The Giuliani Affair, Romney’s Garden, Huckbee’s Taxes, McCain’s Torture And Getting Hillary Clinton
IN a sign of just how close the Republican race for the nomination is proving the candidates in last night’s YouTube/CNN debate turned on each other with ferocity.
With less than six weeks to go to the Iowa caucuses and less than two months to the first primaries, Mitt Romney traded barbs with Rudy Giuliani over illegal immigration.
Romney accused Giuliani of being soft on illegals’ rights and Giuliani accused Romney of turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants employed by a landscaping firm that worked at his home.
That mud might stick, but so did the boos of the audience as Giuliani repeated his accusations.
Meanwhile, Fred Thompson went on the attack with a YouTube video of his own, highlighting Romney’s past support for abortion and Mike Huckabee’s support for taxes.
There was barely any time to devote to pillorying that old chestnut, Hillary Clinton, as the candidates turned on each other over abortion, guns and tax.
Romney and John McCain clashed over torture. And Thompson attacked Giuliani for his support of Bernard B Kerik, the former New York police commissioner whom Giuliani appointed and who has recently been indicted on charges of fraud and tax evasion.
All in all, it hasn’t been a good 24 hours for the Giuliani campaign. Yesterday Politico.com reported that Giuliani billed obscure New York City agencies tens of thousands of dollars for a security detail in the Hamptons during 1999 and 2000 when he was having an extramarital affair with a woman who lived there.
The only crumb of comfort for Giluliani may be that commentators appear divided on who came out on top.
The New York Times Caucus blog said it was hard to pick a winner for the evening “because the fur was flying in all directions.”
The New York Post declared it Thompson’s best debate yet with Giulani appearing too liberal.
But Britain and America chose John McCain as the winner of the evening, talking well on immigration, foreign affairs and torture while Thompson lacking fluency, Giuliani was off form and Romney couldn’t shake accusations of flip flopping.
Meanwhile, Redstate went with Huckabee and McCain, accusing Giuliani and Romney of being so so, and Thompson of failing to deliver anything better than a few good one-liners.
All eyes would now turn to the CBS Democratic debate scheduled for December 10. But the debate has been canceled because of the writer’s strike and candidates’ unsurprising reticence to cross the picket lines.
Posted: 29th, November 2007 | In: Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
