Notes on the Republican CNN YouTube Debate

Last night I sat through the mental poo-bomb that was the Republican debate and yadda, yadda, let's get on with those notes.

• Approximately 3000 questions were asked for the YouTube Democratic Debate; 5000 for the YouTube Republican Debate. This is probably attributed to everyone from the first debate, 1900 new Democrats desiring to zing the Repubs, and 100 Republicans who were able to figure out a camera, Windows MovieMaker, and the YouTube on the internets.


• I thought Anderson Cooper looked rather dapper in his black satin tie, but then again I've always found him a handsome man.


• The sparky exchange that started out between Giulianai and Romney left Giuliani defeated and looking like a fool for his comments about Romney's workers and wide-open for his non-answer of New York as a sanctuary city. And he was the first booed by the audience.


• Every boo in this debate was an ecstatic spark of schadenfreude.


• McCain gets booed for saying his immigration plan did not offer amnesty. He should probably look up that definition in the dictionary before saying something silly like that again. So silly, even republicans catch it.


• Tom Tancredo "reject[s] categorically" that there are jobs Americans won't do, effectively calling the business owner in the video a liar and exhibiting his raw ignorance at the reality of the structure of our American economy.


• Note to Huckabee: Don't talk to the screen. The girl is not really there. The question is recorded. I know the internets is a scary place, but that's the newfangled world we live in now.


• Did Giuliani just say he would replace government workers with technology? Really? Does he think the government workers he is trying to be the boss of would agree with that?


• McCain should have expected booing while attacking Ron Paul as isolationist and then whipping a Hitler reference out of his back pocket. Bad John. I bet Mommy smacked you on the back of the hand for that one.


• Ron Paul has the single-day fundraising record and receives more money from in-service troops than any other candidate. Did I mention he's also an OB/GYN? Sweet mercy.


• Giuliani steps into the no-answer-maybe-I don't know gun control puke puddle. Boos ensue.


• On the Headline News version of the debate, undecided Republicans did some fancy number-mashing. How long a discussion do you think took place to decide that when Men and Women had the same rating, the women's bar would be on top?


• Black on black on Romney I: "that's probably the best thing you can do for a kid is to have a mom and a dad." Mitt, all kids have a mom and a dad. That's how babies are made.


• Black on black on Romney II: "And so we're going to try and once again reinculcate in this country the type of values that have made us so strong: family values." So we are going to "try once again" (because teaching black people family values didn't work the first time) and "again" "re-" something that means "teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions," which sounds like an ongoing thing. So why did we stop? Point? Mitt: check your vocab; you make inarticulate people feel dumb and articulate people think you are.


• When we hit the Thompson/Giuliani ban abortion discussion, I couldn't help but notice that it was the men's reactions that went way down and the women's went up. I guess pro-life is a lip service thing for some Republican men who are potentially fond of the safety net legal abortion provides.


• What would Jesus do? That's the easiest answer in two hours of questions, but because Jesus would not support the death penalty and they do and they don't want to appear un-Christ-like, please open the droning verbal diarrhea gates!


• Giuliani doesn't take the Bible literally? And he supports abortion rights? And he has Pat Robertson's endorsement? WTF parallel dimension have I slipped into? One where Minister Huckabee explains that since God wrote the Bible, we shouldn't be able to understand all of it.


• Giuliani is asked how he would repair American Islamic relations and replies "the most important thing to do is to make certain we remain on offense against Islamic terrorism." Did he understand the question? He did get in "9/11" ... and then someone asks him directly about 9/11 and he 9/11 isn't using 9/11 but back on 9/11 - Holy crap, get to higher ground! It's a 9/11-unami!


• McCain's vice president "might have more experience in telecommunications." Really? Setting the bar that high?


• Brigadier Gen. Keith Kerr (Ret.) is related to the Clinton campaign, but was not there in that capacity. I would guess that the outrage being spouted by the right today is a gut reaction to the ignorant, bigoted, deer-in-the-headlights response that this very valid question garnered. Duncan Hunter spews that allowing open homosexuals to serve would disservice conservative Christians serving. Huckabee agrees, and Romney backpedals on his vision of equality to fit into the hate conga line. They simply didn't know what to do: an openly gay man who has honorably given so many years of his life to American service does not compute in the straight white Christian Republican cannon of reality. There are no gay heroes. So they'll stick to calling him a plant.

Interesting information from U.S. News on the debate:

Here's the tally, ranked in descending order from the night's fastest talker to the slowest (words per minute = wpm):

Mitt Romney: 233 wpm

Tom Tancredo: 226 wpm

Rudy Giuliani: 201 wpm

Mike Huckabee: 199 wpm

Duncan Hunter: 188 wpm

John McCain: 182 wpm

Ron Paul: 179 wpm

Fred Thompson: 177 wpm

I enjoyed this debate. I felt Huckabee really increased the value of his real estate, Ron Paul got to shine some, and Romney came out as the undefeated slayer of Mr. 9/11, who just looked tired from being on the defense all night. It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out during the next month as we quickly march to the first of the primaries.

(crossposted at All Things Democrat)