The American Mind

Behold, another debate that wasn’t. It’s not for a lack of trying. The Fox News moderators attempted to get some back and forth going among the candidates. With ten candidates it was tough making sure everyone got a question let alone hope some butt heads. Also they weren’t willing to criticize by name. A clash did occur which gave one of the ten a strong, memorable moment.

If you were playing the Reagan Drinking Game you don’t have to worry about waking up tomorrow with a headache. There were only a handful of mentions of the Gipper. Rep. Ron Paul made the first one implying Reagan would pull troops out of Iraq just like he pulled the Marines out of Lebanon. Rudy Giuliani wants “Reagan-like across the board budget cuts.”

Nine out of ten candidates were wannabe comedians. All bombed but one. Mike Huckabee whacked it out of the theater saying, “We had a Congress that spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop.” I say nine because Tommy Thompson can’t display any humor outside of Wisconsin. Even in the Badger State he only gets laughs from his biggest Republican fans.

Rep. Tom Tancredo won the Biggest Word of the Night Award for “constabulatory.” McCain uttered a Bushism for his new word “transensential.”

Sen. John McCain took his biggest shot at Mitt Romney.

He should have saved his ammunition for Giuliani who he’s chasing in the polls.

Another reason McCain should have launched at Rudy because he had a good night. He took his hits on abortion taking the libertarian stance that he wants to “keep government out of people’s lives.” (Tell that to this libertarian.)

In the second half of the debate moderator Brit Hume took the candidates into a hypothetical scenario of nuked American cities, captured terrorists, and impending doom. Rudy shined under the 24 spotlight.

Fox News haters and conservative critics will rejoice in thinking this is evidence conservatives prefer Jack Bauer’s world to reality. What-if questions are acceptable for focusing the mind and show how the candidates think. McCain stuck to his anti-torture stance. Romney talked about using tough interrogation methods but not torture. Tancredo wanted Jack Bauer to appear giving him the second-best line of the night.

Giuliani benefited the most from these questions, and it was all at Ron Paul’s expense. Paul couldn’t give any answers to what he would do as President if we were under terrorist attack. His non-stop constitutional arguments never allow him to think about what government and the President can and should do. In his ramblings Paul talked about why al Qaeda attacked the U.S. on Sep. 11, 2001. One reason was U.S. intervention in the Middle East. Specifically bombing Iraq. That set off Rudy who was visibly steamed. He interrupted saying,

That’s an extraordinary statement. That’s an extraordinary statement. As someone who lived through the attack of 9/11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11.

The house applauded.

Paul’s reply: “blowback.” The U.S. asked for it. Typical blame-the-victim tripe usually uttered by Noam Chomsky fans. The paleolibertarian, Anarchy Lew Rockwell crowd will think Paul spoke truth to power while Giuliani is a moron.

Ask yourself this if the U.S. brought all its overseas forces back to the U.S.; if the U.S. left NATO and other alliances; if she told Israel, “You’re on your own,” do you really think Osama bin Laden and the Islamists would declare their war on the West to be over? Think they would go back to their villages and abuse their women in peace?

If the Islamist War is the issue, not just Iraq, Giuliani’s unique experience lifts him up from the pack. The war isn’t just Iraq and Afghanistan. If Rudy can frame it in broader terms he would make a formidable nominee.

UPDATE: Hot Air has video of the Giuliani-Paul exchange with Rudy talking to Hannity and Colmes afterwards.

Because of Rudy getting tough with the Paul pinata John Tabin declared him the winner.