The New Hampshire debates on Saturday night accomplished a rare feat – they actually provided insight into the candidates. ABC’s Charlie Gibson should be given some credit for trying a new format that gave the candidates more opportunity to explain themselves and respond to each other.
Some of my favorite moments:
After Ron Paul suggested American foreign policy was to blame for the rising current of anti-American sentiment, the rest of the field rushed in to assert their Americana credentials.
Rudy Giuliani went further than anyone, claiming that Islamic terrorism stems from perverted religion. “This comes out of their own perverted thinking,” he said.
Giuliani also never missed an opportunity to uphold his political hero, Ronald Reagan. If we gave out a nickel for every time he invoked Reagan, we could restart trickle-down economics.
Mitt Romney woke up and remembered he had once been an advocate of mandatory health care insurance, saying, “I like mandates.” But, lest he be confused for a Democrat, Romney quickly backpedaled, saying mandates only work at the state level, and each state should be encouraged to make their own plan.
Romney and John McCain got into a veritable catfight over whether McCain’s plan for immigration reform constituted amnesty. McCain shot back later in the debate, accusing Romney of flip-flopping through the backhanded compliment: “You are the candidate of change.”
Huckabee had one of the best moments of the night right at the end of debate when each candidate was given an opportunity to attack Obama. Huckabee acknowledged that Obama is a likable candidate who has excited voters, and he warned his fellow Republicans that they would lose the election, and thus lose important issues, if they didn’t stand for something.
By the way, during the Democratic debate Gibson claimed “experts” say there is a 30 percent chance of a nuclear attack on an American city in the next 10 years…just so y’all know.
Edwards and Clinton take the night’s award for best dramatic performance. Edwards aligned himself with Obama, saying the “status quo” attacks whenever advocates speak out for change. Clinton mounted a spirited response, saying that change takes hard work, not just promises, and that she is running on 35 years of making change.
But for my money, Richardson made the most interesting contribution to the change v. experience debate, succinctly questioning, “What’s wrong with experience?”
“We all want change,” he said. “Is experience a leper?”
Gibson raised the issue of “likeability” late in the debate, claiming Obama has proved more likable than Clinton. Clinton gamely responded, “Well, that hurts my feelings…but I’ll try to go on.” Obama awkwardly took the bait, nearly mumbling, “You’re likable enough, Hillary.”
