Republican Presidential Candidates Debate

I thought I'd offer some thoughts on tonight's Republican Presidential Candidates Debate. The candidates are Rick Santorum (RS), Michelle Bachmann (MB), Newt Gingrich (NG), Mitt Romney (MR), Tim Pawlenty (TP), Ron Paul (RP), Herman Cain (HC). I'll use those abbreviations to refer to them throughout.

It's impossible to win the nomination this far away from the primaries but it is possible to lose it. I think with that in mind, none of the candidates said anything too outlandish. There were no huge flubs, and despite HC's inexperience, NG's disastrous campaign thus far, and MB's penchant for firebrand rhetoric, everyone seemed to escape relatively unscathed. I think there's a general consensus that the night was pretty good for MR and MB, and that nobody really lost.

With the fact that the candidates did everything in their power to keep from distinguishing themselves from one another tonight, let's look at a few of the moments that stood out.

The question that produced the best responses by far was in regard to HC's comment that he would be uncomfortable with Muslims in his cabinet. He made a fascinating attempt to clarify his comments by stating that he was referencing the Muslims who are trying to kill us, not the loyal ones. Thanks HC, because I really thought that you were going to appoint some terrorists to your cabinet. But if HC's response was bad, Gingrich's was even worse. Gingrich alluded to Nazism and communism and talked about how loyalty tests had done a good job weeding these people out of government. Our country has certainly come a long way indeed if a presidential candidate can make veiled references in support of McCarthyism.

The questions about gay rights also elicited some interesting responses. RP and HC affirmed that decisions about gay rights should be left entirely to the states, with RP going so far as to say that issues of marriage should not have anything to do with the federal government whatsoever. The rest of the candidates were outspoken for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The candidates did differ somewhat as to what to do about the repeal of DADT. HC and RP said they would leave the new Obama policy in tact, NG and MR said they would want to overturn it, RS said people should be punished for engaging in homosexual behavior in the military, and MB thought DADT was still in effect and said it should be continued.

Newt Gingrich's high point of the evening came when talking about illegal immigration. He argued that we've been sucked into a false either/or where we can either treat people humanely and grant amnesty to or deport the estimated 20 million illegal immigrants in the country. He said we can do some of both simultaneously. Gingrich's answer was all the more impressive given that it came on the heels of TP supporting SB1070, RP arguing that a 5 year-old illegal shouldn't receive care in an emergency room, and HC arguing that the children of illegal immigrants born here shouldn't become citizens. It was a generally a question that everyone else scampered to the right on while NG was willing to identify it as a more complex issue.

The real name of the game tonight seemed to be who can hit Obama the hardest. While I understand their desire to distance themselves from Obama's policy, some of the blows seemed to be especially harsh given that some of the candidates currently hold elected office in Congress and have to work with Obama. I wouldn't want to work with people who said things like that about me. It was more indicative of the partisanship in this country than it was of a serious intellectual debate on differing conservative ideas.

The best moment of the night by far came during the last commercial break, when there was an advertisement for medicine to help ease constipation - as if the product's marketing department knew that listening to seven Republicans blathering on about the horrible state of the economy and Obama's leadership for two hours would be enough to make anyone constipated.

Oh, and if you like trees... or flowers... or animals... or clean air... or clean water... don't vote for MB. She wants to dismantle the EPA entirely.