The Great Republican Presidential Roundtable Discussion Thingie

I don't know what to call last night's gathering of GOP presidential contenders, pretenders, wannabes, and the Libertarian who got his directions mixed up. Oh, wait, I do know - it's a compound, hyphenated word, with the first word being "cluster". But then that's what all presidential primary thingies are. With upward of a dozen individuals on the same stage, the serious candidates trying desperately not to say anything stupid (and typically ending up saying nothing at all as a result) and the longshots acting like buffoons to try and grab some attention for themselves, they usually come off looking like a sedate episode of Jerry Springer. Which made Chris Matthews darn near the ideal "moderator." (heh)

I didn't watch/listen, but I followed the live blog at Heading Right. The general consensus is that Rudy tried not to lose any ground ("Say nothing about abortion...Say nothing about abortion"), McCain tried to impersonate Rudy, Ron Paul put himself in the running to be Martin Van Buren's running mate, and the remainder, with one exception, all blurred together amorphously.

That one exception being Mitt Romney, who on this morning after is being declared the "winner." Hope he has room on his mantlepiece, and a pallet of Tums to go with it.

Parenthetically, I'm on the verge of possibly being a contributor at Heading Right, but for the niggling little detail of needing to sign up to host an internet talk show on Blog Talk Radio, which would be a little like Barney Fife signing up for a Mr. Universe competition. It's even more like being a starving man contemplating a poisoned dinner, or a man denied a woman's touch for a decade being set in front of a naked, dripping, nympho supermodel with a bed of glowing hot coals between you and her that you have to crawl across on your belly, combat style, in order to get to her ecstatic embrace.

Perhaps it's most like Dean Barnett's analysis of Giuliani's performance last night:

I’ve speculated in private correspondence that he doesn’t really want it. Something similar happened to Howard Dean – he got scared of being president and undermined his own campaign when he became the frontrunner. Whether this undermining was conscious or not is almost beside the point. It happened.

They say it's important for a man to know himself, and his limitations. They also say it's possible to both underthink and overthink a proposition. Rudy may have done the former vis-a-v-ie becoming leader of the free world, and I've probably done the latter regarding BTR.

Maybe I can have him as a guest on my show and we can talk about it....

UPDATE: Romney debate highlights are here, here, and here. The already infamous "evolution question" is here. Highlights of Giuliani's abortion gaffe when they become available, or I can find them, whichever comes first.