Republicans Debate in Reagan Library, Help College Students Develop New Drinking Game
I have to apologize for not posting in the last few days. I wanted to take in the collective experience of the Florida primary and the debates on both sides before posting. I watched the CNN Republican debate in the Ronald Reagan Library with great interest, mostly to see how ugly it would get between John McCain and Mitt Romney. I also tried keeping track of Ronald Reagan references but I ran out of fingers.
I think that John McCain has the same problem in debates as George W. Bush had in 2000 and 2004. Bush smirked and smiled his way through the debates while his opponents earnestly wrote notes and listened attentively. I am not sure if sitting down in front of Reagan’s Air Force One made McCain more prone to smiling at his new momentum but the Arizona senator was smirking his way through the entire debate. I cannot believe that I am siding with Mitt Romney in this debate but I thought he seemed more presidential, for whatever that is worth.
I don’t want to get into my problems with CNN’s debate rules notably the lack of strict time restrictions (check out my next entry on the Democratic debates). My bigger problem was the utter lack of coverage for Governor Mike Huckabee and Representative Ron Paul. The stage was not that big and there were only four candidates to speak with over 90 minutes. I found the fact that Ron Paul got the biggest applause of the night for his anti-war stance to be heartening considering the Republican audience.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
“I also tried keeping track of Ronald Reagan references but I ran out of fingers.”
Holy crap … I couldn’t make myself watch, but did have it on the TV in the other room thinking that I could at least listen. But, good lord, you could run out of fingers, toes and any other appendages you might be blessed with, and still not have been able to keep track of the Reagan references. I finally had to turn it off. My bad, I know, but I couldn’t take any more.