Republican debate 6/5

I think Wolf Blitzer did the Main Stream Media (MSM) proud tonight. Promptly following the debate, Wolf pointed out that all 10 Republican candidates held the same view on Iraq.

He gives teeth to the myth of MSM bias. Regardless...

I had mixed feelings on most of the candidates.

With Rudy Giuliani's talk of "nation building," he continues to lose ground with me. John McCain surprised me... I had a mixed reaction to his comments... even though I've felt a great distance from him recently.

Although they've made some good (and bad) suggestions in the three debates, Tommy Thompson and Tom Tancredo leave me wanting for a better speaker. And that's where Mike Huckabee has really surprised me. Huckabee is head n shoulders above the rest... as far as his speaking ability goes. He's a really good speaker and he's comfortable with what he says.

Duncan Hunter is really concerning to me with his talk on Iran. Our military is stretched so thin right now, I don't think America can do anymore (and that's what the Generals are saying... did anyone catch 60 Minutes on Memorial Day weekend? A sitting Major General said just that... albeit in slightly different words). Our military is really hurting.

Mitt Romney is a pretty good speaker... but I'm just not a fan yet. Sam Brownback is also a surprisingly good speaker, though Huckabee is the best. I think Jim Gilmore only went up in stock for me tonight, but... he still can't compete with my candidate of choice:

Ron Paul, M.D.!

Lastly, I couldn't believe the equivocation by most of the candidates (I think Paul & Gilmore were the exceptions) on the issue of Scooter Libby getting a pardon. Seriously... I wonder how many of these gentlemen were calling for impeachment/jail for Bill Clinton in 1998? I don't know who did and I'm not about to research it. But for Republicans to be equivocating on the issue of jailtime for perjury is really disappointing. Come to think of it, several of the candidates were in office during the Monica thing... so they've probably made comments on the record.

Tim White