GOP Debate: Not Quite a Smoka in Boca
Republican Candidates Make Nice, Offer Few Contrasts in Florida Debate
ANALYSIS By JAKE TAPPER
BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 25, 2007 —
It was less a Republican debate than a Rotary Club discussion -- and a soporific one at that. There were no attacks made, few contrasts drawn, little indication that the candidates are just five days away from a crucial primary contest.
In fact, the candidate who has the most to lose here -- former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has staked his campaign on success in the Sunshine State -- even said "these are terrific candidates ... running very, very good races."
The various campaigns' press secretaries were busy writing nasty e-mails and press releases about their bosses' opponents, but on stage it was the Hippocratic debate -- first do no harm. And no one did any harm to themselves, or to each other.
The harshest words uttered were when one moderator, NBC's Brian Williams, quoted the mother of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who on C-SPAN said that the Republican base would "hold its nose" and vote for her son, or maybe when Williams quoted The New York Times' endorsement of McCain, which had several harsh words for their hometown mayor.
"I probably never did anything the New York Times suggested I do in eight years as mayor of New York City," Giuliani said when he read the harsh invective. "And if I did, I wouldn't be considered a conservative Republican."
Indeed, the campaigns of both Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney e-mailed reporters the Times endorsement of McCain. The McCain campaign did not.
McCain did interrupt his answer to another question, however, to offer a defense of Giuliani against the Times.
"If you'll indulge me one second, I know this is unusual, but I happen to know Rudy Giuliani," McCain said. "I happen to know he's an American hero. And I happen to have gone to New York City after 9/11. And I'm proud of the way he led this country and united it following 9/11. And all these are good people who are running here. And I respect them. And I intend to respect them both during and after this campaign is over."
Yay team!
Romney, who is in a dead heat with McCain for first place in some recent polls here in Florida, had perhaps the best night, presenting a polished and confident demeanor. And even though throughout the Republican race Romney has been -- unapologetically -- the most negative campaigner, he basically took a pass tonight.
Asked if he trusted McCain and Giuliani "on the issue of being tax cutters," Romney said, "I trust these two gentlemen and I respect them greatly. We do have differing views, and over time our record with regards to taxes has been somewhat different. But I think all of us on this stage want to see taxes brought down and want to see spending brought down."
Other than Romney offering some slight criticism of McCain for having opposed the Bush tax cuts, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tweaking Romney by asking him a question about his consistency on gun rights during the one allotted question candidates were permitted, the candidates were nice to one another -- suspiciously nice, at times.
Romney, who is rooting for Giuliani to take away moderate votes from McCain here on Tuesday, took his one question to ask Giuliani an open-ended question about trade with China.
That strategic moment even prompted Giuliani to joke later in the debate, after being asked about his lagging poll numbers, that "when Mitt Romney asked me a question, notice he asked me a very nice question. So I think I've lulled him into a false sense of security."
There were plenty of attacks, of course, against the candidate they all seem to be eager to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.
McCain accused her of wanting to "wave the white flag of surrender" in Iraq. Romney called Clinton "audacious and arrogant" for having suggested that Democrats "are responsible for the progress that the surge has seen by virtue of their trying to pull out so quickly."
Giuliani accused Clinton of being poll-driven regarding her support of the war. "When the polls were six and seven out of 10 Americans thinking it was a good idea, Hillary Clinton was in favor of the war," he charged. "And now when the polls are six out of 10 are against, Hillary Clinton is against the war."
"She's exactly what's wrong in Washington," Romney charged. "I said before Washington is broken. She is Washington to the core."
All this piling-on had the Clinton campaign issuing a statement after the debate, saying, "Senator Clinton looks forward to debating the eventual Republican nominee, making her case for bringing the troops home quickly and responsibly and detailing her solutions for jumpstarting the economy and reversing the Bush policies."
There were plenty of moments offering the Republican crowd at Florida Atlantic University a moment to laugh. After Romney said he was investing his own millions into his campaign because he cared about the country his children would inherit, Huckabee proposed that "the country will elect me president, they'll inherit a great president and your boys will still get your money, too."
Asked about Clinton's candidacy, Romney said, "The idea of Bill Clinton back in the White House with nothing to do is something I just can't imagine."
When pressed, Romney suggested he wasn't working blue.
When Huckabee was asked about comments made by supporter martial arts thespian Chuck Norris that McCain is too old to withstand the rigors of the presidency, Huckabee said he disagreed, noting that he had been standing right next to Norris when he made the remarks, "and I didn't disagree with him at the time, because I was standing next to him. It's as simple as that. This is a guy who can put this foot on that side of my face, and there's nothing I can do about it."
"Now that Sylvester Stallone has endorsed me," McCain quipped, "I'm sending him over to take care of Chuck Norris right away."
As the debate wound down, 97 minutes after it started, campaigns continued to e-mail reporters evidence of rivals' prevaricating and inferior ways. McCain's campaign released a YouTube video mocking Romney as a flip-flopper, Romney's campaign took on McCain for falsely claiming he had won a majority of Republican voters in the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, and the Giuliani campaign circulated a quote from Romney saying he wasn't "concerned" what voters thought about how many of his own millions he had put into his campaign.
But the candidates themselves left the stage never having really gotten across how much is at stake, how much they care, or why any voter should choose one of them over any other -- not to mention over their seemingly more passionate rivals in the other party.