About Habeas Corpus?

About the "Unitary Executive"?

I'm disappointed, to say the least. We have an opportunity to confront these candidates with pressing issues- directly from the citizens of this nation- and no mention is made of the destruction of our civil liberties?

The "don't ask don't tell" question was nothing more than a way for these candidates to trade on one of their core "values", and the gun control one - come on- that was a gimmie.

CNN did a horrible job (or a great job, depending on their goal) of choosing questioners and questions. They tried to make Republican citizens look like crazed gun nuts, they tried to marginalize Ron Paul by giving him the CFR question, and Cooper was a terrible moderator - he had almost no control.

There were some great moments, though. Giuliani came up really small; his "sanctuary mansion" quip was beyond petty. Huckabee looked like the front runner - he took the high ground and kept it. McCain was sincere, mostly, but seemed tired and worn out. Thompson is complacent, almost like he simply expects to win. Romney scored points on Giuliani, but lost big with his exchange with Huckabee on immigrant children.

Back to CNN: they did a major disservice to voters and citizens. They treated the debate like entertainment, slipped in some ringers, and betrayed a bias against Republicans in general. And no, I am not a Republican.

Do you know what a CDO is? An SIV, ABS, etc??

(hint: I'll bet Bush couldn't tell you)

We got rid of a terrible budget deficit once before? Did we learn anything about the process. Or is this like Global Warming, just part of some cycle and process we don't really understand, and we shouldn't worry about it? Did I mention the dollar?

Do you remember the phrase, "Don't worry, be happy." Congratulations, you are a Reagan era Republican. While all of you talk about Reagan's accomplishments, none of you seem to accept his primary message, you all seem to be saying, "Worry, worry, worry.." Are you we going to have to wait another four years before we can be happy again?

People are losing trust in the vital infrastructure which supports and protects them, even while we are spread across the world, catching terrorists, we can't trust the toys we buy, the food we eat, the elected officials who are supposed to protect us. Which one of you is going to "Insure the Domestic Tranquility," and how are you going to do it?

For Sen McCain: The enemy tortured you once. It didn't work. Why should we use torture? Doesn't it strengthen the enemies resolve, did it strengthen yours?

For Rep Paul: YOu want to take us back to the Constitutional Garden of Eden. What is your view of the Constitution Amendments since the Civil War?

For Mr Romney: How does your religion guide your political vision?

For Mr Guiliani: Have you considered a make over? The Democrats have young and attractive people running for office? Would you consider changing your looks to appear more likable? Do you think Nixon made a mistake in the 1960 debate. Most people do. What would you consider doing? Botox, hair plants, etc?

i think i heard mitt romney (who i thought came off as a disingenuous snake last night) say something to the effect of "we're one america. one country, united. there are not two americas." well if that's the case, i'm puzzled as to why the gop race is a contest to see which candidate is the most hardcore conservative?

i know all about playing to your audience, but these guys are frightening. has nobody told them that there is an entire half of the country that thinks their ideas are ludicrous? the last thing america wants or needs right now is 4 more years of the vicious red state/blue state divisiveness that is destroying us from the inside out. we have real issues on foreign policy, our economy, education, government power, violent crime, etc. - none of these things have anything to do with god or gays, yet those are the topics that keep coming up.

some of the democrats get this (like obama), but none of the republicans do, save perhaps ron paul.

and aside from the fact that nobody can substantiate whether the gay general was a hillary plant, what's the difference anyway? was it not a perfectly valid question? accusing the general of being a hillary plant is classic gop politics: when your viewpoints make you look stupid, ignorant, and bigoted, change the topic.

I would like to see Ron Paul run as an independent - Libertarian, Conspiratarian, No-Taxagrarian whatever he wants to call himself. It seems likely that he won't be the Republican nominee, but it seems he's also touched a nerve among many voters.

If you're in favor of Paul being a candidate, why not start pressuring him to try an independent run? Call, write, email. Volunteer to help. Give money.

About that money - there's apparently been a huge rise in contributions to Ron Paul over the last month. Not enough to make him competitive among Republicans, obviously - but maybe enough for him to run on his own.

Frankly, he's a lot more popular than Nader ever was, and as far as we can tell, less whacko than his fellow Tejano, H. Ross Perot, who got - what? nearly 20% of the vote, in spite of dropping out of the race in July.

Paul might actually have a chance, given the general disappointment with all of the other Republican candidates, and the white-hot hatred of the Democratic front runner - by Democrats. Moreover, in spite of all of her reaching for the center-right, few Republicans would ever endanger their cojones by voting for a woman.

(And, if by chance Senator Obama gets the Democratic nomination, you'll see a "Southern Strategy" that would make Lee Atwater blush.)

If you like Ron Paul - get him to run as a third party candidate.

Ever have one of those out-of-body moments when you wonder where you are and what world you have just landed on?

That was the feeling I had last night watching the Republican YouTube debate.

In the first place, most of them looked like the undead. Maybe it was the lighting, or the makeup. Then again maybe it was them...

In the second place, most of them (with the exception of Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul) answered questions like you'd expect the undead to answer. Even McCain's lecture of Mitt Romney on torture seemed labored.

The audience contributed to my feeling of unreality. I've never thought of Republicans as having any emotion but anger in their repertoire and they certainly didn't let me down -- booing everybody on stage at least once when the answers didn't agree with their personal biases. On the other hand, maybe their boos were symptoms of short attention span.

By the way, where were the questions about the economy? Health care? Housing and credit problems? Global warming? No wonder I felt as if I'd been dropped onto a strange planet with alien beings.

Michael Sherer got it right in his minute-by-minute analysis. After last night's torture session, I can't wait until seven of these people are put out of their misery by voters. At least then voters will only have to deal with one of the undead.