Captain's Quarters -

Two horse race? Now FT has joined in. What will Dems do? Get more money from their secret gold mine, of course. Then run more negative ads.

Hi, can you please tell me how to get onto the 101st Fighting Keyboardists blogroll? I've emailed you and put the logo and blogroll on my blog (St. Blogustine) several days ago. Are you still adding members?

Ron Paul needs to just get out. He is noise. The rest seem to have something to say that is worth hearing.

Huckabee.....wow. quite impressive.

It was interesting...

Fox did not serve us well with the format and some of the tone of the questions.

Far too cynical, trying to play gotcha, failing to bring the debate to a more lofty experience.

They let Ron Paul's nutty isolationist, blame USA, head in the sand liberal libertarian mindset take far too much time in this debate.

And they failed to allow the rest of the Candidates respond to the delusions of Paul.

Still, Romney and Rudy are head above all.

Personally, 'fee fee' is something I have never heard of either (especially from associates from MASS), and sounded pathetic.

I don't see it sticking.

His record in MASS, is very sound considering the Democrat grasp on the state.

"Romney got hit pretty hard by a military father who was clearly upset by Romney's glib answer about his sons volunteering "

He handled it just fine.

Was this a set up?
Could this Man have worked for some other candidate?

The comment Romney made was clearly not what he meant, and he apologized immediately.

Romney handled tax reduction excellently, abortion soundly, national security well, etc.

Rudy explains the GWOT and the battle in Iraq the best.

One big loser, is Senator McCain's continued attempt to blame Rummy for the problems in Iraq.

This claim McCain was way ahead of calling for a successful plan to bring stability in Iraq smells badly.

As if McCain can diminish his involvement in the problems of the overall mission.

Besides, Sec. Rumsfeld was a principle player in the team which successfully removed the Taliban and Saddam from power.

Senator McCain should know how hard it is, to manage policy in a combat zone.

It takes strength, resolve, time, to address such a difficult challenge.

McCain is disgraceful, trying to toss those under the bus, who bravely tried to implement the policy he advocated for.

For example, when he demeans Rummy, and talks repeatedly about 'mishandled' or 'failure', he is referencing thousands in Uniform who served in Iraq.

Senator's always seem to run from responsibility.

Also, McCain fails to realize the steps taken before were an essential part of the potential we see today.

Training of the Iraqi forces, successful votes by millions of Iraqis, building a Government, writing a Constitution, etc., are all part of what McCain now rebukes.

It is a mindless expression, as if he is trying to appease the liberals, or the partisans in the MSM by 'a little' Bush Administration bashing, while taking credit for the recent positive news.

It was interesting...

Fox did not serve us well with the format and some of the tone of the questions.

Far too cynical, trying to play gotcha, failing to bring the debate to a more lofty experience.

They let Ron Paul's nutty isolationist, blame USA, head in the sand liberal libertarian mindset take far too much time in this debate.

And they failed to allow the rest of the Candidates respond to the delusions of Paul.

Still, Romney and Rudy are head above all.

Personally, 'fee fee' is something I have never heard of either (especially from associates from MASS), and sounded pathetic.

I don't see it sticking.

His record in MASS, is very sound considering the Democrat grasp on the state.

"Romney got hit pretty hard by a military father who was clearly upset by Romney's glib answer about his sons volunteering "

He handled it just fine.

Was this a set up?
Could this Man have worked for some other candidate?

The comment Romney made was clearly not what he meant, and he apologized immediately.

Romney handled tax reduction excellently, abortion soundly, national security well, etc.

Rudy explains the GWOT and the battle in Iraq the best.

One big loser, is Senator McCain's continued attempt to blame Rummy for the problems in Iraq.

This claim McCain was way ahead of calling for a successful plan to bring stability in Iraq smells badly.

As if McCain can diminish his involvement in the problems of the overall mission.

Besides, Sec. Rumsfeld was a principle player in the team which successfully removed the Taliban and Saddam from power.

Senator McCain should know how hard it is, to manage policy in a combat zone.

It takes strength, resolve, time, to address such a difficult challenge.

McCain is disgraceful, trying to toss those under the bus, who bravely tried to implement the policy he advocated for.

For example, when he demeans Rummy, and talks repeatedly about 'mishandled' or 'failure', he is referencing thousands in Uniform who served in Iraq.

Senator's always seem to run from responsibility.

Also, McCain fails to realize the steps taken before were an essential part of the potential we see today.

Training of the Iraqi forces, successful votes by millions of Iraqis, building a Government, writing a Constitution, etc., are all part of what McCain now rebukes.

It is a mindless expression, as if he is trying to appease the liberals, or the partisans in the MSM by 'a little' Bush Administration bashing, while taking credit for the recent positive news.

It is a shame that Duncan Hunter can't get some steam up. He looks and sounds more presidential than any of this bunch.
Huckabee lost me with his racist comment. If he thinks he can suck up to the immigration crowd and make some hay he is in for a shock.
Rudy looks too New Yorky with that constant smirk on his face. His explanation on family values just shows how clueless he really is about that subject.
Ron Paul looks like a wild man fighting to maintain control.
Tancredo just isn't presidential at all.
Romney looks like he is an ad for Botox
John McCain is rather pitiful.
Brownback looks like he just woke up.
Thompson wasn't there of course but you couldn't tell the difference. It was probably past his bed time anyway.

Huckabee's actual point:

From:
Huckabee: Some Critics Of Comprehensive Reform Are Motivated By Racism
National Journal: The Hotline, May 16, 2006
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/05/huckabee_some_c.html

Huckabee was in DC today and met with reporters over lunch. We'll have more in tomorrow's Hotline.

1. Huckabee, who supports guest worker programs and is not an immigration hard-liner, said he believes opposition to comprehensive immigration reform is 'irrational in many cases.' And he did not discount the causative factor of racism.

"If I were to say that some of it is driven by just sheer racism, I think I would be telling you the truth. I've had conversations with people that and it became very evident that what they really didn't like was that people didn't look like them, didn't talk like them, didn't celebrate ht holidays like they do, and they just had a problem with it. Now, that is not to say that everyone who is really fired out about immigration is racist. They're not."

Just a little off thread, however; I previously had the Captain's site with a pretty blue water scene. It has become a dirty green water scene and for some reason, I cannot change it and cannot contact the site.

Republicans used to be against the department of education? Really? Someone forgot to send me the memo. Thanks for the education on this matter Ron Paul. Isreal has 300 nuclear weapons? Really? Does the U.S. Government know about this? Thanks again, Ron Paul.

How do I end this series of silly questions? Maybe if he would just shut up, I could end the questions.

Duncan Hunter seems like he would make a great Secretary of Homeland Security in the Giuliani/McCain/Romney/Thompson* administration.

*(Choose one.)

Ray says

"Just a little off thread, however; I previously had the Captain's site with a pretty blue water scene. It has become a dirty green water scene and for some reason, I cannot change it and cannot contact the site."

That's because it's a different painting. As I recall, Captain explained that it changed when the website was retooled a couple of weeks ago?

BIG NOTE TO BROADCASTERS AND CAMPAIGN STAFFS: We don't visually recognize the lesser-known candidates. If the network doesn't tell us who an individual lesser-known is, we don't know who he is. There was a guy that did impress us with his mastery of the subject, but we had no idea who he or anyone else was unless they were a front-runner or Ron Paul. (After a prolonged period of waiting for FOX Spin Room coverage, it is Huckabee we'd like to know more about.)

The FOX format was great, the panelists produced wince-inducing questions, not touchy-feely snowman BS. Substantive questions with jugular follow-ups create an informative debate, making debates interesting again. (Finally)

One has the sense that FOX producers required incisive inquiry, if for no other purpose, than to "face" competition. If a candidate is too cowardly to face a FOX interviewer, they are not capable of hold governing our country, in any capacity.

Do a little soul-searching here Non-Fox guys, look beyond your parochial boundaries, grow a journalistic spines. How incisive was your follow-up to Mr. Snowman and why the hell did you find him relevant in the first place?

None of these "top tier" candidates are very appealing. There would not be an opening for Fred to get in if they were.

At some point even the GOP voters and their "pundits" might want to take another look at the second tier people.

Fox did a really good job. They were tough, and they deserve credit for this.

The best part of tonight's debate was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Duncan Hunter's role model - his World War 2 vet dad, worked for the GOP for one year when he came back, volunteering. Every single day of his life, afterwards, he asked Duncan, what did you do for America, today.

This was the 2nd part of his answer to whether or not Craig should go ahead and resign, and not play into his own "second thoughts" about it.

Duncan is still my favorite, and Tom Tancredo is still my 2nd fav.

Who were those people in the restaurant that said McCain won the debate? Gotta love New Hampshire republicans. The dumbest comment had to be from the lady republican who criticized Giuliani for having the gall to talk about his record in New York. She embarrassed herself and the average republican voter.
Giuliani was clearly the best. McCain was good but not the best. I found Romney to be shaky at times. Huckabee saying we broke Iraq was plain dumb. We did not break Iraq. We gave the Iraqis freedom from a brutal dictator, we eliminated a tyrant who had ties to Al Qaeda, we eliminated a regime that paid suicide bombers and killed its own citizens. Iraq was broken before, we began the fix for the world.

Eric -- Republicans have been against the Dept of Education in the past and wanted education funded at the state level rather than federal level. Plus, while Isreal will neither officially confirm nor deny they have nuclear weapons, most foriegn policy experts believe they certainly do possess them. And, frankly, Isreal wants people to think they have them.

I watched the debate and as usual like Huckabee (even though I disagree with him on a few issues.)
As far as Rudy and New York, I think many Republicans have poisoned the well re New York and "Taxachussets" in the past talking about New York liberals, etc.. I realize that 9/11 changed many people's feelings about the city, but I remember a pretty anti-NYC feeling prior to that in conservative circles.

I have to say that I just don't get Romney's appeal at all. He just seems so slick and phony and shallow. Ugh.

Posted by Eric | September 5, 2007 10:15 PM

Huckabee.....wow. quite impressive.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A few days ago, someone also gave a very impressive list of the TAXES that Huckabee RAISED in Arkansas, when he was Gov, INCLUDING A DAILY CHUNK OF $5 or $6 on NURSING HOME BEDS, among other things.

He also intends to penalize folks OUT of diets that contribute to OBESITY, and out of smoking. RELATED TO THE HEALTH CARE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE.

I don't know about you, but most overweight folks I know got down with some disease or other BEFORE they began gaining weight, and have issues with organs and metabolism that are NOT "cheap excuses".

He also said that (socialized) health care shouldn't be the exclusive province of DIMS. (my words, not his)

I don't like the idea of someone sitting in an office somewhere who never met me DICTATING according to FDA balderdash what I have to do in my daily life. I think that is why our Founding Fathers came to America.

Huckabee is a very socialistic person to me - and I ain't looking for a new Daddy to tell me what to do.

I think he is also very much determined to get citizenship for ILLEGAL ALIENS, regardless of what he said, tonight, because I heard him telling TEENS, last Spring, that ILLEGAL ALIENS with strong family values, AND THE VOTE, could be the key to overturning Roe V Wade.

I'm sorry, but illegal aliens with the vote are going to vote for "family values" all right - "ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS" taken out of MY POCKET.

Posted by Ray | September 5, 2007 10:43 PM

Just a little off thread, however; I previously had the Captain's site with a pretty blue water scene. It has become a dirty green water scene and for some reason, I cannot change it and cannot contact the site.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The change isn't yours it is the Captain's new overhaul, and a little change -up of the colors.

This is part of the revamp to retool the site and make all the workings go more smoothly, and much quicker. They've worked very very hard the last few weeks to get this changed over and up and running.

And no, you cannot change the colors back.
And they were very beautiful.

God bless Luciano Pavarotti!

JB & LP

Well said in your update Captain.

The NYC reference is understandable, and makes excellent sense.

Rudy is who he is, and that is to be expected.

Some have dismissed the impact he had in NYC, or the size of this City as compared to other places, like a State.

I can assure any, that NYC was a nightmare before Rudy.

In a Liberal Bastion of denial, he did accomplish what few believed possible.

An incredible job indeed.

Lowering taxation, being tough on crime, creating jobs, growing revenue, etc...

Most of all, Rudy has a 'can do' attitude, which is reflected in his ease of expression.

(Sorry, it seems my earlier comment left an unwanted duplicate).

I didn't happen to see the debate (pretty much useless), but I notice in the comments that the Dept. of Education came up.

I'd like to take this occasion to remind all and sundry that our Federal government is one of enumerated powers and duties: the 9th and 10th Amendments prohibit excursions beyond what's enumerated.

There is no power or duty granted the Federal Government that has anything to do with educating children. Yet we have a Department of Education, with something like a $55 Billion budget. This is an obvious flagrant usurpation. What else can we call it? Yes, it's all soft and warm and fuzzy and "Let Uncle Fed take care of you". There seems to a lot of that going around.

But the strength of our federal system has always been that the states are fifty autonomous laboratories, and citizens vote by staying (or overtly voting) or they vote with their feet.

Nation-states and their bureaucracies have an inexorable expansionist bent. Can I suggest we always and ever pay attention to keeping that in check?

The candidates win; Fox loses.
What lame, predictable questions.
A middle school class could have staged a better debate, asked more interesting questions.

Hunter made no mistakes, except that he uses too many recycled answers: the menu at Gitmo, my fence, etc. But he is sound on his positions.

Giuliani really got pounded with unfair questions.
Chrissy-poo Wallace was enjoying this too much: "You've never been to Iraq."
Oh, is this a requirement for all candidates? Do tell.
Wipe that smirk off your face, Chris.

Forget about McCain with his "comprehensive" BS and insulting allegations that our troops use torture.
McCain is an unbelievably preening legend in his own mind.

This did not help or hurt Romney; he was off his game.
He needs to "get real," reveal some conviction about the issues, develop positions and stick with them.

Huckabee completely evaded the Iran question.
Clueless.

I don't consider R.Paul to be a Republican or a viable candidate.

With all their foibles, the candidates still looked a lot better than the dumb questions and the stupid format.

When I saw the woman commetnt that Guiliani talks to nuch about NYC and he needs to talk about moore I wanted to reach through The TV and smack her! What else is he supposed to talk about? That was his major political experience and he was very successful at it. why should he bring it up? Some of these voters really need to get a grip

What's next? Ron Paul and Mike Gravel should have a debate on the Science Fiction Channel hosted by Dr. Spock. After that, they should go back to their homes.

I'm a Guiliani guy, but I can sort-of see the point of the New Hampshire crowd that he spent too much time on New York City specifics. He was never "thematic" in his answers.

When asked about illegal immigration, he talked about lowering the crime rate, not about the 'We welcome you, we WANT you' part of his approach to illegal immigration.

When asked about family values, he talked about lowering the crime rate. Again, with no thematic comments, at all, about the importance of family values.

He had a main goal: Stress his accomplishments as mayor of NYC and ensure that for voters who are looking for total competency, he's the guy. He did a very good job of that.

So... firedup... I guess you're one of those kool-aid drinkers who would rather watch Snowmen asking inane questions?

If the format is so lame, then why won't the dems step up and answer the same questions that the Reps did?

And as a ps... I think Fred is still an empty suit and should consider doing another TV series. I don't think he has the qualifications to run our country!

It strikes me that comments like Eric's illustrate the effects of 50+ years of conservative compromise in this country. We've come to accept these big government programs as necessary, and instead focus on allowed topics: like whether the marginal tax rate is 34.5% or 36%. Every year we seem to lose ground, and another 20,000 pages of regulations are added to the books.

For this reason, many of Paul's positions appear to be coming from left field. Me? I find it refreshing.

Eric:
"Ron Paul needs to just get out. He is noise."

Someone liked him:

farm2.static.flickr.com/1314/1332994509_b5cfbfdb1f.jpg?v=0

I dont think Rudy went to the NYC well too much. He went to the "reduced crime" well too much. That's not a good answer when asked about immigration, family values, and taxes.

Mitt is obviously keeping his options open. He knows he can't win the election being in lockstep with Bush. He's already planning the general election campaign.

(Sorry if this gets posted twice, I got kicked offline just as I was submitting it. I'mnot sure if it took the first time.)

Eric asked: "Republicans used to be against the department of education? Really? Someone forgot to send me the memo."

Here is your copy of the "memo." Apparently you weren't on the distribution list.

From the 1996 Republican Party Platform:

"As a first step in reforming government, we support elimination of the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy"

"Our formula is as simple as it is sweeping: the federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the work place. That is why we will abolish the Department of Education"
http://tinyurl.com/2v7q2a

Eric also asked: "Isreal(sic) has 300 nuclear weapons? Really? Does the U.S. Government know about this?"

I'm sure the US Government does know, but they aren't saying. The Federation of Atomic Scientists are not quite so reticent.

"Estimates for Israel's nuclear weapons stockpile range from 70 to 400 warheads. The actual number is probably closer to the lower estimate. Additional weapons could probably be built from inventories of fissile materials."
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/

OK, maybe Ron Paul's numbers are off, but, yes, Israel is most definitely a nuclear power. They've never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, so, unlike Iran or N. Korea, they've never let international inspectors in their country so its hard to say just what they are up to.

And "In fact the U.S. government has refused to acknowledge that Israel has developed nuclear weapons at all, although specialists say Israel has a stockpile of between 200 and 300 weapons, which would place it in the class of China and Britain."

http://tinyurl.com/2chv6a

Hmm, maybe his numbers weren't so far off after all.

Any more question, Eric?

I don't know what debate you all were watching but the one I seen had Ron Paul delivering answers instead of flag waving. Apparently you all were on vacation during the Mid-term elections. People are tired of current Republican tactics.