Son,

I am listening to MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Bill Maher will be on, but first a few comments about last evening’s Republican debate.

How did Fred Thompson do? Joe says ‘…you would expect him to be more prepared.” He didn’t make any major mistakes and that is a good thing. I watched the debate and Thompson appeared to me to have been prepped and unable to talk off-the-cuff about issues that I care about.

The other Republican candidates are trying to distinguish themselves form the others – That is to be expected. Romney and Giuliani really engaged each other in a classic cat fight. They did a back and forth with Thompson standing tall between them.

Mitt Romney has tried to touch all the conservative bases – and he is up front in the early primary polls. Romney is the classic politician that offends me – he will say, and claim ownership of, anything required to get elected. The ‘moral right’ does not like him because he is a Mormon – the anti-Catholics, but he is one of the few who has only had one wife.

It is sort of ironic that Giuliani is doing very well in the polls by saying, hey -this is what I believe and here is what I stand for. Giuliani gets points for his disdain for the conservative social moralists who have hijacked a former Grand Old Party. One has to respect Giuliani for not catering to the right wing nut cases. Thompson has moved into second and is trying to expose Romney on conservative issues.

The whole debate format is frustrating to me because my guys, McCain and Huckabee, are not given an opportunity to stand out – and they are stand out guys.

The debate was supposed to be on economics but the candidates seemed more comfortable talking about Iraq than economics.

Bill Maher:

Bill Maher is on: The Huffington Post had an online poll and Bill Maher rated higher than any of the Democratic candidates. Maher says the people on-line are more radical than the general population (Is he talking about us and our readers?) Joe challenges Maher to address the issue of Democrats new found religion.

Maher responds, ‘Voters, as opposed to people, are rather conservative… Hillary is a known quantity… People feel comfortable with what they know… I like Hillary and John Edwards – all of them look better than the Republicans… The simplistic approach of the conservatives is that we can kill our way out of problems.”

Joe – “74% of Americans say ‘dont give George Bush the money to continue the war’ – but the congress votes overwhelmingly to support the war.”

Maher, “This is one of the reasons that I am not a democrat – they are a terrible disappointment… The constitution says only the congress can declare war – if we put forth legislation about the war then we discredit the constitution.”

Maher – “The Environment is the most important issue. We should treat the environment as a national security issue… What has to happen before people realize the we need to do something… ”

Joe asks, “Is it time for a third party? Is there any way we can have a third party candidate?”

Maher, “Will they ever be viable…Or you have the Ralph Nader situation… It is seen as radical but it is not – only when compared to a centrist like Hillary… ”

Joe asks, “Do you know Fred Thompson?”

Maher, “I have never met him but if I had I would have forgotten him quickly. You do want a candidate who looks like he wants to be there… He is just more of George Bush, does not work to hard and clears brush, delegating the thinking to others.”

Bill Maher chose his words poorly immediately following the 911 attacks but seems to have redeemed himself in the eyes of the public. He is clearly an intellectual comedian – able to mix his humor with the serious issues of the world today.

Notes on the Primaries:

The gas is being dumped on the political fire – We are about a year out from the general election but the compacted primaries guarantee heated debate for the next four months. The Prmaries have been bunched together because many States want more recognition in the candidate selection process. There is some legitimacy in the feeling.

I live in Missouri and have strong feelings about the candidates – but the major party choices will have been made before I am asked my opinion.

More later,

Dad

See Also: On Writing, Blogging, Journalism