LEFT OF THE RIGHT: New Hampshire Republican Presidential Candidates Debate, Or Political Speech Competition.

Despite as valiant an effort as he made keeping the Democrats reigned in, Wolf Blitzer just couldn’t manage to keep these chimps in line. It took less than 15 minutes for the name of Reagan to be dragged out… again. I guess it’s just one of those obligatory things. Every question was an excuse to try and engage in grand speech making. Blitzer tried desperately to get them to just give direct answers, but they would not budge. And one attempt at getting a yes/no answer down the line somehow triggered a 5 minute speech from Gulliani, who obviously was feeling slighted about the amount of time he was getting to talk.

As always they all are Johnny on the spot to acknowledge that issues like health care and energy are critical, but just like any Johnny come lately, they have no real answers to these issues other than to say things like, “it should be done without raising taxes.” Which is code for “do nothing.” Don’t forget, Republicans acknowledged these issues in 2000 when they took control of the presidency and the congress and then spent six years doing absolutely nothing to address these issues. Therefore, I see no reason to believe they mean anything they say about these things. So as usual, they pay lip service to social issues.

On the war in Iraq, the Republican candidates with the exception of Ron Paul are completely 180 degrees out from the majority of the American people and its like watching a burning plane headed for the ground. Ron Paul is the one and only candidate that understands that waging war for the reasons this administration used to justify this war are un-American. The American people have looked at this war and are horrified. At the current rate, by the time George Bush leaves office the number of American dead in Iraq alone will be five thousand six hundred soldiers. Bottom line is that these Republicans just don’t get it on the war in Iraq. They acknowledge that the American people were sending a message about the war through their defeats in 2006. But fail to realize that the American people aren’t done. Unless one of the front runners comes out against this war, they don’t have a chance of getting elected president.

But the gorilla in the room wasn’t in the room. I think Fred Thompson is playing it very cool. Why should he expose himself to things like questions about what he believes when he doesn’t have to. He can just cruise around in the “hasn’t announced yet” waters, leaving pundits guessing and the committed candidates taking all the shots. But I think that if and when he does get into it, he’ll find playing with the big dogs tougher than he thinks.

I struggled intensely about which of these guys I thought won the debate and I had to conclude that there was no clear winner. In fact, there were no winners at all. As far as this correspondent is concerned, none of these guys has the integrity or the wisdom to be president. Anyone who believes war and nation building is a justifiable means to spreading our example throughout the world is unworthy of the office.

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Devin Barber, Politics Correspondent

Devin’s column, “Left Of The Right” published every twice weekly or more to Gather Essentials: Politics is a Blue Collar Democrats take on current political news.

Devin was raised by proud Roosevelt Democrats. Being the son of parents counted among the throng of Americans displaced by the Great Depression has given Devin a deep rooted passion for causes dealing with the poor and the working class.

You can find all of Devin’s columns at http://gather.com/leftoftheright

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