From MediaBistro the Dems have put out their debate dates and FOX News wasn’t included in the party. I still think its a shame but what can you do?

July 23, 2007: YouTube/Google and CNN in Charleston, SC

August 19, 2007: ABC in Des Moines, IA

September 26, 2007: NBC News/MSNBC in Hanover, NH

October 30, 2007: NBC News/MSNBC in Philadelphia, PA

November 15, 2007: CNN in Las Vegas, NV

December 10, 2007: CBS in Los Angeles, CA

First Impression: They were able to say FOX News more times in thirty seconds then I have said in my entire life.

Second Impression: FOX News can put on a show. Forget MSNBC, there was more flashing lights and gizmos & they put up peoples stats like a baseball game. You have to give the channel big points for showmanship. The democrats were idiots for staying away from this. I also love the Trolly sound from Mr. Robinsons Neighborhood. With that said their sound system sucks.

The Debate: Even FOX News couldn’t make this thing too exciting. TOO MANY CANDIDATES!
1) McCain used the same joke he did in the last debate and basically gave the exact same answer. Still went over well. Most people didn’t watch that last debate so it probably is OK. Good drunken sailor joke is hard to come by, might as well use it when you got it.

2) Huckabee “Congress spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop” HAHAHA, nice! Overwhelming applause. Way to play to the audience.

3) Gilmore started the attacks against Giuliani & Romney. Didn’t name them but we all knew who he was talking about. (Also threw in a Web site and blog advertisement into the attack)

4) Wow, FOX Even threw in commercials. Didn’t see that coming.

5) Finally FOX started getting serious and got the candidates turning the candidates against each other. Rudy tried to take all the stuff thrown at him and turn it into an Anti-Hillary message. Did they let him? NOPE! Well, actually yes. He dodged the question again. Then again and again and again.

6) McCain threw in “Radical Islamic Terrorism” and “bipartisanship” to explain his not so conservative record.

7) Romney faced down his gay rights and abortion stances by… making some weird comment about Mass being so blue its black. What?

8) Giuliani laid the smack down on Ron Paul for suggesting the United States foreign policy may have been a contributing factor into 9/11. NOW THAT was a debate that was ended to jump into McCain’s 2000 stance on the Confederate flat in S.C. He got great applause for his response of “lets move on”!

9) Global Warming is a national security issue and we should get off of oil is now a Republican issue.

Final Thoughts: Overall not a bad debate. Not wonderful, too many people there, but pretty good. Ron Paul really went off the rails at the end. Giuliani didn’t do that great of a job getting past his social policies, he kept going on his message of strong against terrorism but he is going to be asked the same questions over and over and his dodging won’t hold up.

McCain did pretty well. I don’t know was ok but its so early and so many people need to be knocked off this thing its still hard to watch.

Tonight at the University of South Carolina Republican candidates will assemble for their second debate hosted by FOX News. It begins at 9pm and will air on FOX.

Unlike the last two debates I won’t be “liveblogging” but instead will simply give a recap of the highlights and will jot down whatever I find interesting. The last debate proved very boring despite my belief that it might heat up. With that said I still think there is potential for fireworks and tonight if there are they will be directed at Rudy Giuliani who is now exposed on the abortion issue.

Will the candidates use the FOX debate to simply attack the Dems or will they start attacking eachother? Check it out tonight.

It was long ago that Democrats were turning their noses up at debates hosted by FOX News citing the anything but friendly treatment Democrats receive from the media outlet. Now Rudy Giuliani has called into question the ‘but I said at the time when Democrats first started their rants against FOX hosted debates that it was the worst position to take. They could only be helped by heading to a FOX audience and getting new exposure. Frankly if they aren’t willing to take tuff questioning or deal with tuff commentary surrounding the event, they shouldn’t be running for president.

More importantly though that position opened up the floodgates for Giuliani’s stance. If the major Democratic candidates refuse to sit with FOXS news, why should Republicans sit for the network that hosts Olbermann or for PBS or Air America or any other media outlet they see as discriminating?

I think its just as silly for Giuliani as I do the Dems but with that said he now has a right to demand only Republican leaning coverage, its what the Dems asked for first.

There is no void of opinion concerning the recent Republican & Democratic debates out there. Here is mine. I have to zero in on one specific bone of contention and that is the repeated line that the reason the debates suck is because it is “too early”. I take the complete opposite view.

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