Republican Debate: The Winner Is...

If you listen to Fox News, John McCain. Bunk. There was no winner because the debate is barely memorable, 2 hours after the fact. Mike Huckabee, an honorable guy himself, was making the name McCain synonymous with honor.

We are well aware of Senator McCain's military record, and those of us who value that sort of service and sacrifice are proud of him. But as has been covered too many times to recount, that service record doesn't translate into presidential material. In his defense, he's RIGHT ON THE SURGE. Romney did himself no favors hemming and hawing on the surge. Republicans, unlike wrong-headed Democrats, should be "all-in" on the surge. If Petraeus says it isn't working, our response should be: How many more troops do you need, General? Not, "Gee, it seemed to have been working, now it apparently isn't.

McCain's got that. Then again, so does Rudy Giuliani. He's all over it. And unlike McCain, Giuliani's right on Fiscal Discipline. McCain, for all of his laborious discussion of his record, is still a part of the problem in D.C.

Huckabee took the red meat of Ron Paul's war stance and went "pit bull" with it, but that's been done, so he didn't get high marks for it. Duncan Hunter is becoming more wonk-ish with each passing debate. Hunter knows his stuff and many would love to see him shaping up the Pentagon.

Tancredo is Tancredo, Brownback is, well, I'd prefer to use language befitting a general audience. Sure, he says the right things to get the social conservative vote, but he rings hollow.

So, the winner of the Republican Debate of September 5 is...

The bed. It was a sleeper. We've seen too many of these. Let's get the voting started and get moving. There are Democrats to defeat next November.