The Pendragon's Hall

Who won the GOP debate tonight? Giuliani did rise a few points in my estimation by lashing out at Ron Paul's statement that the US caused 9/11 by bombing Iraq in the late 90s, saying, "I can't believe I'm hearing this. I've never heard that the campaigns against Saddam Hussein brought on 9/11 and I've heard some pretty absurd reasons." So credit where credit's due. The guy, however, is still trying to wriggle out on every other issue. The real winner tonight was Mike Huckabee who nailed Giuliani with a similar statement to my last blog entry: "Saying you're personally opposed to abortion but not willing to do anything about it is like saying you're against slavery but people have the right to engage in it." Giuliani's feeble response was: "I can't imagine anyone having a good reason for believing in slavery, but good people have differing positions on abortion." You need to retake your history classes, Mr. Mayor. There were good people--Robert E. Lee, for example--who were "personally opposed" to slavery and freed their own slaves but helped lead the war that would have perptuated the institution indefinitely. The issues are interconnected and while I appreciate that you stick to your guns and tell people what you think no matter how unpopular, you are, in fact, espousing a similar position to the pro-slavery argument and there's no two ways about it. As for the rest, I still like Mitt Romney. He did pretty well. Tancredo rose in my esimation by his strong position on illegal immigration and when asked about his response to a hypothetical terror attack with nuclear bombs, responding that "if bombs go off in the US, I'm not going to ask questions about how our troops treated the terrorists arrested." McCain sounded feeble and old--he's in the last stages, I'm afraid. Giuliani, as always, proved he has no program for the presidency. He kept babbling about how government should not interfere in the abortion debate, apparently ignoring that the courts, a branch of the government (needs to retake his civics too), are constantly interfering in the debate. The only one who came close to changing my mind about the current slate of candidates was Mike Huckabee, I think the clear winner of this debate. I have re-ranked the candidates by my own preference, following this debate. I shall continue to do this as long as the debates continue.

1. Mitt Romney (still the best choice for experience and positions).
2. Mike Huckabee
3. Rep. Tancredo (don't know his first name)
4. Jim Gilmore
5. Sam Brownback
6. Tommy Thompson (rather boring)
7. Duncan Hunter
8. John McCain
9. Rudy Giuliani
10. Ron Paul.