Live-blogging tonight's GOP presidential debate: The Swamp

Posted January 30, 2008 7:37 PM

by Frank James

9:50 pm -- The last Republican debate before Super Tuesday is history and do we know anymore about the candidates than we did before?

I don't think so. They mostly repeated canned lines from their stump speeches which they have used in other debates, occasionally working in some new canned lines from the past couple of weeks.

Considering how high the stakes were, the debate was a surprisingly low-energy affair. The only time the two men battling for the Republican nomination really engaged was in the second half of the event when Romney got angry at McCain for twisting his Iraq timetable statement.

But Romney didn't used that moment to full advantage. McCain has made a key part of his candidacy his straight-talk. But he is really not being straight on the timetable charge.

Romney however didn't deliver any scorching or memorable line or soundbite that could be played repeatedly on the Internet or TV from now until Tuesday.

That's really surprising. There was no "Where's the beef?" or "You're no Jack Kennedy" moment. In a debate this important, you would've expected the Romney campaign would've prepared one. Maybe Romney's "reprehensible" or "old politics" comments were supposed to serve that purpose. But they didn't have the power the moment demanded.

So this debate seems like a wash.

One thing it made me wish for was a one-on-one between McCain and Romney. No offense meant to Paul or Huckabee supporters but such a debate would have allowed the tension between McCain and Romney to develop a little more. That might have revealed an important aspect about either man that would've made this debate decisive.

In any event, we'll be getting a one-on-one tomorrow night when Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have their final, pre-Super Tuesday debate. Thanks for joining us tonight and we look forward to tomorrow.

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9:35 pm -- Hook asks Huckabee what he sees when he looks at Russian President Vladimir Putin, based on the famous Bush quote about seeing Putin's soul and McCain's crack about seeing KGB when he looked in Putin's eyes.

Huckabee says it's actions not looking into eyes that counts which is why we need to have a strong military.

Romney says Putin is headed down the path of authoritarism, the creation of an oppressive regime.

Now he talks about four strategies afoot in the world: Russia uses energy, China uses communism and capitalism, al Qaeda is nihilistic and then there's the U.S., the good guys,

Hook asks McCain about leadership and management experience. What makes him more qualified than Romney who has CEO experience.

McCain reverts to his stump speech. He knows how to lead. He can hire managers. He won't raise the white flag of surrender like the Democrats. He goes through his talking points, catches himself when he mistakenly makes himself a leader in the Reagan Revolution, he was a mere "foot soldier"

Romney goes to his stump too. Romney says McCain is a nice man but that's about it. Talks about how Americans elect governors because they're leaders, not senators. Ticks off his resume. CEO, Salt Lake City Olympics.

VandeHei cites Giuliani who says McCain would make a great commander in chief because of his experience. Why would Romney be a good c-in-c?

Romney says one of his two great regrets he has in his life is that he didn't serve in the military. Hey, what was the other regret? There was no follow-up. What a missed opportunity.

Cooper asks for a response from McCain. Sure he's a fine man, he says of Romney. Managed companies, he bought and sold companies and "people lost their jobs," McCain said. McCain sounded a little bit like Huckabee who has alluded to Romney repeatedly in the campaign by saying voters want to vote for someone who looks like the guy they work with, not the guy who fired them.

Romney laughs loudly. McCain repeats the line that we can't afford on-the-job training.

Cooper asks Paul the leader question. He says the Constitution doesn't make the president commander of the economy. The people are supposed to run the economy, Paul says.

Cooper asks Paul what the role of the government is.

Paul goes into a sound money lecture and finishes with a statement about wisely using the military.

Cooper then goes to Huckabee. Huckabee tells a joke. Cooper had said he would "shower" Huckabee "with questions then turned the spigot off." Good line.

Huckabee agrees with Romney that governors are managers. "When a governor gets to the White House... he understands that all issues are tied together."

Then he seems to take a shot at McCain and Romney. "Governors don't get to specialize" he said. They have to look at issues across the board.

Cooper asks a variation of the question that was asked at the Democratic debate on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday when the Democrats were asked why King would endorse them. This time it's not why King, but why would Reagan endorse you?

Romney says Reagan would support him, then takes a shot at McCain, saying Reagan would've never gone for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

McCain comes right back and takes a shot at Romney. "Reagan wouldn't endorse someone who changed positions depending on the year."

Paul says he supported Reagan when few in Congress did. Not sure what Reagan would do not but he was a supporter of the gold standard as is Paul so draw your own conclusions.

Huckabee says it would be incredibly presumptuous to say Reagan would endorse him. He turns the question around and says he endorses Reagan because of his optimism about America. Huckabee ends the debate on the perfect Reagan note, saying basically he hopes "we still believe in those things which made him a great leader and a great American." Huckabee's always been the best extemporaneous speaker in the race. It helps being a former Baptist preacher.

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9:15 PM -- Cooper reads a quote from Peggy Noonan who said that President Bush has torn the Republican Party asunder over the last eight years.

Romney wants no part of that. Says Bush left an important legacy. "He kept us safe." Knocks the Democrats for wanting to leave Iraq.

He blames the Democrats for most of Bush's failures.

Hook asks Romney about Iraq. She asks him if McCain is right that Romney supported a timetable for Iraq exit.

Romney says no and he's offended that someone would say he wanted a timetable. Calls it a "lie. I do not support that and never have." Romney's on firm ground here. McCain has seemed to be distorting Romney's words.

Then calls it a "dirty trick," that McCain raised it right before the Florida primary when there wasn't enough time to respond, "the kind Ronald Reagan would've found reprehensible." Loud anti-McCain cheers at this point. This is the edgiest point of the debate.

McCain's not backing down. He repeats the timetable charge. He says Romney didn't want to talk about the surge because it was politically dicey to do so in early 2007 and hid behind the fact he was a governor to avoid answering where he stood at the time on the surge.

McCain says timetable was a buzzword for withdrawal.

Romney now asks McCain with anger, "How are you the expert on my position?"

McCain sticks with his attack on Romney.

Cooper reads the whole Romney quote.

McCain doesn't give in. Looks very satisfied, like he's landed a punch.

Cooper asks Romney why he didn't publicly support the surge. Romney explains but I got lost in the fog of details.

Then he calls the timetable attack "old Washington politics."

Now McCain goes on the attack. Repeats timetables was a buzzword. Then takes a shot at Romney for spending his millions on attack ads. "You can spend it all."

VandeHei asks Paul about McCain's we'll be 100 years in Iraq. Paul says we shouldn't have been there at all. Calls the McCain-Romney exchange "silly." Gets a big cheer when he talks about the argument between the two men, calling it a "who said what when" dispute

"How many men are you willing to let die for this?" Paul then asks, sounding alot like John Kerry when he was a Vietnam War protester.

Huckabee says we need victory with honor, sounding a lot like Nixon.

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8:49 PM -- Vander Hei asks Huckabee if he wants to remove citizenship from the chilldren born in the U.S. of illegal immigrants.

Huckabee says the Supreme Court has spoken on that. He says there's a need for illegal immigrants to get in line. I think he was asked about this because at one time he did seem to support stripping such children of citizenship.

Vanderei asks Romney to defend a comment he made earlier in the campaign that illegal immigrants could be deported in 90 days.

Romney first tries to disown the comment but VandeHei pins him down because he has it in front of him verbatim. He says he'd give more wriggle room for some people but others could be deported in that time. No amnesty, he says.

Hook asks Romney if he would vote for his own immigration proposal which would have provided a legal path. "It won't" come up for a vote, McCain says. Then he essentially says that the people have spoken, they want the border sealed.

McCain says since he's from a border state he knows how to secure the borders. He essentially disowns the immigration bill that he sponsored.

Cooper asks Huckabee a question about Sandra Day O'Connor. Was Reagan right to appoint her to the Supreme Court. All the candidates dodge the heck out of this one.

"I'm not that stupid" to criticize Reagan at his own library Huck says.

Then he goes into his stump speech about it not being a political issue. It's about principles, the sanctity of human life, etc.

Paul gets the same question. Says he wouldn't have appointed SDO. She wasn't a constitutionalist.

McCain says he's proud of SDO, a fellow Arizonan. He offers sympathy to her family. He doesn't specifically mention SDO's husband who's suffering from Alzheimer's and has fallen in love with another resident at his nursing home but that's what he's alluding to.

"I'm not going to second guess Reagan," McCain says. Points to justices like Roberts and Alito as examples of the kind of judges he favors.

Romney too likes the same justices. Again, no one wanted to criticize Reagan though Paul did seem to criticize SDO.

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8:42 pm -- Hook asks Huckabee about that really radical idea of his to stimulate the economy by rebuilding I-95.

Huck repeats what he said in the Florida debate, that we don't want to send all the money to China.

He gets a laugh when he says he was pandering in Florida. Since he's in California now he thinks a new West Coast highway would be nice.

Romney says the kind of project like Huckabee's wouldn't work quickly enough which is the same point most economists make.

Paul knocks Huckabee too. Then he talks about a foreign policy where we spend money to blow up bridges overseas (read Iraq) and our bridges are falling down.

Vander Hei asks McCain if he has a plan to help people with bad credit keep their homes.

McCain acknowlegdges that times are tough for people. Lauds Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson. Says we have to return to principle that you don't lend money to people who can't repay and some greedy Wall Street people need punishing.

I'm not hearing a direct answer to the question. McCain is doing a good job of ticking off some of the problems though.

Then he goes back to his spiel about making tax cuts permanent and stop out of control spending.

Hook asks McCain why he opposed the tax cuts, he said they favored the wealthy. Do they still?

McCain dodges the question. Instead, he talks about being there in the Reagan Revolution. He wants to link tax cuts for spending. Sure he's for tax cuts but wants spending cuts too.

Romney gets a chance to tear apart McCain's answer. Says McCain was one of two in GOP who didn't vote for the Bush tax cuts. Ding.

Then Romney moves into the entitlement area, the need to rein in entitlements.

8:30 pm -- Jim Vander Hei of Politico.com asks Romney how can he be a true conservative if he raised fees as governor of Massachusetts. Sort of a followup of the line that McCain took.

Romney says raising fees was needed because they hadn't been raised in a long time to meet inflation. And his health care plan didn't force people to get insurance.

Hook asks McCain an environmental question. Does he agree with Gov Arnold Schwarzneggar's attempt to have stricter greenhouse rules than the federal government?

McCain makes a joke. He's going to agree with the Governator to avoid physical harm.

Then he goes into the environment part of his stump speech. Basically what's the harm in reducing greenhouse gasses. The worst that can happen is that the environment is cleaner.

McCain then calls for nuclear power (Is that a good idea to say in California?)

Romney's asked what he thinks. He says he sides with states. He says the U.S. should be energy independent. Repeats some of the same points McCain made. Stop sending money to Mideast where some of the dollars go to terrorists.

But he opposes caps on emissions which McCain supports.

Now he goes into his stump. He lives in the real economy. He's lived in the business world. Uses the "they don't call it America warming but global warming" line, he often uses to make the point that the U.S. shouldn't act unilaterally.

Huckabee: He says the Governator is right. Talks about states being labs of innovation.

Basically he's with Romney and McCain on federalism.

Paul also agrees with Schwarzneggar. Goes into property rights which is very libertarian of him.

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8:20 pm ET Janet Hook of the LA Times asked Romney if McCain didn't really have a conservative record.

Romney goes through a list of issues where McCain strayed from conservative orthodoxy then ends by bashing McCain with the NY Times endorsement. If you get endorsed by them, you're not a good conservative, Romney says.

McCain strikes back and does a good job saying the conservative paper in the Romney's home town endorsed him. McCain says his hometown paper will be supporting McCain. He goes through "fee" increases that occured during Romney's years as Massachusetts governor. Hits Romney on enacting expensive universal health care in Massachusetts. Then says he has a lot of conservatives supporting him thank you very much.

Romney gets to respond. All the higher tax stuff that happened in Massachusetts was done by others he says.

Huckabee gets a question about Rush Limbaugh's criticisms of him. Rush isn't inerrant or infallible, Huckabee says.

Huckabee also says it's not a two-person race. He's a real conservative too.

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8:10 PM -- Mitt Romney was asked if Americans are better off than 8 years ago. Romney dances away from the old Reagan question. Doesn't want to bash President Bush. Wants to talk about his Massachusetts record. CNN's Anderson Cooper brings him back. Still Romney refuses. Doesn't want to be seen criticizing Bush.

Same question to McCain. Says Americans are better off than 8 years ago but says time for straight talk; Americans are hurting. Goes through the list of problems. Subprime mortgages etc.

Then Cooper throws it to Huckabee who says "We're not better off." He goes further than McCain in terms of describing how bad off we are economically.

Ron Paul agrees we're worse off. Pivots from economy to criticize the war and the lack of the "humble" foreign policy Americans were promised in 2000 by President Bush.

Romney was the only one who didn't engage. The contrast with the other candidates was striking. Not a good moment for Romney.

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8:00 pm ET -- Interesting start to the debate. Didn't expect to see Nancy Reagan but it makes sense she'd be there. It looked like Sen. McCain bowed to her when he greeted here. Did he, or am I making that up?

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by Frank James

We're minutes away now from the start of the Republican presidential debate which is being held tonight at a place with near sacred meaning for Republicans -- the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race earlier tonight and threw his support behind Sen. John McCain who last night won the Florida's Republican Primary, beating Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.

On stage tonight will be McCain; Romney; Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, and Rep. Ron Paul.

But don't let that fool you. The Republican race is essentially now a two-person one, with McCain and Romney having the most realistic shot at the nomination and McCain being the presumptive frontrunner, having won the New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida primaries.

This debate is the last meeting for Republicans before next week's Super Tuesday in which 22 states representing virtually every part of the nation will hold primaries and caucuses. For that reason, the stakes are high.

McCain needs to do a better job of speaking to the nation's current economic anxieties than he has done so far. The senator from Arizona is clearly most comfortable on national security issues but sometimes can sound lost when he talks about economic matters.

McCain also needs to reach out to conservatives in the party for whom McCain has long been suspect because of his tendency to buck Republican orthodoxy.

Unlike McCain, Romney speaks convincingly on economic issues, in part because of his experience as a chief executive officer in the private sector and as a governor.

But he has sometimes had the opposite problem of McCain's, failing to speak convincingly on national security issues.

Romney's bigger problem is that he has "evolved" on social issues like abortion and gay rights. This has raised questions about his constancy for many conservatives.

Romney needs to do what he can to raise the conservatives' confidence in him while continuing to stoke doubts about McCain. That's a tall order for one debate but that's what he needs to do.

We'll be watching to see what role Huckabee plays. Will he go after Romney or McCain, the frontrunner?

Paul can be expected to continue to march to his own drummer, as he has done in preceding debates.

So here we are, down to four candidates, two of whom are really in the hunt for the nomination. Depending on how it turns out, say if someone makes a big gaffe, tonight could be a turning point in the campaign. All in all, this could be a pretty exciting night.

Comments

And in other news, our loyal British buddies are covering shrub's recession as it sinks deeper and deeper into the US economy...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7217769.stm

Worst.Vice.President.Ever.

Posted by: rncbs | January 30, 2008 8:06 PM

This is a key debate and there are 4 canidates left. Why are you only asking questions of 2 canidates? Here's a question for Ron Paul: You have said that you want to get rid of the IRS, why do you want to do this, and how do you plan to get rid of the IRS? (Ron Paul: You have lots of supporters in upstate New York!)

Posted by: Heather Sanger | January 30, 2008 8:29 PM

Yup, a two-man race: Dr. Paul vs. Whatshisname the Neocon.

It doesn't matter whuch one of the three it is, since they're all the same.

I feel sorry for them, getting another butt-kicking by Dr. Paul.

I feel sorry for Nancy Reagan for having to watch it, but that's how sorry her husband's party has become.

Posted by: Tannim | January 30, 2008 8:30 PM

Let Ron Paul speak! Stop cutting in when he's answering questions, it's not fair to Dr. Paul and it is a HUGE disservice to the American Public!

Posted by: Heather Sanger | January 30, 2008 8:34 PM

The only thing in the country's economy that was doing well in the last years was housing. People though were encouraged to get second mortgages to take all the equity in their homes to spend in the consumer society. This is what drove up inflated property values.
Everyone who could take advantage of this did so and now we have bankrupted this part of our economy. Now what?, no rebate will cure this.

Posted by: Bruce Decker | January 30, 2008 8:39 PM

Why doesn't ron Paul make a scene? this is outrageous.

Posted by: Bob D | January 30, 2008 8:51 PM

Why are you so bent on leaving Ron Paul out of this debate? Even when you do ask him a question, you cut him off when he is answering while allowing the others to elaborate at length. So much for fairness.

Posted by: Mike Brifnek | January 30, 2008 9:00 PM

My wife and I are furios about the way in which the debate is handled. Ron Paul was cut short on his answers and very seldom was ask his opinon.We had to sit and listen to the usual lengthy blather from the three other canidates.
This is unfair to Paul and to the people watching

Posted by: Fred Massa | January 30, 2008 9:02 PM

Ron Paul said in 2 minutes of debate time, that McCain, Romney and Huckabee could not say in 1 hour and 28 minutes,,,

Posted by: Robertd | January 30, 2008 9:36 PM

Ron Paul is killing these guys again. When will the rest of the country see it?

Posted by: Joe G | January 30, 2008 9:48 PM

Who won tonight's debate?

Posted by: Annette | January 30, 2008 9:52 PM

Remember when the self proclaimed "straight-talker", John McCain, said that he always thought the Iraq plan in 2003 was flawed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI

Uh oh!!! I guess we can call him Johnny McFlip-flopper from now on.

Posted by: John E | January 30, 2008 10:06 PM

Both Huckabee and Ron Paul were always cut short and not allowed to answer questions. Especially Ron Paul, when they were asking about citizenship of children of illegal aliens, that is Paul’s issue. Then Anderson Cooper would flat out lie and say he would get back to them. It was very easy to see who CNN supports, the two sitting closest to Anderson. Sometime I am ashamed of America. CNN is appalling ashamed to!

Posted by: Robert Zeppelin | January 30, 2008 10:08 PM

Lets see McCain and Huck's Campaigns are practically bankrupt and Romney's Bankrupting himself to fund his campaign...and these are the people we are confident in running our own economy??? Gee let the free market work (like grass roots) and look what can happen. Go Ron!

Posted by: James | January 30, 2008 10:10 PM

Mc Cain only proved to me that he is a one issue candidate. He would make a good general as all he knows or talks about is his military knowledge. Romney and huckabee Know how to run all issues of government. We do need a governor for our next president. Reagan was proof of that.

Posted by: Earl Caouette | January 30, 2008 10:21 PM

Awful, just awful. CNN is simply incapable of running a productive, enlightening debate. The clear contempt they showed for both Huckabee and Paul is really irritating. The fairest way to do this is to ask them all the same question and then give them all the same time to answer.

Posted by: Jim | January 30, 2008 10:22 PM

Yep, again the mainstream media is keeping Dr. Paul down. Even this blog does that by calling this a 2 man race. Paul is the only guy who tells it like it is and has a real plan for fixing our problems...

Posted by: Greg S | January 30, 2008 10:24 PM

OK. On the IRS and Federal Reserve. Do the research. Watch freedom to facsism. We the People must stand up and insist our government remove the IRS. It only goes towards interest on the debt we owe a PRIVATE bank the FED. Rothchild said If I control a nation's money supply I care not who make's there laws. WAKE UP AND RECOGNIZE THE BEAST.

Posted by: heidijo | January 30, 2008 10:49 PM

All the Republican candidates for President, vow to keep the war in Iraq going and to cut taxes. None of them however can control their own spending habits, as most of their campaigns are out of money. Guiliani spent 50 to 60 million dollars in Florida alone! Hope he enjoyed the beach! They can't have it both ways. If our economy is in super-recession, then we can't afford the war. The Fed is cutting interest rates, during a time of inflation, that should tell us something.
During World War II, John Maynard Keynes argued in "How to Pay for the War" that the war effort should be largely financed by higher taxation, rather than deficit spending, in order to avoid inflation

Posted by: Jim | January 30, 2008 10:53 PM

Senator McCain used dirty
politics against Gov. Romney tonight in the Presidential debate in the
Reagan Library in California. He would never get my vote.

Posted by: Therel A. Frei | January 30, 2008 10:56 PM

Of the 18 minutes of the debate I got to watch, it was all between McCain and Romney. There were FOUR people on stage--why weren't Huckabee and Paul in on the debate?? Dr. Paul was especially left out, but the question I saw him answer was the only one that was actually ANSWERED! The others appeared to forget the question halfway into their "answers". I watched Dr. Paul ask to weigh in on a previous question and have Anderson Cooper just stutter and say "You'll have your chance in two minutes" and ten minutes later he still hadn't gotten to speak!! Ridiculous.

Posted by: Rachel C | January 30, 2008 11:18 PM

Unfortunately Ron Paul's excellent points about the crashing dollar and the gov't overspending or allowing the Fed to print more out of thin air is over a majority of the American public's head. They don't understand economics and that if we could control gov't spening then a lot of the programs we do decide to keep could then be funded. The other candidates are afraid to give the public the bad news. Only Ron Paul has the guts to say it.

Posted by: Christine | January 30, 2008 11:28 PM

LETTUCE PICKERS? OH HE LEADS THEM THRU THE AZ. BOARDER GATES

To The YOUNGER VOTERS OF AMERICA Google " The KEATING FIVE "
Mc Cain? 22 years? how long does it take to fight in washington? This mavrick must not be that good ? 11,000 plus earmarks this year? and this bridge to no where? that was not stopped? alaska still gets to keep the $230,000,000.00 ? who faught that john? and when the minn. governor and legislator decides to spend $500,000,000.00 yup 1/2 BILLION on a sports center who wins that one John? the government sent minn. another $250,000,000.00 after getting there $3+ billion in tranportation funds?

One man stands up to the special interests. … One man does what's EASY, not what's RIGHT? I heard he is for temp. workers picking lettuce in is home state?.......... but what does that say for the ones that want to stay here all year long? ...........sounds like that is special interest? so is it the lettuce farmer thats in bed or the temp.workers you are siding for?

Sorry John you are more valuble to use in the senate ,you collect your $58,000 per year navy pension and we will feel sorry for the senators and pay them $1 million per term for there part time work , keep up the good work ,I cant wait till next year and the what 12 or 13,000 earmarks and none are going to AZ.

WHAT DOES HE DO FOR HIS HOME STATE?

YIPPY ops Isn't Az the state with the big hole? must not be much there? do they have a fence yet?

Will they need Gates for the lettuce pickers

Posted by: Tom Smalley,IOWA | January 30, 2008 11:32 PM

Iknow where my goverment hand out is going;help ron.

Posted by: J ADAMS | January 30, 2008 11:38 PM

Agreeing with everyone else. Ron Paul's treatment was despicable. He was never given the chance he was promised "two minutes, no two questions " later.

This is outrageous!
And the same applies to Huckabee.

These debates are not 'moderated' at all, they are controlled and biased.

The money bomb tomorrow will prove them wrong, when I donate a lot of my student loan money to get Ron Paul in office!

Posted by: Catherine-Grace | January 31, 2008 12:05 AM

Way to ignore Huckabee and Ron Paul. Could they be much more obvious. Ron seems to me to be the only one who really is anything near Reagan. Such a two candidate debate, even in a country where we are supposed to have free speech we are clearly shown examples where speech is being censored or in this case not allowing others to speak. Why is everyone afraid to hear the truth. Go Ron Paul! Boo to you CNN and Anderson Cooper. It seemed like CNN also prompted the LONG and drawn out mud slinging between Romney and McCain, it was a simple question. Pull out of Iraq or Not. Ron can answer that question with 1 sentence. We shouldnt have went their and get out. Not 3 - 5 minutes of double talk and he said I said that McCain and Romney needed to solve nothing. Ron Paul for President.

Posted by: Mary Whitmore | January 31, 2008 12:18 AM

RE: Republican Debate January 30 2008 - Simi Valley, CA. - Reagan Library

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Ron Paul is fighting for us. Now we have to fight for him! Anderson Cooper's conduct at tonight's debate is inexcusable! If CNN has any journalistic integrity at all; THEY MUST TAKE ACTION AGAINST ANDERSON COOPER! Anderson Cooper MUST BE FIRED!!! This cannot go unanswered. Our nation's media must be held accountable. The Soviet era "Pravda" would have been more fair!

ATTN: Paul Supporters, BOYCOTT MAINSTREAM NEWS NOW! DO NOT WATCH NETWORK or CABLE NEWS! Don't play their game! The BEST way to support Ron Paul, is a TOTAL boycott on Mainstream News Media until he wins. There isn't one mainstream media news source that we can turn to. We rule on the web, so make them fight on our turf. Besides, you aren't going to miss much anyways. Get your news media from google and youtube only!

Posted by: Matt | January 31, 2008 12:29 AM

I'm with the Ron Paul people. CNN is blatantly, hostilely against a real, impartial debate, and I will do everything I can to resist this march towards fascist groupthink. CNN, go straight to ****.

Posted by: Dale Holmgren | January 31, 2008 12:33 AM

I can't see what people see in Romney. He's slick, sneaky and dishonest (ran ads using distorted facts against his opponents). Hopefully he loses in a big way. After the debate tonight, Huckabee definitely gets my vote.

Posted by: Chris | January 31, 2008 12:39 AM

Why do they even include these other candidates (particularly Ron Paul) when they will not give them time to speak? The media has obviously already decided, and it all just seems terribly rude & frustrating. After the debate, commentators ramble on and on about "strategies" & opinions on candidates waiting too long to defend their positions or "fighting with dirty politics." Talking heads analyze and give advice; if this one can do this or that to devise a strategy to win over the conservatives or the liberals...like we don't have a brain in our head nor the capacity to see through a "strategy to win" rather than a true stand on the issues. Ron Paul seems to be the only candidate not playing those games, but...it's obvious since he's virtually ignored that he's largely written off.

Posted by: melanie | January 31, 2008 12:40 AM

Anderson Cooper showed incredible disrespect for Dr. Paul, a Congressman. If CNN wanted a 2 person debate they should have had it. I even felt bad for Huckabee. I have started to watch 360 less and now I think I'll stop watching it all together. It seems that Anderson should stick to covering hurricanes.

Posted by: Rob | January 31, 2008 12:49 AM

Anderson Cooper's one and only job was to ensure all FOUR participants have equal time. He failed miserably.

Mr. Cooper your preferred candiadtes were showing and you should be ashamed.

Posted by: Scott Smith | January 31, 2008 1:33 AM

It is terrible that Ron Paul was promised time to answer the question and it was never given (nor was it intended to be given). I also think Huckabee had some interesting things to say and should have been alloted more time. The banter between the others was awful.

Posted by: Dr. Paul Geraci | January 31, 2008 2:30 AM

We each seem to have our own major issue(s) that make their choice for President seem like the best one. The economy is a big one for me. McCain did not know about the "Working Group on Financial Markets" in the last debate. Romney and Huckabee think the stimulus package from DC is a great idea. Just unbelievable and VERY scary if they are elected! My question is: Would someone tell me why we should NOT elect Ron Paul??

Ron Paul has raised more money than the rest in the 4th quarter & is spending it! $20 million in the 4th quarter. $3.5 million so far this quarter. And it was all from individual donations averaging less than $100. No PACs. Unlike the others he is beholding to nothing but the Constitution.

The rest, with Richardson and Kucinich out, seem to be talking crazy talk (or did last week, who knows what the Democrats will say next week!) about our military adventures in the Middle East. Military spending is connected to our current economic mess. Additionally, no one else seems to understand the problems with the economy, inflation, and out of control deficit spending. Inflation is going to eat us alive, as it has already started to do so. Do you really believe that the REAL inflation rate last year, the rate that was used by the government for Social Security check increases this month, was 2.3%? Just look at the price of gold up 30% in 2007, now at an all time high and getting higher!

One can not talk about tax cuts without ALSO talking about cutting spending. We have a $9 trillion debt (nearly double since 2000) that must be paid so we can afford Social Security and Medicare. The interest payments will go sky high when we begin to fight inflation with higher Federal Reserve bank rates.

And we must stop inflation or everyone's life savings will go down the tubes, along with the middle class, like what has happened to the middle class in most countries south of our border. And do not forget Universal Health Care, which is coming down the tracks right at us, unless Republicans begin to understand the seriousness of runaway deficits and inflation. And start educating the country. A Democratic President will surely not fight inflation like Volcker and Reagan did!

Please vote Ron Paul and save the country from bankruptcy abroad and at home!

Posted by: DenisL | January 31, 2008 6:18 AM

Please vote Ron Paul and save the country from bankruptcy abroad and at home!

Posted by: DenisL | January 31, 2008 6:19 AM

Anderson Cooper is an aweful moderator. No control of the debate - cutting answers off, excluding reponses. It was pure manipulation for the viewer, who recieved no benefit for that 1 and 1/2 hour.

Posted by: TJ | January 31, 2008 8:53 AM

Paull Supporters: MASS EMAIL THIS PROTEST LETTER TO CNN AND THEIR SPONSORS!

Dear CNN, affiliate TBS, and sponsors Los Angeles Times, and Politico.com of Capitol News Co.:

I found your coverage of the 1/31/08 Republican debate in Simi Valley, California to be extremely biased. The final speaking times were completely uneven and unfair. Each candidate in this election deserves equal coverage for how far they've come, and we rely on you for the news, not so that you can twist the news to suit yourselves and your advertisers.

We request that you immediately issue an apology for the unequal speaking times the candidates were allowed; furthermore, you should extend to those candidates that were given drastically less time the opportunity to make a televised statement free of charge to make up for the inaccuracy in your monitoring of the time allowances.

It is not acceptable to the American people that you are giving certain candidates more face time and speaking time than the others, for no apparent (or stated) reason.

Until such an apology is issued, I will not be tuning into CNN, TBS, the LA Times, nor Politico, nor will I be purchasing products from ANY sponsors of this debate. I have copied the investor relations departments of the companies that participated in advertising for this debate.

We already have FOX News being unfair and unbalanced. It used to be that MSNBC and CNN were different: WHAT HAPPENED???

Sincerely,

Matt S.

written on this site for mass distribution: http://www.connietalk.com/republican_california_debate_013008_III.html

Deliver this petition by e-mail, phone, or letter (preferably, all three!):
We will be doing all three, and will be recording our answers to post for you. If you can record yours for YouTube and send it to us, we'll publish it! Just make sure to advise the other party on the line that the conversation is being recorded (if state regulations apply).

Anderson Cooper, c/o N.S. Bienstock, Talent Agent
1740 Broadway, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-765-3040
Fax: 212-757-6411
NSBienstock.com
nsb@nsbienstock.com

All Executive VP's at Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), affiliate of CNN
14 North Tower
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-827-1008
Fax: 404-827-2381
tbsinfo@turner.com

CNN Executives
David Bohrman, Susan Bunda, Scot Safon, Jim Walton, Jonathan Klein
One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303
and
820 First St., NE
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 404-827-1700, and 202-898-7900 Fax: 202-898-7923
Contact Form here

Los Angeles Times Editors
202 W. 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 213-237-5000
Fax: 213-237-7679
readers.rep@latimes.com, latfeedback@latimes.echomail.com, meredith.artley@latimes.com, letters@latimes.com, ocletters@latimes.com

Posted by: CNN PROTEST! Anderson Cooper MUST BE HELD RESPONSIBLE! | January 31, 2008 9:18 AM

>> "No offense meant to Paul or Huckabee supporters but such a debate would have allowed the tension between McCain and Romney to develop a little more."

Excuse me? You couldn't tell from their childish bickering that NEITHER of them is fit for office? Why aren't they discussing issues that MATTER instead of their own petty whining?

I'd rather see a debate -- and HONEST and FAIR debate --- between Ron and ANYBODY of either party. He could mop the floor with them.

Posted by: mmikemac | January 31, 2008 9:22 AM

Is it true McCain wheres adult diapers? I heard a reporter on his Straight Talk Express bus found a receipt from Walgreen's that had 3 boxes charged on it. The reporter's name is Matt Stanfield and he writes for the Florida Sentinel.

Posted by: jackson | January 31, 2008 10:12 AM

I am appalled at the bias toward certain candidates shown in the debates. The media is so very biased against anyone who might just go against what they have decided is best for us.

We voters aren't children. We are perfectly capable of deciding what is best for us. What's the matter? Are you guys scared of Ron Paul? Are you afraid of a man of character who doesn't sell his soul to the corporate giants?

I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet but that you're ignoring Rep. Paul so blatantly, tells me that there is something very wrong with the press.

Posted by: Kay Dennison | January 31, 2008 10:15 AM

The Ron Paul internet cult is out in full force again. If you guys had as many voters as bloggers, he might have a prayer. The Swamp editors need to get this under control. Their mission is to promote Obama, and how are they supposed to do that when they have to sift through all these Ron Paul posts coming in?

I did like Paul's response to the economy question. The POTUS is not a king and has no business "managing" the economy in the first place. The POTUS has the authority to veto/sign tax and reglatory laws passed by Congress. That should be the extent of his involvement. The POTUS doesn't have a magic wand to "fix" or "manage" the economy, nor should he.

Posted by: Herbie H. | January 31, 2008 10:53 AM

McCain and Romney are two sock puppets for their special interest groups. Go ahead Anderson, ask them how much of their support comes from special interest and how can we the people as individiduals can be represented by these two? The corporately owned media explicitly shows what and who they support, as does McCain and Romney. I also find it disgraceful fro them to behave this way in front of Nancy Reagan. She is owed an apology.

Posted by: Shunaki | January 31, 2008 11:07 AM

I am absolutely disgusted by CNN. The way they treated Dr. Paul was reprehensible. I caucused for Obama but would vote for Paul as my second choice and will contribute to both. All of the comments in this post about CNN being completely controlled by corporate interests is spot on. There is no longer an independent media but rather one that as Wolf Blitzer constantly states is a business that "has to pay the bills." There is a difference between paying the bills and completely selling out which Blitzer and CNN probably use as a "selling point" to their corporate sponsors; advertise with us and we will do anything, no really, literally anything!

We really need an independent media now more than ever before and at least Dr. Paul discusses these issues.

Posted by: concerned citizen | January 31, 2008 2:55 PM

Everyone please complain to CNN about the biased debate coverage and the unfair moderating by Anderson Cooper. It is undemocratic and just wrong to ignore 2 of the candidates in the race because the aren't the front runners. In a debate everyone should have the right to a fair share of the time to speak and voice their views. Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee being pushed to the sidelines is unfair.

Here is the link to complain about Anderson Cooper's moderating of the debate. http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?5

Posted by: Nathan Weber | January 31, 2008 5:48 PM

CNN should be up front with its audience about its production values: Just tell us up front, "We have decided to give the vast majority of time to McCain and Romney. This is a production decision, and Huckabee and Paul must be willing to accept a diminished role, as prescribed by our network." Just say it, CNN. Don't operate under the pretence of fairness. The debate was a sham, and Huckabee and Paul should have walked off the stage.

Posted by: Charlotte | January 31, 2008 8:20 PM

I saw a cool site that showed how all the candidates compare on the issues side-by-side:
http://KnowBeforeYouVote.com/
- worth checking out! =o)

Posted by: Zachariah | February 1, 2008 4:30 AM