Before I launch into what will probably be a poorly grammatical (I've been watching Fox News far too long tonight), rambling piece I do want to mention something. I would like to send my condolences to all of the family members of the troops who sadly were killed this past week. I feel during this debate, other than an attempt by Tim Pawlenty, no one really mentioned how unfortunate these events were. It was mostly mentioned as a factoid as opposed to a very sad event.
So for those who were protecting their brain cells by watching the NFL's return (or following some MLB action or Frasier reruns), the GOP had a nice little debate on False News. Unlike the last one which was filled with Bachmann's announcement and Pawlenty's cowering (more on these two later on), this one actually had some fireworks. In fact, it was as entertaining as Jersey Shore.....and as authentic.
It's hard to exactly condense everything that occurred on stage tonight but one thing is for sure. There were no winners. Plenty of losers, yes, but I can't say anyone "won" (Ron Paul's brand of Libertarian crazy fuel did seem the most "sane" however) this thing.
Let's start off with the beginning. The crowd was roaring, the lights were bright and I almost thought I was a minute away from "I'm Ryan Seacrest and this....is....AMERICAN IDOL". But instead of a bunch of karaoke, we were just treated to a bunch of missed high notes.
Moderator Bret Baier quickly introduced the field of pro-growth, pro-life and pro-corporation/people and jumped right into the questions. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann got the ball rolling with, no surprise, not answering the direct question of how she would fix the economy in three months but instead raising her voice and yelling Teapot sound bites. She also mentioned light bulbs which is the only pro-choice thing she has ever supported. Bachmann later got into an amazing fight with Pawlenty which will get its own paragraph. Bachmann didn't "lose" any support but she did get a lion's share of coverage which did highlight her, well, "rage"?
Oddly enough former Governor Mitt Romney was the first person to mention a "pledge" (and I believe the only mention?) by announcing his private sector experience. As we all know, Mitt Romney is quite proud of his past. He loves his corporations and his people because the upper 1% is part of the 100% I guess. Romney also proved his hypocrisy about twenty minutes later. In the midst of a rant about his record, he mentioned Massachusetts low employment as a reason why he's qualified to be President. Let's remind everyone of the whole Obamneycare issue a couple months ago. Romney was quite proud of the fact that it should remain a state-issue as opposed to a federal one. If that's true, why is he touting his state's unemployment numbers? Doesn't that go against his past? Then again, when has Mitt Romney ever stuck to what he said? Romney didn't get much gripe from the field so he was relatively unscathed. Still, he did prove that he isn't quite as sound-bite worthy as the rest of his field.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, husband to many, was FURIOUS. While Chris Wallace was basically dissing (if you are a fan of Nas or Jay-Z, you could say an Ether moment happened) his awful campaign-to-date, Newt flipped. He mentioned the whole "gotcha" journalism bit and really tried to chew into the moderators. It was endearing because he really came across as the grumpy old man of the group. He is also quite dated but he did earn some applause. Then he started going after America's #1 threat today in Communism. However, I think he might've earned a couple percentage points in the polls. Now he stands at about 6% in my eyes. Gingrich is still trying to be serious as he did mention Ronald Reagan like twice.
Former Governor/Ambassador Men's Warehouse model, Jon Huntsman Jr. was weaker than Charlie Crist if he ran. He stuttered, didn't know whether to act moderate or conservative and who knows what the hell he is doing. He bashed the EPA than stuck up for civil unions. MSNBC (Chris Matthews) loves hyping him up as the lonely moderate but if he's the moderate of the field? Well Chuck Hagel is Bernie Sanders. He did, however, almost had the most amazing joke of the night (literally). When asked about Rick Perry's impending arrival into the race, Huntsman goes "we could all use some prayers" before stuttering about his great ideas or something. Otherwise he was and is irrelevant.
Candidate Deep-Dish was also in the field. He did mention how much he has learned on the campaign trail and tried to become the expert of national security. He also said the word growth a lot. So did everyone really. He tried to pass off his former comments on barbed wire on the border as a joke. He is truly just learning how to speak as a politician as opposed to an "outsider".
Rick Santorum said a sentence in the first hour then started going gangbusters and begging for attention. Then in the second hour, he started getting into a minor argument with Ron Paul. He actually attempted to stand up for Iranian women and gay people which was really the odd moment of the night. Otherwise, he came off as an angry, faux-passionate candidate that represents Iowa best.....being from Pennsylvania and all.
Ron Paul mentioned bring the troops home and it got an applause. I give him credit for that and compared to everyone else, he might have more of a fighting chance in this primary season as opposed to 2008. Still, more of the same really. However, he did get a lot more reaction to the isolationist bit. NO MORE WARS. His fans went wild, as usual, but I bet a lot of people nodded their heads at home.
Now we get to see Tim Pawlenty. If anyone follows baseball, he was the Ryan Howard of the night. He just swung at everything and hoped something stuck. Sometimes it did, but it seems he is a desperate, desperate man to gain some traction. Fox News was attempting to discredit him I guess and then all of a sudden, there is no more Mr. Minnesota Nice Guy. He did flail at going after Romney though made a nice, little jab at mowing his lawn. He didn't talk much about ideas, probably sensing that it would be much to hard for the crowd to understand but he went for one thing only. Michele Bachmann. Oh the bulb went off in his head! He called her ineffective, went after her record, suggested she wasn't doing anything other than talking; it was brilliant. The crowd went wild and Tim Pawlenty, for a brief moment, was trending on Twitter. Still, I don't think he did much but then the fireworks kept coming. Bachmann got a 15-second response (followed by a doorbell which was like a dog whistle to the candidates) which turned into another attack from T-Pawquiao. Fox News loved it because they kept trying to goad them into another war of words, which would subside later on. Still, Pawlenty stuck up for himself which was sort of odd. But only against Bachmann. Interesting strategy but he still needs help if he has a snowball's chance in hell.
Unfortunately, we missed out on some great possibilities. Huntsman, Paul, Santorum, Romney and Bachmann were all asked on the purity of marriage from the evil gays, but sadly nothing from Gingrich. Romney didn't tout his immaculate foreign policy resume, preferring to arrogantly smirk like the used-car salesman across the street. Sarah Palin wasn't there, which isn't a shock but still could've been fun. No Thaddeus McCotter guitar solo either.
All in all, it was an engaging night and it was hard to follow DKos, Twitter and the debate simultaneously so I might've missed some things as I am rushing to write this (I'm not a diary writer at all ahaha).
Also, Jesus wasn't mentioned a lot. Can't wait for Mr. Perry.