Florida GOP Debate - Classy All Around

I just finished watching the latest GOP presidential debate on MesSNBC and I was pleasantly surprised by it. First, hosts Tim Russert and Brian Williams asked each of the candidates tough but fair questions, mostly about issues Republicans care about. Second, in sharp contrast to the current state of the Democratic debates and campaigns, all of the GOP candidates were very respectful and friendly with one another, even to the point of refusing to take the bait offered multiple times by the moderators to pick fights with each other.

Last time I watched MSNBC host a GOP debate was at the Reagan library in nearby Simi Valley a few months ago. Extreme left-wing neanderthal Keith Olbermann was there, and the debate was moderated mostly by former Democratic operative Chris Matthews. Matthews' running of the debate was an absolute disgrace, and embarrassed candidates and the network alike, in my opinion. Matthews kept asking "gotcha" questions with the intent of tripping up the candidates and making them look foolish. He admitted as much in later in post-debate interviews.

This time around was much better. Russert started off by lobbing a softball on the economy, starting with Mitt, who of course didn't even break a sweat. Then they went down the line and warmed up the candidates with simple questions, and then tried something I haven't seen before: Russert would address a candidate by referring to one of the other candidates and asking if he "trusted" the other candidate on things like tax cuts, etc. Rather than take the bait, every contender started off his answer by complimenting the other guy, pointing out that there were differences of opinion, then stating his position.

In the second segment, the candidates were each allowed to ask one question to one other candidate of their own choosing. None of them, including Ron Paul, asked potentially embarrassing questions or disrespected one another. All the questions were interesting and good, as were the answers. Mike Huckabee, for example, asked Mitt Romney about his stand on the second amendment and gun control. Huckabee has strong credentials in that area and Romney does not, so it was good for Huck to ask it and Mitt needed to be able to address it, and he did. All the candidates joked with one another throughout the event.

What I came away with was a couple things: First, I still support Mitt and I think he did a fine job tonight. He has morphed himself away from his weak area of discussing social conservative issues (he is weak because he's a bit on the "stiff" side) and is now regularly talking about economic issues, where he has better credentials than anyone. He started doing this in Michigan and was extremely effective there; people could tell that , fundamentally, Romney is competent in the fiscal conservative area. Also, Romney seems to have taken a page from the McCain playbook and has started acting like the frontrunner, reacting to questions involving Hillary Clinton with a far more aggressive posture than he has had with the GOP rivals. He's acting like the GOP nominee for the first time, and it is interesting to me to see him get a lot more feisty. I was a bit nervous about his ability to shake off the "Mister Nice Guy" image if he ultimately goes on to get the nomination, because the Clinton machine will sling everything but the kitchen sink at him and he'd better be able to respond.

Second, I would willingly vote for any of these four guys (I'm excluding Ron Paul), and will no matter who gets the nomination. People like Dick Morris have been saying that the GOP is "in chaos" right now because we haven't all gathered behind our assumptive candidate yet, and that going into the September convention, our party would collapse. I've never believed this and continue to believe that, once a frontrunner is found and the convention is held, Republicans will unite behind the winner. All this debating and bickering over who's the most conservative on this or that issue, this is all healthy for the party, not chaotic.

If any party is coming apart right now, it's the Democrats. Obama and Clinton are duking it out, hurling insults at each other and fighting in the mud. It is entertaining to watch, partly because they brought this on themselves. They encouraged the Left to be offended at the drop of a hat by minor things, and now this is coming back to haunt them. Whoever winds up with the Dem nomination, I think we'll be able to run a strong campaign against them. I believe that now more than before tonight's debate.