Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign Website was brimming with glowing reprint reports on his debate performance -- on the day after.
The Des Moines Register noted: “John McCain turned in his best performance of the 2008 Republican presidential campaign during a debate Wednesday night in New Hampshire. His blunt, candid answers were reminiscent of the ‘straight-talking’ McCain we saw in the 2000 presidential campaign. His good showing should provide a little lift to his troubled 2008 bid, an effort he's struggling to get back on track.”
The Weekly Standard concluded: “Wednesday night's Fox News Channel debate saw McCain reassert his place in the top tier of Republican contenders. And it was his answers on critical foreign policy questions involving Gen. David Petraeus' ‘surge’ strategy in Iraq, the interrogation techniques deployed on enemy detainees, and the use of military force against Iran that established his strong position.”
Meanwhile, GOP hopeful, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney went to the order about the debate on Fox News’ Hannity and Colmes.
Alan Colmes asked Romney if they were too rough on him.
“No, I thought it was fun,” Romney responded. “This was a great night. What I liked about tonight is we finally got to the distinction on a number of key issues.
“Immigration being one. Mayor Giuliani thinks that immigration is about crime. And of course we're concerned about illegal immigrants who are criminals, but that is not the issue. The issue is jobs and the rule of law in this country, and 12 million illegal immigrants. He said they were welcome if they were undocumented in New York. That is something which is going to stand out.”
Colmes followed up on what Romney had said about the controversial border fence.
“How do you continue the surge, continue the war, continue fighting the war on terror, build a multi-billion dollar wall, and talk about lowering taxes all in the same breath?”
Romney insisted that compared to the federal budget and its trillions, “the wall is a very small cost and the burden that is associated with illegal immigration far away justifies building that wall. We have to stop illegal immigration so that we can welcome legal immigrants and we can manage our own system to bring in the people we need for our workforce.”
Sean Hannity brought up Romney’s exchange with McCain on the troop surge in Iraq.
Romney replied that in his opinion “it was not much of a battle. I am just obviously holding out until we hear from General Petraeus. I have not been to Iraq for a year. I cannot say firsthand whether it is working fully or it is not working fully.”
Meanwhile, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani also came under fire. A college student asked him in a roundabout manner whether the problems in his personal life in any way contradicted his advocacy of family values.
Giuliani used his stock response that he has never claimed to be perfect and has some of the same struggles in his family life as many Americans do.
Romney and Giuliani took on each other as well, with the former emphasizing Giuliani's past statement welcoming illegal immigrants to New York City.
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