A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on November 29th, 2007 in Campaign News

Chris Cillizza has a debate round-up. Since I was teaching instead of having my eyeballs melted by the idiocy, I’ll have to use his version of the truth:

Mike Huckabee: The former Arkansas governor needed a strong performance to keep the buzz building around his candidacy and he delivered. Huckabee was firing on all cylinders last night — not only did he display his quick wit and penchant for memorable one-liners (”More people in this country are afraid of an audit than a mugging and there’s a reason why”) but he also showed a serious side that he needs to be a top-tier contender.

Uh - the reason more people fear the tax-man is that mugging is an extremely rare crime. There is no statistical count of “mugging”, but there is of “robbery”, a class that includes all muggings - take a look. In 2005, with a population of 299 million, there were 447,403 robberies reported - meaning that 0.1% of the population reported a robbery. Meanwhile, about 1.22 million people were audited that year. And guess what - it was part of a Republican President’s plan to target lower dollar taxpayers.

But facts don’t matter in modern politics. It’s all about the sound-bite. And that makes Huckabee a contender.

John McCain: McCain has learned over the past few debates how to make the most of the (relatively) little time he is given. Last night he hammered home the idea that he alone on the stage had the experience — both personally and professionally — to win the White House and solve the major problems facing the country.

Of all the Republicans McCain is the least objectionable to me - and there was a time when I might have considered supporting him. That was before he set out to prove he was a “faithful Bushie” by handling the President’s re-election campaign in ‘04 in Arizona and reaching out to Jerry Falwell’s merry band of hate-mongers.

Rudy Giuliani: Hizzoner wasn’t totally on his game last night but he wasn’t all that bad either. The issue for Giuliani — and the reason he’s in today’s “Losers” section — was the heavy focus on social issues during the debate. Immigration dominated the first half hour, followed by guns and the abortion

I’ve always thought that the more Republicans know about Giuliani, the more they will hate about him. Like the rest of us.

Fred Thompson: Thompson is getting more comfortable in these debates but it’s too late. Here’s Thompson’s problem: He wants to be the rise above it all, big policy ideas guy but the way the race has played out he has to be far more aggressive in drawing contrasts with his rivals if he wants to regain his lost poll standing.

He’s trying to be the Barack Obama of the Republican Party. The problem is that the Republican Party don’t want no stinking Barack Obama. With the writers on strike, he just can’t get any good lines.

The one not mentioned is Mitt Romney. He’s the one everyone was attacking - which means they recognize him as the one to beat. The only one who really stands a chance, I think, is Huckabee - because he’s unknown, and when voters get to know him, he seems like a decent guy with reasonable policy positions. And his off-the-cuff humor isn’t bad, either. He could be dangerous in a general election, because he’s so likeable you don’t want to see anyone really go after him. But I don’t think he’ll get the chance. Maybe he can eek out a Veep slot.

Technorati Tags: Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney