My dad and my sister and I watched the Republican debate on TV tonight, and I have drawn several conclusions:
- Ron Paul is off his damn gourd and I think it’s finally been made apparent.
- Fred Thompson’s attempts to discredit the other candidates looked contrived and reflected badly on him, to say the least. This is the beginning of the end for him.
- McCain brings up his military history at least every three minutes. Methinks the senator doth protest too much. It comes off to me like he’s trying to hide a lack of substance behind one a shield of patriotism. No doubt he is quite patriotic and heroic, but I think it’s fair to say that most people are more interested in what a candidate plans to do than what he or she did several decades ago.
- Romney seemed very low-key and level-headed, not at all what I had come to expect from the media hype. All the “Oh noes, a Mormon for president” may get a lot quieter after this.
- Huckabee honestly impressed me, especially with his handling of the moderator’s (somewhat harsh) question about his professed belief that wives are to “submit” to husbands as per the Ephesians passage. Although I don’t understand or condone his supporting the Southern Baptist Convention in making that statement, I was quite impressed by his response that he believes in equal submission of wives to husbands and of husbands to wives, that this is a model of submission in love meant to help us surrender to Christ, and finally that this question had no place in a political debate. I just felt that he was very professional about it, and I gained a lot of respect for him. Not enough to vote for him against Obama, but if it comes down between Huckabee and Clinton it’ll be a far different matter.
- My sister is amazingly politically aware and it’s so freaking awesome.During the everpresent Republican tax cut debate, she started chanting, “Read my lips: No new taxes!” and it almost killed me.
Also in danger of killing me: the stuffed portabella caps, olive oil and tomato pasta, crescent rolls, and chocolate chip cookies I made for dinner tonight. I have no regrets whatsoever about making this meal, as I found it rather amazing during the eating portion of the proceedings… I’d just rather have skipped the thirty minutes I spent lying on the floor close to tears afterward as my stomach gurgled ominously.
