seems.
2:21. Everyone hates taxes.
2:20. Romney is good here, in part because this question favors those with executive (i.e., budget-making) experience. His answer is to identify programs that don't work and get rid of them -- which, he reminds us, is what he did as governor of Massachusetts.
Tancredo delivers a classic conservative response: "Don't ask the government for womb-to-tomb protection for your life... because all of that will cost a humongous amount of money and that's money we don't have."
Thompson is banging the entitlement gong pretty hard so far.
2:13. What would the candidates ask the American people to sacrifice for debt reduction?
Giuliani, who's advocated for 10-percent slashes on non-military spending across the board, won't get into specifics, and does give us, possibly, the first dig at Huckabee of this debate when he says Americans should not rely "on government as the nanny government."
2:11. First question out of the gate is about the "tsunami of debt" facing this nation and whether it's a threat to U.S. national security. Giuliani: reduce corporate taxes. Hunter: "Trade loss" to "communist China" is the real threat to national security. Paul: "We're in the midst of a currency crisis" because we've "lived beyond our means." Tancredo: blame oil from "countries that are not our friends." Thompson: China too, plus entitlement spending -- he wants to reduce Social Security spending and add to military spending. Romney: very vague here -- "good jobs," "look to ways to strengthen the American people." Huckabee: energy too, plus outsourcing. McCain: loss of military strength follows loss of economic strength, so slow down spending, "achieve energy independence." Keyes: get rid of the income tax, replace with fair tax.
Is anyone going to get too angry if I pay less attention to Keyes?
1:58. All the usual suspects are here PLUS Alan Keyes. Here's the explanation for that. Also say Hi to: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter.
1:56. Welcome to The Gate's liveblog coverage of the Des Moines Register's Republican presidential candidates debate. This is the last such forum for this field until the Jan. 3 caucuses, and there's lots of reason to believe it will be a pivotal one.
Two words: Mike. Huckabee.
Talk about fishes and loaves: The Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor is now tied for first in two new national polls, suggesting that his weeks-long lead in Iowa may not be a fluke -- and that the absence of a clear front-running Republican has mitigated the advantage that money and a vast ground organization usually buy. Put another way: Huckabee has totally, completely changed the rules in this nomination fight.
It's clear why the New York Times Magazine chose not to wait until the weekend to post its cover story on Huckabee. Expect him to get one more chance to clarify what he was thinking when he asked his interviewer, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
Showtime's at 2 p.m. EST. All three cable news networks are broadcasting the 90-minute forum, and the Register's Web site is streaming the action.
Photo Illustrations: Reuben Dalke
Posted at 4:37 PM
Posted to:
Alan Keyes, Campaigns, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo, WH 2008
Share via
