Because the Republican race is down to McCain and Romney (in spite of Huckabee and Ron Paul still being in) I was particularly interested in watching Wednesday night’s debate from the Reagan Library.

My thoughts:

McCain seemed very self-confident to the point of my wanting to wipe the smirk off his face.

Romney challenged McCain directly about a quote he says McCain has taken out of context regarding setting a timetable for pulling out of Iraq.

When the exact quote was read by one of the questioners I came down on Romney’s side.

McCain says he can lead because he led the largest squadron during the Viet Nam War and he can always appoint people to manage, but you can’t appoint a leader.

Romney then talked about his business life, which from the sound of it from Ron Paul or someone, left some people jobless. He also spoke of turning around the Olympics and addressed the tariffs charged in Massachusetts.

They were things such as charging companies more for putting their signs on the interstates. Instead of charging $200 charge $2000.

He mentioned his state’s health care bill, in which he said if someone was capable of paying for health insurance they should get it or pay their own medical expenses and the state made health insurance available to everyone. He says what the current governor and legislature are doing to health care in his state would be vetoed if he were still governor.

But, more than anything else, I was struck by his tenacity. I have stated many times I could not vote for Romney. Well, the candidate I supported dropped out a little over a week ago.

The bottom line is since we have the choice between these two good Americans I could easily vote for either of them and pray they get a certified conservative as a running mate and conservatives in the cabinet.

Written by ~J~

3 Responses to “What I Learned From Wednesday’s Debate”

1. Jeff Bubb says:

   January 31, 2008 at 12:23 am

   Are you only writing about McCain and Romney (and therefore only voting for McCain and Romney) because they are the “front-runners”?

   What ever happened to voting your conscience?
2. ~J~ says:

   January 31, 2008 at 1:01 am

   Well, Jeff, it’s like this. My conscience tells me Hillary would not be good for the nation and voting for an unknown is the same as a vote for her or for Obama.

   So my conscience tells me to go with the best available and right now they happen to be McCain and Romney.
3. Sue says:

   January 31, 2008 at 4:23 am

   I watched the debate also and unfortunately I did not learn much other than Anderson Cooper should never moderate another one.

   While it is understood that McCain and Romney are the front-runners, he treated both Huckabee and Paul as though they were invisible.

   As to the exchanges between the Senator and the Governor, I think McCain realized he does not have the talent for parsing words like the Clinton’s do and he had better stick to plain facts in the future. I agree that Romney’s words were taken out of context, a tactic we see all too often these days on both sides.

   It has already begun where many are saying they will sit out this election if McCain is the nominee. I say to them, that is fine but then you have no right to complain about a Clinton or Obama presidency.

   At this point, it will not be easy for me to vote for either of these men but I will do so only so I do not find myself in the same position as I feel many others may. I would rather say I did my part to stop the socialism which will come with a Democratic president than do no more than find fault with them later.