Mitt Romney takes the debate

[01.20.09]

That is how I felt after the debate was over. Looked very presidential, although he had that comic book look with those gray sideburns, but spoke very strong and I know the ladies are going to love him.
McCain was still, well, McCain. Nothing new about him.
Of the top three, Rudy came off with the poorest showing. The questions on abortion and Terri Schiavo made him see uneasy. He won't win any points on his performance tonight.
The others really didn't impress me much.

[01.20.09]

I'm surprised nobody else had any comments on the republican debate.

[ChumpDumper]

It's too early to care that much. I didn't watch either debate.

[Yonivore]

I didn't watch it.

I am surprised, however, there isn't more commentary on the fact that 10 Republicans showed up for a debate on MSNBC, with slobbering liberal Chris Matthews' asking asinine questions and treating them all like they were Zell Miller on Hardball, when there are exactly zero Democrats who are willing to go on Fox and debate.

3...2...1...

[ChumpDumper]

How do you know what questions were asked and how they were treated if you didn't watch it?

[01.20.09]

How do you know what quesitons were asked and how they were treated if you didn't watch it?

Just some more conservative babble from someone who clearly does not think outside the box. This Yonivore person that is.

[01.20.09]

Why go on Faux News?

[boutons_]

"Fox and debate."

The Dems have made clear why they won't debate on the Repug News channel.

Does anyone think Hannity, O'Reilly or whatever debate moderator would be more "fair and balanced" than a Chris Matthews?

Fox is not even a legit contender as a "fair and balanced" new channel. It's conservative talk radio for the TV.

The Repug debaters all came down if favor of the Iraq war, assuring the Repugs will lose all elections for years to come, as they are on the opposite side of the war issue from the overwhelming majority of the US.

The expose of the dubya administration's lying and incompetence and politicization of the Exec has only just go rolling.

[01.20.09]

Bush has lost all credibility even amongst his strongest supporters. It is really a sad situation for the GOP.

[DarkReign]

Bush has lost all credibility even amongst his strongest supporters. It is really a sad situation for the GOP.

Who are you? Dan, you in there?

[mookie2001]

what did yall think of Ron Paul?

[mookie2001]

I didnt watch it, i guess nobody watched it

[boutons_]

Romeny goes groveling to Robertson's fake "university"


May 4, 2007

Romney Travels to Pat Robertson's School

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:19 p.m. ET

A visit this weekend to the Rev. Pat Robertson's school illustrates the challenge for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as he courts the all-important evangelical vote.

The former Massachusetts governor is to give the commencement address Saturday at Robertson's Regent University in Virginia, a golden opportunity to reach core GOP voters.

Yet the many people who seek spiritual guidance from Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network and its Web site will find Romney's Mormon faith listed as a cult.

The candidate and his Christian supporters have been working hard to overcome evangelical antipathy toward the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose 19th-century founder, Joseph Smith, said he revised parts of the Bible to correct it.

On Christian radio, in face-to-face meetings and on evangelicalsformitt.org, Romney's team is making the pitch that while he doesn't share their theology, he does share their values.

''What I find as I talk to people, evangelical Christians and others, is that they very badly want a person of faith to lead the country,'' Romney said recently on ''Jerry Johnson Live,'' the radio show hosted by the president of Criswell College, a Southern Baptist school in Dallas. ''They don't care so much about the brand of faith as they do about the values of the person.''

He expanded on that argument during Thursday's debate: ''We don't choose our leader based on which church they go to. ... The people we're fighting, they're the ones who divide over faith and decide matters of this nature in the public forum.''

Romney has been underscoring indirectly that the Old and New Testaments are part of LDS scripture. At a campaign event shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, Romney said his first response ''was to pick up my Bible and reread the account of the murder of Abel by his brother'' and reflect on the nature of evil.

He recently cited the Bible as his favorite book, while also raising eyebrows by naming ''Battlefield Earth,'' a novel by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, as his favorite piece of fiction. He said he in no way supported the religion.

In the next few weeks, the campaign will take a more direct approach, sending two of its evangelical supporters for meetings with pastors and others in key primary states.

Mark DeMoss, a public relations executive whose prominent client roster includes the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, said he volunteered to travel to South Carolina and Alabama on Romney's behalf.

Jay Sekulow, a Washington insider and chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, an advocacy group founded by Robertson, is heading to Iowa and Florida, DeMoss said.

Asked whether Romney has had any success with conservative Christians so far, DeMoss' cautious response indicated just how far the candidate has to go.

''I'm not going to suggest that evangelicals are running to the microphone endorsing Mitt Romney,'' DeMoss said, ''but neither are they running to microphones rejecting him, which I think is pretty positive.''

White evangelicals comprise more than one-third of the Republican Party, so if Romney is to emerge from a crowded GOP field to take the nomination he's got to win them over.

Hugh Hewitt, the conservative blogger and radio talk show host, is trying to help Romney by publishing the book ''A Mormon in the White House?'' which urges Christians not to oppose the candidate because of LDS teachings they consider heretical.

But Allen Hertzke, a University of Oklahoma political scientist who studies evangelical activism, said concern about Mormon theology runs ''pretty deep'' among traditional Christians. A recent visit to a Christian bookstore confirmed that, he said.

''I found books on how to convert Mormons, on the Mormon cult and the history of Mormonism, all from the standpoint that it's a cult and it's not true Christianity,'' Hertzke said. ''Some are books about how to talk to a Mormon, but buried in that question is the assumption that Mormons are wrong.''

Latter-day Saints believe that authentic Christianity vanished a century after Christ and was restored only through Smith, who Mormons consider a prophet. Mormons also consider their church presidents to be prophets -- among the LDS teachings that Christians consider far outside the mainstream. Mormons defend their church as truly Christian and are offended that anyone would say otherwise.

Romney has another hurdle: Persuading evangelicals and the party faithful that he is sincere in his opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Romney ran as a moderate in a failed 1994 Senate campaign and in his winning gubernatorial campaign eight years later.

Jim Guth, who specializes in religion and politics at Furman University in South Carolina, noted that President George W. Bush overcame evangelical concern about his ''shaky'' commitment to traditional marriage and other hot-button issues by emphasizing the depth of his religious conversion as a born-again Christian. But, Guth said, Romney, ''does not have the ability to compensate for this with his own religious persona, as Bush did.''

Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said the former governor's commencement address will focus on leadership, not his faith.

As Romney's supporters tackle the religion question before evangelical audiences, they will have to tread carefully, as a recent post on evangelicalsformitt.org shows.

David French, a co-founder of the site, warily began a piece praising the Mormon emphasis on family and the church's contribution to America.

''I know that I'm going to get in trouble in some quarters for the following statement,'' French wrote, ''but I'm going to say it anyway.''

======================

Romney's a gutless limp wimp. He's not faux macho enough for the faux macho badass-wannabes who dominate the Repugs and right.

[01Snake]

The Dems are afraid of Brit Hume but by God they are ready to go head-to-head with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. :lol

[Yonivore]

I didnt watch it, i guess nobody watched it
No, MSNBC gets watched less than the CBS Evening News with Cutie Couric; but, sound bytes were all over the radio this morning.

As was typical, Matthews interrupted and badgered and asked some of the most irrelevant questions ever posed in a debate.

Again, if the Republicans can subject themselves to Tip O'Neill, Jr., why couldn't the Democrats go on Fox and debate?

Because they're cut-n-run cowards, that's why.

[Yonivore]

The Dems are afraid of Brit Hume but by God they are ready to go head-to-head with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. :lol
No shit. :donkey :elephant

[clambake]

I can see the library from my house, so I thought it might be interesting to watch the debate. I was outraged by the way these candidates were badgered. Being called out on their enormous fuck ups as republicans was crossing the line. Poor Rudy, being exposed as an empty vessel. We must destroy the media and anything else that reveals the truth. Americans should never be allowed to know.