Reagan's Legacy

Well, the GOP candidates got together again tonight, this time at the Reagan Library out in California. And, yes, Nancy was there, along with the Governator.

Unfortunately, the CNN moderators encouraged the two "leading" contenders to drag the tone of the debate into the gutter. It was truly shameful and, in my opinion, terribly disrespectful to the memory of the Gipper.

The only thing anyone can give John McCain credit for is staying on message. No matter what the question was, his canned answers always came back around to the Iraq surge. Health care? Surge. Economy? Surge. Leadership? Surge.

The other thing he did, with an annoying smirk on his face, was continually bait Mitt Romney about his position on . . . you guessed it . . . the surge.

Unfortunately, despite his much-touted credentials and reputation for a suave demeanor, Romney took the bait. He was visibly upset by McCain's attacks. So much for unflappable. Kinda makes you wonder how he'd react to baiting by Iranian, Venezuelan, Cuban, or North Korean "leaders."

What was particularly annoying to me as a Huckabee supporter was how much time and attention the moderators gave to these two and their bad behavior. They virtually ignored the fact that Huck (and Ron Paul) were on the stage.

However, Huckabee did steal the show right at the end. Anderson Cooper asked the question of all four men, "If Ronald Reagan were alive today, would he endorse you?"

Well, Romney thought he would certainly have gained the Gipper's endorsement, because he was (like Reagan) a governor who would approach problems with an outside-the-beltway mentality. Fairly good point.

McCain claimed he deserved the endorsement because he was "a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution." Pompous to say the least.

Everybody's favorite Libertarian shared stories of Reagan campaigning for him in Texas in the 70s and 80s, and their common love of the gold standard.

Then, Huckabee got the last word.

And, he hit a home run.

He told Cooper, and everyone else for that matter, that we shouldn't engage in conjecture about who Reagan would endorse.

Rather, Huckabee astutely challenged his opponents to join him in endorsing Reagan's ideals. They include lower taxes, smaller government, strong defense, the sanctity of human life, and an optimistic vision of America's future.

That response brought down the house!

It was realy cool to see Ah-nold jump up out of his seat as Huckabee's answer ended what had been a bitterly cantakerous evening. I wish he'd had a microphone on him so we could hear what he said to Huck, but there was some back-slapping a big grin, and a fairly long conversation.

I didn't see Schwarzenegger exhibit that kind of body language with the other candidates.

Kinda makes you wonder why the rumor mills say he's going to endorse somebody else?

Oh, well, time to hit the sack.

In the mean time: GO, MIKE, GO!