Thursday's Republican Debate Rehash: Hopefuls Writing Checks Their Butts Can't Cash

    

The GOP debate on Thursday night was a scrappier event than the velvet-gloved event in New Hampshire in June. In fact, at one point I was fairly sure that Pawlenty and Bachmann might actually melee (Bachmann would have won). However, you have some typical role-playing by candidates as they played to their niche, and each one attempted to appeal to their base (which, evidently, is the Tea Party now). Missing were Rick Perry (the second-coming from Texas), Sarah Palin (the no-show side-show), Buddy Roemer (the anti-special interest, anti-fundraising candidate), and another guy. Take home message from Thursday night's debate? The candidates attempts to appeal to the ultra-conservative partisans will make this primary an even messier affair than a debt-ceiling deal in congress (did you see what I did there?).

     Brett Baier, Chris Wallace, and some other lady pundit were "moderating" the debate, which at times sounded like a high school pep rally with the audience's cheering and jeering of candidates. At times Brett turned around to attempt to quiet the rowdy crowd when booing and shouting threatened to sidetrack the debate. Volume over value? I think I've seen that somewhere before...

     The most unsurprising development of the night were the moderators attempt to bait Pawlenty and Bachmann into a fight, which of course happened. Pawlenty jabbed at Bachmann's lack of executive experience and "inability to get anything done" while Bachmann fired back with policies and positions Pawlenty took as governor that were Democratic (a four-letter word, if you get my meaning) and by characterizing herself as some kind of Trojan general in the House of Representatives. She said twice that she was at the "tip of the spear" in the fight against Obamacare. Pawlenty, of course, countered with, "She said she fought against Obamacare, we got Obamacare. She says she fought against raising the debt ceiling, we raised the debt ceiling." The most entertaining portion of the exchange to me was that when Bachmann wasn't talking she stared straight ahead with a kind of rigor mortis smile, like some woman that had died in mid-orgasm; no doubt imagining a grisly end for her former state governor.

     Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, the old Washington pros at this debate, came off that way; condescending to other candidates and even the moderators. At one point Gingrich admonished Bret Baier for a "gotcha" question, one relating to the mass exodus of top ranking campaign staff members in June. Romney fielded some criticism from Pawlenty on what Pawlenty called "Obamneycare", smiling calmly and stating differences. By and large, however, both Gingrich and Romney ignored the other candidates, are were patronizingly slow with them.

     Herman Cain went back to his private business angle, which even Romney praised though mostly because he knows that Cain presents no real threat to his nomination. Bachmann tried her "one-term president" line a few times but seemed to be noticing that you can run a campaign on a threat. Meanwhile Rick Santorum stood on the end waving his hands and asking to be given time. Here's the thing I noticed about Santorum though; the guy had a pretty strong representation in the crowd, which seemed to be responding favorably to the few claims he was able to make. Santorum's strategy has been to work hard in small venues; town halls, churches, etc. If it pays off in the Ames Straw Poll he may create enough momentum for his campaign to pick itself out from the bottom of the polls.

     Ron Paul, wonderful crazy-ass libertarian that he is, provided a fantastic foil to the frantic scrappiness the Minnesotans and the condescension of the insiders. he gave several candidates, like Bachmann and Santorum, quick constitutional lessons, advocated for allowing Iran a nuclear weapon (or at least staying out of their business), and even welcomed Rick Perry into the GOP race. "He represents the status quo," Paul said with his trademark grin, going on to point out that Perry would be just one more horse in the GOP stable for him to differentiate himself from on the issues.

     To wrap this up, the most telling moment in the debate was when Baier asked the candidates if there was a debt budget that cut $10 for every $1 it raised, would they turn it down because it raised tax revenues. It took a second, but eventually every candidate raised their hand. Bachmann, of course, shot up like an arrow simply by dint of word association, Romney, Pawlenty, and Gingrich looked around a little, and eventually every hand was waving. This showed that some candidates, particularly those that understand the political process, know that is an untenable and unrealistic pledge. However, by pandering to a radical base of fiscal hardliners, they're essentially making promises that they can't keep. Their mouths are writing checks their butts can't cash...should their butts ever make to the plush leather chair in the oval office. The S&P downgrade specifically mentioned the unwillingness of Republicans to come to the table on tax revenue increases in its official statement. When the country, more than ever, is appealing to Washington for bipartisan solutions, we have a (large) group of GOP Presidential hopefuls that, willingly or not, are pledging not to find them.