Political Punch

Bill Richardson looks and sounds too much like Tom Bosley.

That's funny. Gouly must be steaming. He can't beat that Ron Paul guy. Gouly's like the Coyote and Paul keeps running all over him.

Speaking of McCain, I keep getting bothered by his "experience". In the military, he was shot down and captured. He's brave for surviving, but not exactly Alexander the Great.

Giuliani talks a good talk - and brings a certain chutzpah to the table. But let's get real. It doesn't take much talent to lead a nation, or a city during a time of crisis. The real mark of a leader is the ability to unite a country and prevent crises before they happen. Giuliani, at best, is an affable one trick elephant, who derives his attention by playing the "fear" card over and over again. Dr. Paul stands alone as a presidential candidate who is ready and able to halt America's slide into the dustbin of history.

McCain's arm won't work properly due to torture he endured as a POW

Rudy has a better chance of winning the Democratic Nomination. The guy is a goofball. He kind of reminds me of the Joker from Batman

Rudy is a tool.

All of the Republican candidates are un-electable sans one, and that is because they are all pro-war. Americans won't elect anyone who will keep the war going on forever.

As stated before, and it really is quite obvious: The ONLY Republican candidate who has a chance against the Democrats is Congressman Ron Paul.

Afterwards, he admitted he had a lot of respect for Donald and Daffy Duck and there would "definitely be a plathe" for Sylvester the Cat.

Watching last night's debates among the candidates proved most instructive.

First, about the Republicans:

It is a petty observation at first glance: what is wrong with John McCain's right hand? He holds it about the same as another Republican candidate, Bob Dole. He holds pens in it. It never rotates fully nor can he shake hands with it. Did I miss a news story that mentions what caused it?

It isn't really as petty an observation as it looks at first glance. Strokes cause these kinds of injuries. The man has suffered torture (oops, "enhanced interrogation techniques) and is 70 years old. Will he finish the term he's elected to? Would we be electing his Vice President? All these are valid questions and people should know.

Wow, did the Republicans race to cover themselves with Ronald Reagan's mantle. I didn't do a count, but it seemed to me that RR's name came up more than George Bush's, to no one's surprise really.

Most fascinating to me was his legacy and an arms race. To quote Rudy: "Our Army had been at 725,000; it's down to 500,000. We need at least 10 more combat brigades. We need our Marines at 200,000. We need a 300-ship Navy." I tried counting the list of ships currently in our Navy at stopped at 300. Maybe he wants to reduce it? And I really don't know what a conventional army will do against a guerrilla opponent.

But his fellows were up to the challenge. Radical jihadism is an enemy that we should have a bunker mentality about. Everyone endorsed the "invade whoever we want to when we want to" doctrine, except of course for Ron Paul, who understands that the Constitution doesn't provide for those Presidential powers nor has that doctrine earned us any friends.

More confusing where the other candidates that on the one hand praised Ronald Reagan for bringing down the USSR by ruining its economy by forcing them into an arms race and on the other want us to build our military to find guerrillas.

As a Democrat, I'm liking this move to justify the Iraq invasion and the promise of more of the same. I somehow think they haven't caught the true feelings of the voters. What they say today will come back after the nomination.

I must say I sure hope I don't earn John McCain's respect. His demonstration of respect for Mitt Romney left me with the same sense of anticipation I get before a wrestling show, oops, match.

Mitt Romney looks more like a President from Central Casting than Fred Thompson does. And if the Presidency were a CEO position, I'd consider electing him. But the Presidency is more about persuasion than it is about management. Huckabee gets that, Romney does not.

The Democratic debate providing some interesting moments as well.

Who cuts Hillary's hair? The streaks seemed home permanentesque and the hair cut seems a tad, well, butch. And that is purely a superficial observation with no import at all in the election. Spend a buck or two, Mrs. Clinton.

When asked about whether any candidate would support a preemptive strike in Pakistan to take out Bin-Laden, Mrs. Clinton provided a detailed 5 point plan, including notifying Pakistan that it was coming after the missiles were in the air so that it wouldn't blame India. The others all spoke in general principles, which were embodied in Mrs. Clinton's detailed plan. Her point that she was ready to start on day one never was better demonstrated.

Another was Mrs. Clinton flirting while answering a question whether Obama is more likable than is she. One could spot the Mrs. Clinton that was Miss Rodham when Bill met her. It was unscripted and obviously genuine and coming as it did towards the end of a long debate, very telling.

John Edwards clearly lost among the three leaders debating. His pathetic rhetorical attempt to position himself with Mr. Obama as rebels against Mrs. Clinton's establishment backfired totally. It made him look jejune and it set Mrs. Clinton up for a righteous anger against what was obviously an unfair tactic. She ended up looking Presidential, because it was an authoritative anger and not a victimized anger.

To me the moment was reminiscent of the Ronald Reagan, "I paid for the microphone" moment.

Mr. Richardson seems to be a great generalist that has made wonderful contributions to our country, but his inability to synthesize arguments quickly and his tendency to repeat himself made him look a tad slow on the uptake, particularly against the other three mentally nimble candidates.

I question Rudy's judgement.

Fortunately for Rudy, that's something he shouldn't have to think about too hard...especially giving he came in at a whopping 4% in Iowa, expect a repeat performance in NH.