Yes, There Was A GOP Debate

Obviously I didn't blog along with the GOP debate in Iowa. (Were any readers up at 8 a.m. Central Time wringing their hands at my lack of coverage? Requests for a refund should be sent to dweigel-at-reason.com.) If you crave recaps, check out Jonathan Martin, Liz Mair, and Ana Marie Cox. The last take includes this one-two-three series of posts:

8:42 AM GS still trying to get Rudy to say what his Iraq policy is. Rudy giving a constitutional law lecture; manages to not cite any concrete event in Iraq but he does imply that he brought democracy to New York! Before he was mayor, "People were afraid to go out at night… people were afraid to to the movies or buy groceries." Uhm, wow. Sure: New York in the early 90s was totally like Baghdad in 2007! Just with more porn and fewer suicide bombers.

8:46 AM Mitt: "I'm not a carbon copy of President Bush." No, he's not a carbon copy of anything, researchers have been tweaking him ever since he was developed in lab in 1992.

8:49 AM Political correctness apparently bad. When did this become a hot button issue again? What decade are we in now?

There was, reportedly, a huge reception for Ron Paul, but it's Mike Huckabee who's one-linered his way out of the back of the field and into a tie for fourth place with McCain, with 8 percent of the vote.