Republican debate second-segment reflections

McCain has a strong answer on foreign policy leadership, but gets somewhat tepid applause. Giuliani praises McCain--the surest sign that McCain's so dead he poses no threat to the very candidate whose support he would take away if he started to rise in the polls. During the Iraq debate, the Huckster also praises McCain--says he "understands honor." More praise showing how little anybody feels McCain is a threat.

The colloquy of the debate so far is Ron Paul and the Huckster. both get huge, boisterous responses from the crowd. The Huckster is able to face down Paul purely with rhetoric ("We have to be one America." "Honor is more important than the Republican party.") It's all general with the Huckster. Not a bad strategy at all--once you go to specifics his trademark optimism has to go down the drain.

Duncan Hunter has a strong answer on Guantanamo, gets a little applause. Brownback uses the word "complementarity" to describe the Pres-Veep relationship.

Americans for Tax Reform's pledge not to raise taxes was not signed by McCain and Giuliani. A nifty tactic to make them look presidential--they're above puny pledges; they have records that "speak for themselves." A harsh question on this topic to Romney again by Chris Wallace. He handles it well and gets some applause-lines in, including a dig at Edward's haircut. Fair tax question to the Huckster. It sounds great in 30 seconds. That's the advantage of only having 30 seconds--there should have been a follow-up on that one.

Amazing non sequitur from Giuliani answering a question about his private life, but he connects the dots at the end: "My private life does not affect my public life." Good answer in the sense of turning the issue to his record. But this is such a liability with Republican voters, and Giuliani's query, "I assume this question is for me," shows how little he wanted to answer it.