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HotAir.com has the Video of ”Line of the Night” here .
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Dick Morris (dickmorris.com) weighs in:
Mike Huckabee showed that he was the class of the conservatives in the field. His answers were excellent and he brought down the house when he likened Democratic spending to John Edwards at a beauty salon. He defeated not only the other right wing wannabees but he also dealt a blow to the maybe candidacies of Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich, showing that there was a real live, true blue conservative already in the race and there was no need to wait for Mr. Right to arrive.
Mediamatters.org reports (Full Report and Video Here)
On the May 16 edition of MSNBC Live, CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood, after viewing a clip of Huckabee’s comment, praised him as “a better communicator than anybody else was on that stage last night.”
Bill Sammon writing for the Examiner (Full Article here):
Rudy McRomney, the composite name used as political shorthand to denote the top three Republican presidential hopefuls, might soon be expanded to Rudy “Huck” McRomney. “I wish my name would get in the moniker,” said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at Tuesday night’s Republican debate here. “I could use the bump.”
Based on his widely praised performances in Tuesday’s debate and an earlier debate in California, Huckabee’s bump might be taking shape. Pundits and politicians say he is rapidly ascending into the top tier of GOP candidates, an elite group that until Tuesday had been limited to Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
“I thought tonight you saw, in my view, an expansion from three to four,” former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steel told The Examiner in the post-debate “spin room” at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. “Tonight you saw a great shift.”
Fellow Republican Rich Galen was also impressed by Huckabee’s performance.
“Huckabee did well enough so that the big three is now the big three and a half,” the political analyst concluded.
Huckabee had the most memorable one-liner of the evening when he poked fun at Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards for paying $400 for a haircut.
“We’ve had a Congress that’s spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop,” Huckabee quipped, bringing down the house.
Michelle Oddis from HumanEvents.com :
Last nights debate was big for one second-tier candidate alone. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee might be hearing his campaign slogan “I like Mike” more often after his confident responses and most memorably — his humor. “We’ve had a Congress that’s spending money like John Edwards at a beauty shop,” said Huckabee. His joke opened up the debate, and reminded each candidate that they were no longer on MSNBC.
It seemed that even the moderators where asking Huckabee top-tier questions. Unruffled he responding to tough questions about tax increases in Arkasas and clemency decisions. “Well it’s a form a flattery to be attacked” said Huckabee when responding to a question about “slams” on his tax increases. “The truth is I cut taxes 94 times when I was governor…I don’t apologize for being a Republican governor in a very Democrat state and getting 94 different tax decreases — the first ever in my states history done.”
Mike from axisofright.com :
The clear winner of tonight’s debate was Mike Huckabee. His answers were both sophisticated and in line with what Republican voters look for in a President. The three most important issues in a Republican primary are the war on terror, the right to life and taxes. Huckabee addressed all three in an impressive manner. He admitted upfront that he supported a tax increase as Governor of Arkansas, but he also pointed out that he cut taxes 94 times. Moreover, he gave an eloquent defense of the right to life which included a comparison between America’s respect for life and radical Islam’s disrespect for life. Huckabee clearly articulated what we support, why we support it, and the stakes in supporting those values in the overall war on terror. He also delivered the money quote of the evening: “We’ve had a Congress that spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop.” Nice!
Mike Allen from Politico.com:
For raw comedy, no one topped former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s instant classic: “We’ve had a Congress that’s spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop.”
