A Good Night For Mitt Romney

I was especially excited for tonight’s Fox News South Carolina debate in Myrtle Beach as I was very curious how it would play out. It was evident in the last two debates that McCain, Huckabee and Thompson all ganged up on Mitt, even with personal attacks (which made them huge hypocrites by the way). But with the South Carolina primary approaching and Huckabee and McCain doing well in the pre-polls and Thompson badly needing a victory there, I wondered if their alliance would have to be broken and if they would turn on each other. Would they leave Mitt alone because, in their view, he is no longer a threat, or would they try to finish him off once and for all. Well it turns out that Fred Thompson went hard against both Huckabee and McCain and performed very well. I am glad for this because if he gains popularity, it will really split the vote up, and I have a feeling that it will increase Romney’s chances of a strong showing in South Carolina, an integral primary.

As for a post-debate evaluation, I was thoroughly impressed with Mitt Romney’s performance. Despite getting much less camera time than he usually does, I thought that the answers and comments that he gave were clear, concise, and powerful. Instead of focusing on others weaknesses, he purely convinced voters why he is needed in Washington. He did not deviate from his message that “Washington is broken” and it’s not going to get fixed by putting the same people there, only in different chairs. He made an extremely powerful case for himself in his closing remarks. He talked about how he has been an agent of change his whole life, whether it be in business, in the Olympics, or in government office. He is constantly criticized for the amount of money he has and how much he is spending on his campaign. This is jealousy at its best. Why should we penalize a man for being successful and showing that he has the money to back up his national campaign against the democrats if he is elected the Republican nominee? Isn’t this a good thing? Heck, he didn’t even take a salary as Governor of Massachusetts. I guess anything can be negatively spun by both the liberal media or the other candidates. Clearly he is doing this because he wants to make America stronger for future generations and is a fine example of patriotism. One thing I think Mitt should stress even more is his superiority in both talent and experience in economics over any other candidate both Republican or Democrat. I say this not only because it is a hot topic for Michigan voters (a state he needs to win), but because many other issues hinge upon the economy. For example, many of the candidates, including McCain and Huckabee say that they want to spend more on the military (up to 6% of the GDP in Huck’s case). So where will these magic funds come from? The US already has a 9 trillion dollar debt owned partly by the Chinese. It’s nice to deliver that kind of lip service but if you don’t have the goods to back it up, it’s useless. Tonight Mike Huckabee said in response to a question, that he HAD to raise taxes in his state, but that the fruits of the increases were things like better education. No one will argue that better education is a bad thing, but the fact is that Mitt Romney could have done it without raising taxes. He did it in Massachusetts with health care. How is Huck going to increase the military? I’ll give you a clue. It rhymes with axes and starts with a ‘T’ (oh ya, and true conservatives hate them). The best candidate to fight recession with a strong economy is Mitt. A stronger economy and smarter spending are the only things that can support a bigger military without levying extra taxes. Neither McCain or Huckabee have great skills or ideas to strengthen the economy. With Huck it’s just obvious (no one-liner can hide that blunt truth) and McCain even recently told voters in Michigan that he didn’t know much about the economy when he said “I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated”. Strong military, strong education, and strong families with good jobs are all based on the foundation of a strong and vibrant economy, which only Romney can effectively produce. The further we get into the race, the more we have a chance to examine not only the other candidates, but also what is a stake, and the more apparent it becomes that America NEEDS Mitt Romney at this fragile stage of its history.

To see what some of the pundits said about Mitt’s performance click here.