CNN/YouTube Republican Debate

I must state that all the opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone. As Ms. Phebe said in her post last night, all of us ladies have differing opinions on politics and it seems as the only non voting member of this blog team I can look at both side and be the non partisan voice.



Last night CNN and YouTube teamed up again for their second debate. This time it was the Republicans turn to face the people. All eight Republican candidates were in attendance and right from the get go it was, what’s the word I am looking for here……interesting.

I have to admit that I am very glad that I did not have to write this post last night because some of the bickering really got to me. I am glad to have a night to sleep on it. I honestly have to say that Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani got on my nerves during their argument about immigration at the beginning of the debate. The nastiness just does not do anything for me other then turn me off to a candidate.

I personally feel bad for anyone who moderates these debates and Anderson Cooper is no exception. I think they need to throw the honor system out the window and bring in some bells and whistles. I was getting really tired of hearing Anderson say time and the candidates continue talking over him. The problem is at this point there are just too many voices trying to get their points across. Poor Anderson just got run over during most of the bickering but he did a phenomenal job during the debate.

I have to say the questions chosen were an interesting selection. As Erica Hill pointed out while with the group of undecided voters, I too was very disappointed that no questions about health care, education, Iran and energy were used. It is hard for me to believe that in almost 5000 submitted questions none of these topics were even questioned. At this point I must applaud the 5000 people who submitted entries. Thank you for getting involved in the political process.

I feel like I have seen 2 Republican debates and 100 Democratic ones. I know most of the country has had it with the Republicans but it just seems like an unfair balance to me. After watching the debate I personally was very impressed by the lower tier candidates and highly disappointed by the front runners. My picks for who did the best last night, Mike Huckabee and John McCain. My picks for who did the worst, Mitt Romney followed by Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani.

Well enough about my opinions. After the debate Anderson Cooper was joined by the best political team on television. John King, Gloria Bergen, John Roberts, Campbell Brown, Jeffrey Toobin, David Gergen, Erica Hill (who I was so glad to see involved), William Bennett andJamal Simmons to discuss the debate. I really enjoyed the post debate discussion.

And with out further adieu as promised, some more hi resolution photos.

CNN Worldwide – All Rights Reserved 2007©