January 8th Republican Debate Review

Whoever thought it was a good idea to hold a debate during church is a moron. If I were a GOP candidate I would have refused to participate in such nonsense. People belong in church on Sunday morning not a debate hall or in front of their televisions watching a debate. Hopefully this will be the first and last Sunday morning debate.

Once again, this debate was more about the moderators than it was about the candidates. This debate was co-sponsored by NBC News and Facebook and was shown on Meet The Press. What was most appalling about the bias in this debate was the never ending Facebook comments scrolled on the bottom, almost all of which came from the left. Whether they were outright attacks on the candidates or calling into question the candidates credibility or credentials, at least two thirds of the comments came from the left. Who knew liberals cared so much about Republican debates. Or perhaps all the conservative Republicans were in church during the broadcast.

As for the questions, they were admittedly better than last night’s Democrat National Committee, I mean ABC Debate. Once again however the candidates were discussing homosexuals. One of the local yokel reporters asked Rick Santorum what he would do if his son declared he was a homosexual. This is the sort of low blow, classless, gotcha question that the left loves to lob at conservatives. Santorum dodged by not really saying what he would do. The proper answer is to inform your wayward child that they’re living in sin and they need to repent and come to Christ. It’s the same sort of response a parent ought to have if their son declares he’s going to shack up with his girlfriend. But of course the left has successfully turned that into no big deal, now they’re focused on homosexuals.

The conservatives did a better job of attacking Romney during this debate. One wonders why they reserved their attacks for today. Santorum got in a few shots, Newt got in more. If I were one of the conservative candidates I would hammer Romney’s “I’m a moderate Republican/progressive” comment over and over again. Why none of them bring this up is beyond me. Newt’s attacks on Romney’s business dealings is getting a little tiresome, it’s not really relevant.

I do think Romney made a big mistake today. He bragged about not running for re-election for Governor to which Newt told him to drop the “pious baloney.” Rather than face the voters, Mitt ran from what likely would have been a losing re-election campaign. He then took a pious position that running again would have been all about him. Santorum asked Romney if his position meant he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2016. Romney never answered. What a ludicrous position for Romney to take. The truth is Romney ran from re-election because he would have lost. He’s not a man of the people hero, he’s a pragmatic coward.

Newt did phenomenal today. He articulated positions on a wide range of topics while Romney repeated the same old tired lines. Santorum did ok, he looked in the camera a little more. Rick Perry actually remembered which three agencies he would shutter, earning him much applause. Ron Paul took a back seat in this debate, thankfully. Jon Huntsman clearly thinks he has a shot at winning New Hampshire. It isn’t clear to me or anyone else why.

Win: Newt hammered Romney and did a better job explaining his position even though he was a little whiny concerning negative ads.

Place: Santorum did a decent job and hit Romney on his re-election nonsense. Overall a solid effort.

Show: Romney breaks into the top three because while this wasn’t his best effort he still does an overall good job.