Ok, so the fourth GOP Presidential Primary Debate has come and gone. We live tweeted the whole thing, trying to make light of the usually bland situation beamed over our televisions while these things drone on. A lot of the more predictable thing ended up happening. MSNBC was biased in both its questions and its after-debate analysis. Many of the candidates were largely ignored. Newt Gingrich was still grumpy at the moderators from the last debate and brought that sentiment along with him (for the next debate, I think Newt should just drop out and moderate himself).
But there are some developments that are actually important to the ongoing battle that is the GOP primary.
- Rick Perry hurt himself. Badly. There may be some in the GOP or the Tea Party who can overlook Perry’s mindless rambling through most of his answers, but I cannot. I felt like I was watching Sarah Palin get interviewed by Couric all over again. The questions were a bit unfair, but that is the nature of the liberal media, and any successful GOP nominee must be able to stay sharp and answer intelligently. Perry made George W. Bush sound like a master orator. If President Obama were standing up on that stage tonight he would have verbally whipped the floor with Perry. Was it that he is just so cocky with his first place position that he did not prepare? Was it that he prepared for going after his opponents but not answering for his record in his own state or his own views in his book? Honestly, it does not matter. The American people are not going to vote for someone who sounds like a bumbling idiot. (Note: I am not saying that Perry is a bumbling idiot). Allowing yourself to be the anti-science candidate who takes a politically stupid stance on social security is not the way to become President. Those were soundbites that would come back to kill us in the general election. From the get-go I thought Perry sounded like Romney in 2008: dodging questions at all costs and trying to pander the room to death. I was not impressed. There are quite a few debates coming up in the next few weeks. If Perry does not pick up his game, he will slide in the polls. He will be the next Michele Bachmann of this race.
- Speaking of Michele Bachman, where the hell was she? Fresh off of her win in the Ames Straw Poll, Bachmann has essentially faded into the darkness of the shadow of Rick Perry. With Perry stumbling through the debate she had a chance to really shine. As much as I do not like her as a candidate, she did well in the debates. She was able to present herself well. She lost that ability completely tonight. I did not time it, but I almost feel like she talked for less time than Rick Santorum, the candidate that people care about least. Bachmann had one job to do tonight. She had to stop the bleeding. With a staff shakeup in her campaign happening as we speak, and her poll numbers tanking, she needed a spark. She didn’t get it. To be fair, she didn’t say anything particularly stupid either, but still, no spark. Expect her numbers to remain low or drop further below Ron Paul. She’s no Tim Pawlenty, she’s not going anywhere just yet. She thinks that a win in Iowa can revive her. The thing is, it won’t.
- Ron Paul remained exactly where he has been. His views are clearly becoming more mainstream when it comes to federal power and the economy, but he still has a real issue relating to the GOP voters when it comes to foreign policy. I know that isolationism is coming over the GOP a bit, with the President getting us involved in a pointless war in Libya and all, but very few GOP primary voters want to hear their candidate say that it is fine for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Ron Paul did not do any extra damage to himself though. He is exactly where he was before tonight: floating between third and fourth place, but raising a steady stream of cash from his very vehement supporters.
- Mitt Romney redeemed himself in my mind for what I hated about him in 2008. I considered Romney to be the worst panderer in the 2008 GOP field. This time around he is not pulling the same lame strategy that got him his flip-flopping reputation. Romney stood on national television and said he was not a Tea Partier. Is that a good thing? No, not really. The Tea Party has made enormous strides to change the debate in Washington and across the country in the last two years. He is running as who he is. Mitt Romney is not a stringent ideologue. He is a pragmatic problem solver and businessman. He has been trained his whole life to look at a problem and find a solution. He’s not rigid. There are a lot of people in the GOP who will not find that appealing, but at least those people now know that Mitt is not their man. As far as performance, I think he held his own against Perry. No major missteps, and he spoke intelligently. He was far more prepared than Perry. That being said, he should be, he’s done this three other times this year alone.
- Rick Santorum barely got to speak. We are all better for that. He gave one great answer that played to his neo-con supporters. Thats the only good thing I can think to say about him in this debate.
- Newt Gingrich continued his grumpy old man strategy from the last debate. He attacked the moderators and called for unity among the candidates. He gets more applause than votes. The end.
- Jon Huntsman is the odd man out on this stage. He stood up strong for global warming and effectively took his poll positioning from 1% of the vote to 0%. Bye-bye Huntsman. He also had a fake tan that would make Snooki jealous.
- Hermain Cain got to talk for about three minutes total. He touted his 9-9-9 plan each time. Not much else to report.
In conclusion. Nothing really happened in this debate aside from Perry looking slightly stupid. The field continued to focus on economic issues over social issues, and the major frontrunners are going to remain both major and in front. We have another debate coming up next week, so stay tuned.
