The high point - actually, the only really interesting exchange - in the generally boring Republican debate in California tonight came between McCain and Romney, over McCain's claim that Romney wanted "time tables" for withdrawal of our troops in Iraq, which claim Romney vehemently denied.
McCain offered the following quote from Romney back in April: "You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone."
Which McCain said proved that Romney was calling for a time table, and Romney said did not.
The reality, as this article from ABC News shows, is that Romney was calling for "unpublished" time tables, and his statement about waiting in the weeds was about not wanting the enemy to know about the time tables.
So, McCain was right.
Insofar as debate points, at least.
As to the right position on our war in Iraq, this once again belonged to Ron Paul, who again pointed out that the war is unconstitutional, and we should not be there at all.
Other highlights: Another piece of evidence that Mitt Romney might be a Cylon came after the debate, when Romney press secretary Kevin Madden - who looks like Romney - joked on a late edition of Hardball on MSNBC that he was a "spokesmodel" ... hmmm...
I'm looking forward to the Democratic debate tomorrow night, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will go one on one.
McCain offered the following quote from Romney back in April: "You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone."
Which McCain said proved that Romney was calling for a time table, and Romney said did not.
The reality, as this article from ABC News shows, is that Romney was calling for "unpublished" time tables, and his statement about waiting in the weeds was about not wanting the enemy to know about the time tables.
So, McCain was right.
Insofar as debate points, at least.
As to the right position on our war in Iraq, this once again belonged to Ron Paul, who again pointed out that the war is unconstitutional, and we should not be there at all.
Other highlights: Another piece of evidence that Mitt Romney might be a Cylon came after the debate, when Romney press secretary Kevin Madden - who looks like Romney - joked on a late edition of Hardball on MSNBC that he was a "spokesmodel" ... hmmm...I'm looking forward to the Democratic debate tomorrow night, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will go one on one.
5 comments:
I thought Huckabee and Paul were both interesting. The thing that I like about Paul, in particular, is that he is always there to talk about policy in a very down to earth way. He wants to debate the issues by talking about the vision that ought be pursued, rather than the minutia that constitute the vague differences between candidate A and candidate B.
If Obama is smart, he'll stick to that kind of strategy tomorrow rather than allowing himself to be drawn into a bicker battle with Clinton. I fear that the Democratic debate on Thursday will degenerate into an incoherent, scattered ramble about the respective records of the candidates (or the perception thereof) and we'll get nothing.
By the way, my latest self-promotion here included the appropriate html code to translate my latest piece on the Reagan Myth over at Communicative Action into the hyperlink you see in this sentence. Thanks for the tip Dr. L.
And a fine looking - and reading - blog it is, Mike!
Thanks....still under construction, but with your help it just might work. ;)
Agreed. Romney is a cyclon and so is his spokesmodel.
On the McCain thing, I find it funny that this tiny little point is what they spend the most time arguing about. Truth is, what Romney was hinting at - that the US president might engage in secret talks with the Iraqi leader and use the concept of timetables as leverage - is a totally reasonable idea. I find it hysterical that the debate in the GOP is over who will stay in Iraq the longest, while upwards of 70% of Americans want us to start leaving.
Romney actually made a decent point, and he has to deny he said it to get the nomination. Wow.
You're completely right, Dave (and welcome to Infinite Regress!)
Part of Romney's problem is that he can't communicate clearly. Instead of explaining the advantages of secret negotiations, he got into a match with McCain about whether he was actually talking about time tables - which he was (although not the public kind)...
Comes from operating strictly on the basis of programming...
Post a Comment