Shock: Tommy Thompson, after a Fred Thompson joke, mentions George W. in the third sentence of the debate. Did not see that coming.

Mike Huckabee makes a funny about Hope, AK - "Give us a second chance." Won't help come the general when the first chance gets a 70% approval rating, but you have to admit, it is clever.

They sure are going on longer in their introductions than the Democrats were.

Wolf says, "we'll bring you all in, but first..." and I'm left wondering, sure, you'll bring them in, but will you bring them in as much as you will the top tier, or are you going to shaft the GOP secondaries like you did the Democrats?

McCain appears to be the most "presidential" and thoughtful on Iraq (actual position aside).

8:50: THANK YOU, Congressman Paul. I wouldn't fully agree, but at least your answer is better than "spending."

8:50: GILMORE, THAT'S NOT THE QUESTION! WOLF, STOP HIM! Wimp. Tool. Talentless ass clown.

7:24: Romney says nuking Iran is on the table. F*tard.

7:27: Why doesn't Wolf say "Please hold your applause `till the end" like he did last night? Foul! Foul, I cry, foul!

7:31: Wolf needs to do more than say "thank you... thank you... thank you..." and "alright.... Alright... alright..." to cut windbags off. Weak last night, weak tonight. Tool.

7:32: And why the f*** does he cut some people off (right now Giuliani) so much quicker than he does others (McCain)? He did this last night, too, especially at the end. Again, tool.

7:37: Asking Paul about the fence in the immigration vote, like he did last night with the Dems. Why the hell doesn't anyone say, "Wolf, you know very well that no bill is perfect, that every bill is complex. If you voted against every bill that contained some small provision or other you don't like, you'd never cast a single aye vote. You take the good with the bad, and the good outweighed the bad in that bill."

7:38: Wolf replaces with "raise your hand" to "please speak up now." Good.

7:46: Huckabee has a nuanced answer on evolution. I'm suprised he hasn't gotten more traction yet. I mean, I know he has no money, but why not? He's conservative, and this is the third debate he's done well in. Freddy boy must have heartburn right about now.

7:48: McCain: "Pastor Huckabee, Senator Huckabee..." Nice. I sometimes wonder, if I met John Danforth, would I call him Senator Danforth or Father John?

I'm gonna order some pizza now.

8:08: Giuliani: Blahblahblah. Wolf: "I'm looking for yes or no, Mayor." Giuliani: "This is an important issue!" Thanks, Rudy! I wish more candidates would stick up like that. Even if I do loathe your politics.

8:09: Wolf should've gone after Romney on the Scooter Libby issue. Romney: I don't want to overturn a jury, but here you have a prosecutor going overboard when he knew the guy didn't commit the crime. My dream Wolf: "So it's ok to lie to a grand jury if you didn't commit any other crimes?" Dream Romney: "Well, no, but he didn't lie, it was a memory issue." Dream Wolf: "So you're reversing position, then, and would overturn a jury?"

8:10: Cooper mentions Biden and Darfur. You ROCK, Anderson!!! :D

8:19: Federalized, three-part state in Iraq? Brownback is plagirizing Biden! Give credit where credit is due!

8:21: I respect this woman's sacrifice and her husband's service, but her tone of voice needs an attitude adjustment.

8:26: Tancredo's a nutcase, but anyone who cites Teddy Roosevelt deserves a quick shoutout. Even if TR would be a Democrat or third party member in today's world.

8:28: Giuliani presents a health care plan. Cheers on providing numbers and details. Jeers on telling people to go screw themselves. Government should back off? No, my New York accented friend, PRICES should back off! Free market principles would allow for lower prices? Are you MAD? How is Aetna, Blue Cross, and CIGNA competing for employer business NOT a free market?

8:31: I agree with Gov. Thompson that we need to focus on prevention and education. BUT, I don't care how much you educate people with chronic disease on tobacco and obesity, that's NOT going to help my dad's unexplainable kidney disease! It's NOT going to cover the skyrocketing cost of AIDS drugs! We need MORE than that!

8:34: You can hear Mitt protesting Wolf cutting him off. Sounds like they cut Mitt's mike off. Ok, that's getting forceful. Yay. A little unfair, but yay.

8:35: Huckabee's talking about abortion, and I must make a confession: I'm pro-life. I'm not part of the right wing pro-life movement, and though I am a Christian it's not for religious reasons, but I am pro-life.

8:36: We haven't heard from McCain in awhile. Huh.

8:38: Why would you cut off Romney's mike but let Giuliani go on like that? Wolf is a tool, Wolf is a tool, la la, Wolf is a tool.

8:39: Speaking as a Christian, I think Ron Paul is right. War is a pressing moral issue. Why do we define moral issues as just abortion and the like? Paul is right, not starting wars IS a moral imperative, taking nuking Iran off the table IS a moral imperative. Now I wish they'd talk about international and domestic poverty, global slavery, AIDS, and Katrina recovery.

Pizza's here.

8:41: Did Romney just say he wishes illegal immigrants would vote for him? BUSBY! BUSBY!

8:45: McCain just gave what might be the most stirring immigration sound bite I've ever heard. If it wasn't for Iraq, I really would give serious consideration to voting for him (assuming our party doesn't nominate Biden or Richardson).

8:47: I wish McCain had actually NAMED Ted Stevens. But close enough.

8:47: GREAT question, Wolf (Bush's failures). Now make Rudy answer the question. And fix the sound so I can hear the answers.

8:49: Are these guys really saying spending is a bigger failure than Katrina, disbanding the Iraqi army, and deBaathification? Fools all.

8:55: Alright, you gotta admire Rudy for that Lincoln bit on legal immigration. Bite me, Tom Tancredo.

8:55: McCain says that to be American, you have to believe the creator endowed us with equal rights. Now, I'm Christian. I believe in God. I think athiests are flat out wrong. But is McCain really suggesting that if you don't believe in a creator, if you're an athiest, you're unAmerican?

8:59: Hunter's line about "the Kennedy wing of the Republican party" is his soundbite for the night. It's clever, I gotta admit. But Rudy McRomney will never measure up to RFK or even Ted Kennedy. Ever. Not even McCain, who I do like. Ever.

ARG. STUPID SOUND.

Debate's over. My quick thought: Huckabee is the winner. Of the top tier, McCain looked the best. Neither Giuliani nor Romney shot themselves in the foot. Paul was looking pretty good, and his boomlet will most certainly continue. But Huckabee might steal some of those folks leaning towards Freddy boy. I'm turning to Fox now to see him speak on Hannity - pray for my soul that I can make it through without showing a shoe at Sean's ugly mug. As I told a friend at lunch today, the solution to all life's problems is: fire Sean Hannity.

One last thought - it's not the best team in broadcast journalism, I haven't seen Greenfield lately, and NBC has Chuck Todd now.

Good night. Thanks for reading this far, mefriends.