CNN

The media is big business. They like ratings more than truth. They want to tell us what and how to think. The debate was a farce because it didn't tell the whole story and allow the candidates to have equal time. Bill gets paid on the basis of ratings. GET IT?

who do u this is goin 2 win???

I dont think we have much of a choice in this years vote. except for hillary clinton. sheis the one with the most experience and entellingence to run oue government. sorry to all you males. she is less corruptable of any one running on either ticket.

haze of california

So Mitt Romney says that there are four strategic visions in the world: Russia, China, Al Qaeda and the United States.
Such backward-looking Romnian/GOP bilgewater!
Al Qaeda is a rearguard action against progress by a handful of socio-religious nutbars something like the KKK, and is past its best-before date.
Russia is an increasingly depopulated has-been being informally taken over by China in the east and the south, and bought out by European corporations from the west. GazProm does not a nation make.
And Romney's omission of Europe is just incredible! The world's largest market (and still growing), a currency that is already beginning to replace the US dollar's role in the world, increasingly the setter of technological standards, and the choice for university education of the vast majority of rather brilliant Chinese students whose minds will drive much that happens for decades to come (and are unwanted by Americans).

Such a dumb analysis...who does Mitt Romney think he is - George W. Bush??

It's going to be Europe, China, and the USA, with Europe and China arm-wrestling for top spot.

Being one of the great "Undecideds" I have tried to make a real effort to learn as much as possible about ALL of the candidates...GOP and Dems. I have come to one conclusion, the media has taken on the mantle of Kingmaker. They have decided who we will be able to choose from come November. Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Joe Biden, Christopher Dodd never had a chance. Come to think of it....neither did the American voter.

Congratulations guys. When the Third World War starts, be sure to give yourselves a big pat on the back.

I wouldn't vote for any of the Republican candidates, but I thought Anderson Cooper was extremely rude and unfair. He let Romney and McCain go on and on about the timetable which I thought was petty argument that didn't help the voters while Ron Paul and Huckabee were practically left out of the debate. I generally like AC, but his moderating skill in this debate was abominable.

I liked Romney's straight forward answers. McCain is a Joke and sounded rediculous. Huckabee was great too. McCain... go home. You ave no business running this nation.

I wonder what ever happened to that state of Iran?

Romney is a smart man and I hope people begin seeing it!
As for the debate, I who am not a fan of Paul or Huckabee, was very unhappy that they kept getting ignored, and when they cut off Paul for someone else to talk, that is just wrong. Let the poor guy talk!

Bill, you must be losing it. Romney's response is thoughtful and on the money.

With all due respect, President Kennedy published a book about his heroism before he ran for president, so yes, he did run his ordeal up the flag. As Commander and Chief of the country, I believe it is important to have someone who has been to war to know how bad it is. The irony is that having experienced war, makes one very reluctant to use it as a tool except as a last resort. I thought Romney had a smug, supercillious look on his face throughout the debate and I would be very concerned to have him as leader of our military. There are a lot of precious lives serving in our military. They deserve someone who knows what they are going though as their boss- they don't get a say and they can't quit. And McCain is someone who is adamantly against torture! We have had 16 years of former governors and Washington outsiders sitting in the White House. I think it is time for a change- a change to someone with experience.

Perhaps it is too simple for Schneider; he was saying that those four philosophies are the most prevalent philosophies competing in the world to be number one. I think it is an indication of his understanding in the area of Foreign policy, and how these are related to our position in the world as a leader.

McCain is rumored to be a mean-spirited person. He seems very comfortable smirking and making sarcastic remarks to those who disagree with him. Sound familiar?

How disgraceful that this evenings debate was. I'm a registered Democrat and am so angry that CNN, or Anderson Cooper decided WHO we would hear debate the issues tonight. Shame on you! This election is for THE PEOPLE, not who media decides the people should hear.

It was obvious to our family watching the debate, that the MOST Presidential, IS
MITT ROMNEY. He is right to say, that a Gov. is like running a small country, with
all the duties, people and groups that the Gov. over sees. Just like Reagan, one has to be able to manage ALL this, including the security of the State, coordinate the various agencies, and over see the heads of those agencies. This man, is right when he says it is his varied background that qualifies him, in having the economic background. He is VERY Presidential, and I got tired of hearing McRINO, constantly harping on being identified with "foot soldiers". He drones on and on, and in his subtle attacks on Romney, and the obvious ones, he IS lying
when he continues to throw utter nonsense out there on Romney. He is one who
has voted against Bushe's tax cuts-twice, was for Amnesty, and proof of that, is that he has Juan Hernandez working for over a year with him, who is of the belief that Amnesty is the only way to go, and we should have open borders. Juan has been on Fox many times, spouting his amnesty bs, and McCain also has aligned himself with OSI-Open Society Institute, founded by George Soros-just like MoveOn.org, which is for: Open borders of all of N. America. McCain, is more Left leaning, than anyone on that stage, and he was 'waving the flag' with his past career as a soldier, but even that is surprising when you look in on:
"vietnamveteransagainstJohnMcCain.com

Romney is the winner tonight, as he has the temperment, as well, that the mean-spirited McCain does NOT have.

I'm having a real problem with that constant smirk on the face of John McCain. I'm also getting tired of the "prisoner of war" and the "I fought for my country" statenents. Being in the military and being a prisoner of war are commendable and I for one appreicate his service to this great country. However I looking for the new preisident that this country so desperately needs, and being veteran or POW does not make someone a great president. Funny, I don't seam to remember Jack Kennady ever once run his ordeal up the flag pole.

I think your bias shows. Your views are exposed by your comment and your not an objective person, your opinions have so much slant to them.

Point #1: It is an OUTRAGE that CNN is allowed to insult the intelligence of the American people with this blatant censorship of Ron Paul.

Point #2: It is an OUTRAGE that CNN is allowed to insult the intelligence of the American people with this blatant censorship of Ron Paul.

This is off the charts. We DEMAND a clock and equal time for each candidate. This is the kind of disenfranchisement that makes people blood boil.

Is this Belarus?

Is this Uzbekistan?

Is this Venezuela?

Is this Turkmenistan?

HELLOOOOO!!!!! There are FOUR candidates present not TWO. Thats FOUR -- F-O-U-R. CNN has lost all credibility.

Hey, Rafa, did you say the same thing when Ralph Nader crashed your party?

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I would rather have a man for President that is against going to war without an approval from Congress.

My problem with the debates is that the ones controling them seam to be unable to keep all of the canidates included in the discussions. I am very undecidede and I would really like to here from all of the canidates on all of the issues, not just McCane and Romeny and I really do not appreicate the CNN teams inability to allow all of the canidates to atate their views and what seams to be a never ending attempt to create something worthy of headlines between who they consider to be the front runners. Maybe the front runners are being decided not so much because of the poles but because of the CNN teams inability to control the debate and allow all of the canidates to voice their views on all of the questions?

I believe that Romneys response framed the world briefly to create a context for his point. that point being that our efforts to promote the philosophy we hold is paramount as it rubs up against the others...(three of which he mentioned) I find the previous comments by Huckabee treading on patriotism with religion. I have not felt that is the case from Romney.

that's the best point I've heard yet from Danielle. There is a very fine between being pro surge and being pro war in general. He seems to be more the latter. That's a scary thought to have somebody who's as deeply inbedded in the thought of war in general, not just doing what it takes to protect our nation. He goes a step further. He's an angry man with what seems to be an angry and dangerous agenda.

Most intellectually interesting answer *if* you choose to ignore the most intellectual candidate, much like has been done in the debate. The greatest threat to our nation is not foreign; it is the disastrous monetary policies which we have embraced at home. Our fiscal irresponsibility threatens to cause our economy to collapse on itself, and only the call to return to traditional, constitutional principles like those proposed by Congressman Paul are able to permanently remedy the situation.

that's the best point I've heard yet from Danielle. There is a very fine between being pro surge and being pro war in general. He seems to be more the latter. That's a scary thought to have somebody who's as deeply inbedded in the thought of war in general, not just doing what it takes to protect our nation. He goes a step further. He's an angree man with what seems to be an angree and dangerous agenda.

Civil? Can it be said that any serious candidate for President be percieved as civil in this highly contentious election. What truly csn be said of this debate is that Romney and McCain are sparing for the uber-conservative. Romney wins hands-down in my opinion; however, how realistic is pseudo-conservatism in America today!

I'd sure like to see the media give ALL candidates equal time. Romney and McCain were given the most time and all they did was speak negatively about each other and argue. People are fed up with this type of nonsense. As far as I am concerned Ron Paul is the one who won this debate as he spoke straight to the issues, that is when he was allowed to speak with Mike Huckabee coming in second as winner.

Mr. Schneider:

I am life-long Dem and do support a leading Dem. But, regardless, I feel that if we shut down the Ron Pauls of the world the quality of our political debate suffers.

I truly believe that AC is doing CNN a disservice by being so biased against Ron Paul. If you study the tape of tonight's debate you will find that he was not very fair to him.

You are a political commentator of the highest gravitas – why doesn't CNN have you moderate the debates?

Between the non-sense of Lou Dobbs and this obvious bias against non-leading candidates I'm seriously considering moving on to MSNBC.

Please talk some sense to the nattering talking heads!

McCain is ready to be Secretary of Defense but not the President!!!!!!!

Nevermind the EU, India, the OPEC nations, the UN, or the many other strategic visions out there. That just confuses too many people.

Romney is doing the only thing that he knows how to do. Something that he learned from the Bush campaign in 04 and also something that is echoed by McCain. It is a platform based on fear. Neither care that the fear is unfounded but they hope that fear will pervade logical thinking and make people vote for them.
How many times can they invoke fear before people start to realize that it just is not there.

I certainly hope that tomorrow night that we get straight answers from both candidates. I'm really disappointed that there's no followup in asking for straight answers. Very unusual moderation tonight.

Re: Romney's 4 world visions. Fine and dandy – but does anyone know what the vision of the United States is? Surely not spreading democracy – as we support very undemocratic regimes – such as Saudi Arabia – to the extent of stationing troops there to protect this regime against any group at home that might want to introduce democracy.

An interesting point - A great book to read is "Clash of Civilizations"

I find it disappointing that Rommney and McCain are receiving a majority of the time during the debate. Huckabee and Paul are being short shrifted. The polls may suggest that Huckabee and Paul have no hope of winning but that does not mean they have nothing important to say – especially in contrast to the front runners. I would rather that Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee have not been invited to the debate rather than seeing them snubbed the way they are tonight. In the spirit of a real debate, America deserves better than simply hearing the opinions of the front runners.

It is, but there's actually six: he forgot South America and Europe. (Australia tends to go more with the UK than anyone else.)

Bill, maybe you just admitted you are not intellectually prepared for analysis of Mr. Romney's words. Perhaps I should send in an application. What do people see (intellectually) in McCain other than his long career of political nothing and a 50 year old war record

I would like Romney to address the fact that Mormons think they have a right to search death records and "baptize by proxy" dead people into the Mormon faith....Talk about an invasion of privacy!!

Romney has a vision and is able to communicate that.

I know and I'm really watching all debates from both parties. This debate is very interesting. I just really don't understand why Sen. McCain is getting these non'-straight talk answers and these's no follow up questions from qualifications.

This comment means "there are the bad buys, and there is us". Nothing new there.

Doess Romney have someone answering the questions for him!Like Florida

I don't know if what you perceive to be incivility could not also be described as a lack of tact or basic treatment of people skills.

Danielle – Good point.

If any of these Republicans win, yes. At war with the world.

its very clear bill.
four strategies, four hegemons, four options.
simple.

romney is so smart.

That's obvious, he is talking about 4 ideologies Bill.

There's what's in China's interest, Russia's interest, Al Qaeda's interest and then What's in OUR best interest...

Totally agree and would be interesting to dissect. If true, pretty impressive.

Dadeedaduh, Romney is the most intelligent candidate. Why would it surprise anyone that his answers are worth thinking about? If you worry about the economy (stupid) he is a better answer than even Bill was.

Anyone else have "your comment is await moderation" above their comment? I'm suspicious my comments aren't being posted...

It is as intelectual as the "Axis of Evil". It is simplistic, prejudicial and dangerous.

Romney is the Smartest guy up there. No question. I agree in that was an interesting take on the world and agree with it.

Russia is rising up the charts as an enemy to democracy, good to know Romney has Russia on his radar.

Particularly interesting if you ask yourself, what is the vision of the United States?

And the tv is off. Another viewer gone.

I hear two guys with no chance that make more sense then the two guys who can win. Whats wrong with american voters.

is McCain capable of being civil? If he can't be civil to his opponents how can we expect him to be civil with foreign leaders whose ideas he does not agree with? are we going to be at war with every nation on earth?

Ron Paul is the only person to think about,,

Bill you should be fired... you are not a moderate reporter...
Do us a favor and quit

Bad debate. Bad questions that have to do more with stirring arguments and controversy than addressing the issues. I mean come on "What makes Romney a better commander in chief than McCain". What's up with this?! To top it off, bad commentators. I'm turning it off.

It would be helpful if both Romney and Paul could get to the point at times, this is one of the issues which plague them both.

Where is the time Cooper told Ron Paul he'd have after cutting his response to 15 seconds TWICE?!?

the man got brains.

Are you listening this? I'm blogging on 3 different sites, dealing with 2 kids yelling and listening to this and I manage to get what Romney said. It made sense. Way more sense than McCain's answer on what is a leader.

Romney understands the world more than enough to lead us back to greatness!