Yeah I watched it also.

I thought Thompson "won" it. He had a very good attack on the Huckster with so many points of attack you really need to see it two or three times just to comprehend them all. The Huckster in response quibbled around the edge of Thompson's attack (for example replying to the charge that he raised taxes, the Huckster replied that he raised HOPE) but never rebutted them head on. Thompson also had the best one-liner when speaking about the Iranian speedboat crisis last week he said, "those guys were just one step from meeting all those virgins they are always talking about."

Also do any of you watch the show 24? The Huckster reminds me of President Logan from season 5. One of the moderators asked a question that involved a statement about three or four of the Huckster's policies as Governor and the Huckster replied, " Well first I need to correct that, not that you would need correcting, but I need to state the truth". THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT WHEN I CALL THE MAN THE HUCKSTER! If you are having to correct what someone says about your record be a FUCKING MAN and go ahead and do so! Don't place your tongue firmly up the guy's ass as you correct him. It IS a debate so it is ok to say, "you are wrong!" The Huckster also dodged the question on illegals just saying that we need to secure the border but not telling us why we should believe that a guy who supports in-state tuition for illegals (as opposed to legal residents of another state) would actually do that.

I thought Romney did pretty well although I see a double standard emerging with respect to the way he is treated. If Romney disagrees at all he is treated as if he is being "mean". At one point Romney had a pretty good line (or so I thought) only to be booed by the audience. Also, Mitt, the hair dye was a little thick brother. You are by far the most telegenic so it is ok for you to have a little gray mixed in there. Hell, look at McCant or Ron Paul.

McCant was horrible as usual. McCain is an ACTUAL war hero and you've got to give him props for that but his positions on immigration (yes John your bill was amnesty and by the way it isn't just 2,000,000 out of the 12,000,000 illegals who are criminals. THEY ALL ARE BY DEFINITION.), and McCain/ Feingold are inimical to conservativism and he has stabbed the party in the back too many times to be THEIR nominee. Also I find amusing the fact that McCant is allowed to lecture the others about campaign finance, Jack Abramoff and trust in government and NO ONE brings up the Keating Five. For those who weren't paying attention back in the 80's S&L scandal, McCant was one of the five senators who took money from Charles Keating (Keating's S&L went belly up and cost the taxpayers billions) and looked the other way as Keating's S&L made risky loans and skirted the regulations. Why does McCant get a pass on this one???

Giuliani did ok. He didn't light any fire in the belly but he didn't fuck up either like he did back in the first debate.

Ron Paul would have won the debate were it not for his foreign policy and even in that department he brought up some points to consider. For example the Huckster attacked him saying he wouldn't protect Israel to which Paul replied, "well how is it protecting Israel to give THREE TIMES the foreign aid to her enemies that we give her? We treat Israel as a step child. Israel has to ask our permission to defend itself and we negotiate peace treaties with her enemies that we expect her to sign. Wouldn't Israel be better off if we stopped giving foreign aid to the region?" Paul was also on fire when talking about how the repubs have abandoned conservatism and became the party of big government. He was DEAD RIGHT!!! I'd vote for him but for his naive belief that we can retreat into Fortress America.

Duncan Hunter was not in the debate. I don't know if he has dropped out of the race or they just didn't feel he had enough support to be in the debate. It is sad because he is, by far, the most conservative and was one of the first in congress to try to do something about illegal immigration. He's sort of like Ron Paul with a REALISTIC vision of foreign policy.

I thought the moderators did a good job of asking everybody tough questions but they treated Ron Paul horribly. They acted like he was a total nut. The funny thing was they had to eat crow because their OWN online poll showed Paul rated as winner by TWICE AS MANY respondents as any other candidate.