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<\/a><\/p>\nQuick impressions:<\/p>\n
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- Mitt talked too much.\u00a0 He came across a bit like…a too-slick CEO.\u00a0 Not that he didn’t have great points – but there were times he needed to stop short of where he did, and just talk less.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Mike Huckabee presented himself very <\/em>well, although occasionally at the expense of actually answering the question.\u00a0 Perhaps he was trying to edge around the “nannystater” rep he’s gotten in conservative circles in the last few weeks.\u00a0 Oddly, Anderson Cooper didn’t seem to press him to answer the question as much as he did other candidates.<\/li>\n
- Giuliani looked nervous, and occasionally distracted.\u00a0 As a rule, he gave good, solid answers (including, I think, to the “gotcha” question toward the end), but he could have come across better.<\/li>\n
- Thompson seemed (a little) more “relaxed” than “asleep”.\u00a0 He had some sound bite lines, but he didn’t get enough air time.<\/li>\n
- It was the first time I’d seen Tom Tancredo in a debate.\u00a0 He did well, not that it matters much.<\/li>\n
- Duncan Hunter, on the\u00a0 other hand – a guy I’d love to see as a front-runner – could have done a lot better. Part of it may have been lack of practice – I think they only got around to him two or three times.<\/li>\n
- Ron Paul seems to be morphing into Ross Perot.\u00a0 His crowd, incidentally, was out in force last night, with posters and a booth and a big, raucous turnout.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure Rep. Paul won the straw poll (although I had to leave a bit early).<\/li>\n
- John McCain is taking great pains to push his conservative credentials – understandable, given the audience.\u00a0 At times I found myself painfully wishing he could go back in time and take back McCain-Feingold and the Gang of 14; he almost sounded supportable.\u00a0 I feel the train has left the station for the Senator, and it made me just a little sad.<\/li>\n
- Anderson Cooper is a twit.<\/li>\n
- I loved the way CNN picked the two “gun nuts” and one literal “bible waver” that most perfectly fit the most caricatured stereotype of Second Amendment activists and Christians they could find.\u00a0 And where I say “loved”, I mean “thought it was as predictable as…well, Anderson Cooper being\u00a0 a twit.<\/li>\n
- While I’m ambivalent about the “gays in the military” issue – I don’t personally <\/em>see a reason to exclude them from military service – I confess that by nature of my background I’m loath to suggest imposing a rule on the military by complete fiat; “unit cohesion” is <\/em>a matter of life and death.\u00a0 I’m not entirely sold on the idea that gays in squads will wreck unit cohesion – the British military has allowed openly gay servicepeople for quite some time, and the British army has been famous for unit cohesion for a very long time.\u00a0 That being said, General Kerr got way <\/em>too much air time.\u00a0 While\u00a0King and I both commented “good question” during the General’s video appearance,\u00a0the General’s open-mic harangue from the audience was long, preachy, and excessive.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Anyone else?<\/p>\n
UPDATE:\u00a0\u00a0 Michelle Malkin notes that there was more to the questions than met the casual eye<\/a>:<\/p>\n
Retired Brig. Gen.\/gays in the military lobbyist\/Hillary-Kerry supporter Keith H. Kerr<\/font><\/strong><\/a> wasn\u2019t the only plant at the CNN\/YouTube debate. The plant uncovering is in full-swing over at Free Republic<\/font><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n
Example: \u201cJourney,\u201d a.k.a. \u201cPaperserenade<\/font><\/strong><\/a>,\u201d the girl who asked an abortion question, is a declared John Edwards supporter.<\/p>\n
You couldn\u2019t tell from the video that CNN aired, where she\u2019s wearing a plain shirt:<\/p>\n
![\"1journey.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/michellemalkin.cachefly.net\/michellemalkin.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/1journey.jpg\")
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\nBut if you click through on her YouTube profile<\/font><\/strong><\/a>, you see her latest video in response to the candidates\u2019 answers. And she\u2019s prominently wearing\u2026her John Edwards \u201808 t-shirt:<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd on, and on, and on.\u00a0 Read the whole thing.<\/p>\n
And for the record (on the off-chance that anyone is keeping the “record” of my statements), I don’t care that they’re Democrats; merely that CNN presented them – I would suspect with full knowledge – as just regular folks.<\/p>\n
- Mike Huckabee presented himself very <\/em>well, although occasionally at the expense of actually answering the question.\u00a0 Perhaps he was trying to edge around the “nannystater” rep he’s gotten in conservative circles in the last few weeks.\u00a0 Oddly, Anderson Cooper didn’t seem to press him to answer the question as much as he did other candidates.<\/li>\n