My thoughts on the Republican debate

Okay, first off . . . I'm an idiot because I forgot it was on tonight! duhrr

But beside that, I was actually most impressed with Rick Santorum. Don't really know much about the guy, but he came off well. I liked his positions on most things, though his zero sum approach on abortion troubles me. He had a fabulous sequence on the 10th amendment. I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hades of getting the nomination, but he made the most impression on me.

Ron Paul is still a major nut bag. I cannot fathom how this lunatic keeps getting elected out of Texas. I thought they were smarter out there. I know he's intelligent, I know he has a great command of constitutional knowledge and I like some of his positions vis a vis libertarianism. But his world view is severely cracked and he looks like he's a broken hip away from the nursing home.

Newt Gingrich is still the great seducer. He's intelligent, has a history teacher's knowledge of this country and its political workings, but everyone forgets his tenure as Speaker of the House. He's the definition of a Washington insider -- go along to get along. I don't care how much he is claiming to be all about getting away from business as usual, if he was President, he'd be just as poll driven and maleable as Bill Clinton was.

Michele Bachmann held her own amidst some heavy fire, showing she can take the heat. But she didn't move my needle any.

T-Paw seems like a nice guy, but I just don't get the presidential vibe from him.

Mitt is still Mitt. He says all the right things, he looks so darn presidential, but I don't trust him to still be saying the same things tomorrow. I liked that he explained his reasoning behind RomneyCare, but I still disagree with the program.

Herman Cain is a lot of fun, and I'm sure he's a good businessman, but President . . . nah, not happening. The press ate Sarah Palin up for supposedly being uninformed and Herman admitted he wasn't up to speed on a lot of things. That admission would bury him in a general election.

Huntsman didn't do a lot for me. I don't think he's the right guy for this time in history. The compassionate conservative thing isn't going to sell now.

As to the program itself -- Newt and the others grumbled about gotcha questions, but if they were using their heads, they would have realized the reason the questions were being asked is because the liberal media was going to be asking them of the eventual nominee. They were being given a chance to get out in front now with their answers. Pity no one was savvy enough to pick up on that.

Except me, of course. But I'm with it like that.

The after show, spin room thingy with Hannity wasn't bad. He gave the candidates that showed up a nice chance to talk. I'm totally unimpressed with Frank Luntz. His gimmicky dial focus groups has made him a big draw on FOX for their political shows, but I don't think he has any real insight into anything out of the obvious.

But he really needs to go on a diet, though. He was a stout guy when he broke in on television, but it looks like he's spending his days at an all you can eat buffet taking full advantage of his new found wealth. He's getting that bloated, pasty, jiggly fatness you see in the morbidly obese. Maybe it's a glandular thing, but either way I hope he gets a handle on this for his health's sake.

That should about cover it.

Let's see, did I forget anything? Oh yeah, Hilary Duff in a bikini:

sheesh

How could I forget something like that?

Update:
And enjoy that pic of Hilary btw, because news came out she's pregnant now, so it'll be a couple of years, if ever again, she's rockin' a bikini like that.
*sigh*