Who Won? Who Lost?
by Ryan Sager
Thu, 3 May 2007 at 10:26 PM
updated Thu, 3 May 2007 at 10:43 PM
Well, my first thought is just how much more substantive that debate was than the Democratic debate, in terms of both specificity and grappling with deep, philosophical questions.
But, now, to name the winners and losers. Off the bat, let me stipulate that I don't consider any of the seven dwarves to necessitate much analysis. Ron Paul is a pure libertarian, so I always enjoy hearing from him. But I'll stick mostly here to the Big Three. Winner: Mitt Romney. Loser, by a mile: Rudy Giuliani. Treading water: John McCain.
Mr. Romney: If anyone stood out from the other candidates, in terms of looking polished and poised, it was clearly Mr. Romney. He got off some of the best lines of the night, partially because Chris Matthews gave him some oddball questions (I particularly liked: "I don't say anything to Roman Catholic bishops. They can do whatever the heck they want." [see: 8:38]). He, more than any of the others, managed to sound reasonable and assured no matter what he was saying. He's still got a major flip-flopping problem, and basically lied about it during his answers on abortion. But any casual observer of the debate (were there any non-junkies watching?) would probably have to view him as head-and-shoulders above the others.
Mr. Giuliani: At this point, it's hard to escape the conclusion that the Giuliani campaign is in a full meltdown. The former mayor simply wasn't himself on that stage, trying to contort himself into something the religious right can accept, while at the same time refusing to pander to them in any way that would actually help him win the nomination. Basically, he was offending them while seeming terrified of offending them. His answer on abortion [see: 8:29] will go down as one of the worst moments of either debate so far this season — just painful to watch. His inability to say more than five seconds worth of positive things about Christian conservatives [see: 8:44] was also truly awful. He was thrown a softball and chose to bash himself over the head with the bat instead. The campaign is still salvageable for Mr. Giuliani, but if tonight wasn't his operation's wake-up call, nothing will be.
Mr. McCain: Maybe it's because I've seen too much of him recently, but Mr. McCain was really relying on a lot of canned lines at this debate, and it was grating. He didn't embarrass himself like Mr. Giuliani, but he didn't distinguish himself either. He may be the tortoise in this race. But it's no fun watching him plod.
The alternate "winner" of tonight's debate, of course, was Fred Thompson. By not showing up, he managed to stay out of the muck and to preserve his status as magical "savior" candidate for another night. I'm not sure that's good for the nomination process, but it's good for Mr. Thompson.
One other thing I have to say. I hate these 10-candidate debates. They really waste a lot of our time with things like Jim Gilmore's views on taxes. I mean, I'm sure he's got some great views. But giving the big three candidates 30 seconds each to respond to the great questions that face our nation — it just leaves time for nothing but canned answers and/or aimless digressions. I think Messrs. McCain and Giuliani would both have been better served by a more in-depth format (and Mr. Romney would have done well in such a format, too). And since these are the candidates we're really choosing between, I hate the charade.
UPDATE: Well, an insta-poll of Californians thought Mr. Giuliani won. Trippy.
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