Republican Debate Media Comparison

Reuters focuses on the republicans as a collective unit, saying:

"Republican White House contenders offered strong support for the military effort in Iraq but voiced qualms about the Bush administration's management of the war during a quiet first debate on Thursday. The Republican debate at the California presidential library of conservative Republican hero Ronald Reagan produced few confrontations or memorable moments but exposed some differences among the 10 candidates on social issues like abortion."

It was CNN that decided to focus on the abortion differences, which as a result gave Guiliani the headline space ("Guiliani bucks GOP field"). CNN led by stating: "Rudy Giuliani broke with the other nine Republicans in the party's first debate of the presidential campaign, saying that it would be OK if the Supreme Court overturned its ruling on abortion rights but that he respected a woman's right to choose."

Of course the Republican Debate features prominently on most source's landing pages this morning, however I utilized the Daylife search function to get a little more depth on the matter. The EvolutionBlog, for example, offers "[o]ther tidbits from" the debate. Jason Rosenhouse, wrote:

"Next came an amusing segment where the candidates were asked whether they felt the day that Roe v. Wade was overturned would be a good day in American history. Judging from the responses, it might as well have been Stephen Colbert asking, 'Great day? Or, our greatest day?'"

Rosenhouse included the candidate's responses:

"MR. ROMNEY: Absolutely.
SEN. BROWNBACK: Be a glorious day of human liberty and freedom.
MR. GILMORE: Yes, it was wrongly decided.
MR. HUCKABEE: Most certainly.
REP. HUNTER: Yes.
MR. THOMPSON: Yes.
SEN. MCCAIN: Repeal.
[MODERATOR ]MR. MATTHEWS: Mayor...
MR. GIULIANI: It would be okay.
MR. MATTHEWS: Okay to repeal?
MR. GIULIANI: It would be okay to repeal. Or it would be okay also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision.
MR. MATTHEWS: Would it be okay if they didn't repeal it?MR. GIULIANI: I think that -- I think the court has to make that decision, and then the country can deal with it. We're a federalist system of government, and states could make their own decisions. "

Luckily for us, Rosenhouse also translated Giuliani's response to "Can we please stop talking about abortion and talk instead about how heroic I was on 9/11?"

BlogCritics Magazine wants to make sure we know who does not believe in evolution, and described the situation like this:

"I just have to say - did you see that three Republicans raised their hands to signify that they did not believe in evolution? And, once again, the camera did not move in close enough. From what I could see, it wasn't Giuliani or McCain and I'm pretty sure it wasn't Romney at the other end. But three others Republican candidates did raise their hands. (They have been identified as Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Rep. Tom Tancredo.) The mind boggles - I thought for a second I was watching The Tudors, except then it would have been more entertaining."

Daylife also culls some pertinent quotes here.