Wasn't that a lovely spectacle last night? If Republican presidential candidates get any nastier, they may start slapping restraining orders on each other.
The CNN-YouTube debate was a portrait in theatrical but ill-performed aggression and irrelevancy -- and the only thing that saved the party's most formidable candidate was that most of the questions were taped days or even weeks ago, thereby sparing him a grilling on the latest accusations of accounting fraud.
As The Politico reported yesterday, "As New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.
"The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants."
Whoops. All for the love of a (another) good woman, while the other little lady waited for hubby to come home from the Hamptons. Democratic pundit Bill Press yesterday described Rudy as "a ticking time bomb," and this report on what amounts to official malfeasance could be the final tick, assuming Rudy's opponents gang-slam him with the proper elan. But given their performances last night, I wouldn't count on it.
It was often as though the debate was their first crack at delivering well-rehearsed lines. Mike Huckabee -- who's now playing the religion card with elaborate unsubtlety; pasting 'Christian Leader' on his TV ads -- was, as usual, the most articulate, but his cornered emphasis on a reasonable immigration policy couldn't have helped him much among rabidly anti-immigration Republicans.
Just ask John McCain, who's one splendid moment last night came not on the dominant topic of immigration, but on the torture issue, as he slapped the clueless and bobbing Mitt Romney upside the head with, "How in the world anybody could think that that kind of thing could be inflicted by Americans on people who are held in our custody is absolutely beyond me."
John, need we remind you these are Republican primaries in play, in which inhumanity doubles as populist king.
Other than that, McCain seemed a bit off his game, occasionally stumbling in search of that flawless sound bite he's delivered a thousand times. What's absolutely beyond me, John, is how anyone could commit himself to a grueling two years of saying the same damn thing twelve times a day. But in so doing, I suppose you deserve a little credit and a little cut slack, for stamina, if nothing else.
Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter -- two political obscurities still squeezing their 15 minutes -- had no business even being on stage, although they ignored issues of actual importance to the American people, such as health care, just as handily as the more prominent candidates. Fred Thompson demonstrated he's still shooting for 'Fred Who?' status, bollixing a line on Giuliani's employment practices that he had days to perfect -- this guy was really a professional actor? -- and proving once again he's open to a presidential anointment, but not an election.
And, finally, there was poor Ron Paul, a befuddled constitutionalist among imperial stormtroopers, looking and sounding as out of place as any authentic libertarian would in this age of superpowered Republican arrogance.
If anything of value was gleaned from last night's debate, it was only that CNN's YouTube format stinks. Given the dated, prerecorded questions, the majority of seven had little to no opportunity to skewer and possibly eliminate the 800-pound-gorilla minority of one -- Rudy -- over his yet additional scandal.
On the other hand, as amateurish and lackluster as their sputtering aggressions were, the majority probably would have screwed that up, too.
I do not understand why you bother, Mr. Carpenter! You do know that whatever the Republican candidates say or do not say in the primaries will be promptly flushed down the memory hole once the nominee is selected. The choosen one will then recieve a makeover and come out looking like, surprise, an amalgam of Reagen, Eisenhower and Jesus Christ.
The media will recieve their instructions, and will go along with anything required. And after all, with the Democrats running a combination of Satan, Josef Stalin and Mrs. Borgia, can you blame them? America's future is in the balance!
Posted by: Mooser | November 29, 2007 at 03:23 PM