Iowa GOP Debate

Hard to believe, but the Moderator, Editor of the Des Moines Register, made the CNN debate You Tube debate look professional by comparison.

Two Winners, One Loser:

• Winner: Mitt Romney, who effectively countered Huckabee's Arkansas record by pointing out his strengths in education and on the immigration issue with his record as Governor of Massachusetts. The focus group assembled by Frank Luntz clearly thought Romney won (video here).
• Winner: Fred Thompson, who refused to play the silly "raise your hand" game on a question about global warming and challenged the moderator to allow longer answers to that complex question. She refused.
• Loser: Carolyn Washburn, the Editor of the Des Moines Register who moderated the debate. Instead of facilitating the give and take among the candidates that illuminates the differences between them Ms. Washburn seemed obsessed with time keeping and control. Hard to believe anyone could make CNN look good, but she managed. Michelle Malkin had the best line:
  "She’s no plant, but she sure is a stick in the mud."

The debate transcript is here.

The Fred Thompson smack down, along with excellent commentary by Charles Krauthammer is here:

Also, excellent commentary by Dean Barnett at the Weekly Standard captures my thoughts exactly, so save me the typing by clicking here.