New Hampshire Fox Debate 1/6/2008

These are my notes from the debate, the times may be off, but if you watch the entire thing, this is what I noted:

12:00 Huckabee uses "Political Speak" to avoid saying he raised taxes. He totally avoided the question and Romney asked him straight up FOUR TIMES. Definition of Political Speak.
20:45 Huckabee claims his comment "the CEO who laid you off" is NOT directed at Romney. Ask any of his supporters and they say it does refer to Romney. Huckabee's double talk is revealed, besides Huckabee is talking about firing 115,000 employees right off the bat. For comparision the U.S. only brought in 43,000 jobs in November 2007.
23:46 Huckabee misspeaks and says he will "get rid of death" (he meant to say death tax), to which Thompson pipes in and says that is something they can both agree on. Funny exchange.
(Note: Throughout Huckabee continually interrupts moderator. The moderator tells him to be stop talking until he can finish his question.) Huckabee continues about taxes and reveals his link to special interest groups concerned with firing 115,000 federal employees and giving a tax increase to middle class Americans, for me it amounts to 16%. The New York Times says.
29:00 McCain says, "I am an agent of change..." Hilarious, since just last night McCain was railing on Romney for being the agent of change.
31:10 Romney says Washington insiders will not get things done, if people keep sending the same people back to Washington in "different chairs."
46:05 Interesting Romney comments on qualities required to be President.
47:20 Huckabee marvels that his Democratic state kept "electing him" back into office. It's no wonder though; the guy is practically a Dem with his class warfare statements.
50:07 McCain does a hilarious funny face at Giuliani, not sure where that came from. He did it yesterday as well.
53:00 Thompson speaks about whether it is better to elect Executive or a Senator... took to long to get to the point

My DVD recorder stops suddenly, I put in new disk and restart count (hey, DVD-Rs are like politicians, they must be changed regularly):

2:00 Huckabee on immigration. Huckabee supports letting illegals go to school, and is slammed on his "don't punish the children" statement because his new immigration policy sends everybody home within 120 days. Romney chimes in and asks doesn't sending the children home punish the parents? Huckabee says he is not talking to Romney, but that he is talking to the moderator. The moderator says, "I was just about to ask the same question." And does so, "Doesn't sending the children home punish the parents?" Funny moment, Huckabee looked like a cornered politician on that one.
4:35 Amnesty vs. non-Amnesty is all nonsense says McCain. Huckabee mimics McCain's position.
5:55 Thompson says, everyone sitting as this table "including Ronald Reagan". Opps, that's not Ronald Reagan, it's John McCain dude.
15:00 Huckabee on negative ads. Moderator says, Huckabee you have said, Romney is running a "desperate and dishonest campaign", he is sitting right next to you, what do you say? He then says people can distort anything, but he doesn't call Romney dishonest to his face. McCain then talks about the negative ads he has received. Romney comes back by saying he compared their records with his to emphasis differences in their positions. He says McCain's ad was tough (and I agree, it was a personal attack by the Concord Monitor and had nothing to do with the campaign, unless the word "phony" was used on all candidates). Romney then points out Huckabee's campaign has been using personal attacks. For instance, Huckabee's campaign manager Mr. Rollins said he wanted to "kick Mitt's teeth out". Huckabee jokes that Chuck Norris is waiting outside and Thompson chimes in saying if John Wayne were here he would kick Chuck's butt.
20:00 Romney explains that he has only changed his position to pro-life. But that the media and his competitors have tried to mislabel him as if he had changed all of his positions. He says, I would rather change my position to the right, than stubbornly remain in the wrong.
27:13 Thompson says he should be President because "I've never lost an election, although I haven't been in very many."
28:25 Huckabee uses a quote by Abraham Lincoln that he used a couple hours earlier with the same moderator.
30:00 Mitt Romney's closing arguments were to the point, talked about his concern for his children and his grandchildren, he says he knows how to make America a better place for future generations
34:00 McCain's closing arguments - the guy just looks tired.

Hats off to Fox News for a debate that actually allowed the candidates to go beyond just little sound bites in other debates. I was surprised Ron Paul wasn't there, but the table did look crowded. Seriously, Rudy Giuliani looked like he was about to fall off the table. I enjoyed the debate and saw a side of the candidates I had not seen before.

I declare Mitt Romney the winner as he was the most coherent about his positions and what he would do as a President of the American people. Although Thompson didn't say a lot, I thought he actually did pretty well in this debate. McCain seemed out of touch, Huckabee was exposed as a slick talking politician. Giuliani can't move past 9/11. A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for a leader with a proven track record and the abilities to make a better tomorrow for our children (at least after this debate).