Republican Presidential Debate Analysis

On the dais at the Reagan Library tonight were the three heavy hitters gunning for the nomination. They were flanked by 7 dwarves hoping a flameout that would give them an opening. Thankfully, each wore a different tie to allow us to tell them apart.

Chris Matthews moderated fairly and made the best of the crowded field. It took about sixty seconds for someone to invoke Reagan’s memory. It took ten times as long for former Governor Huckabee to get a question directed his way. It took even less time to talk about Iraq. Indeed, initially the questions in this debate bore a striking resemblance to the Democrats’ debate last week. The responses were very different, however. It was interesting to note the level of military service in the Republican field compared to the Democrats. Governor Gilmore, Senator McCain, Congressman Hunter, and Congressman Paul all served in the military. The most notable Dem who has tried on a uniform was Senator Gravel. It was great to hear Mitt Romney speak about a fundamentalist religions like Islam and then praise the “God-loving Americans.” Governor Huckabee, on the other hand, was more subtle on his attack directed towards Romney. According to Huckabee, if a person says their faith doesn’t affect their decision-making (as Romney has said), it implies that their faith isn’t strong enough to affect their decision-making process. Senator Brownback was quick to point out that even Jews like Senator Lieberman are people of faith. The sense of the group was not to change the Constitution to allow distinguished Governors like Arnold to run the President. Congressman Ron Paul left no doubt that he was the most fiscally conservative candidate on the stage. Congressman Paul who is the only candidate who is a doctor, gave the least medically-based answer to a question about stem-cell research. And Congressman Tancredo left no doubt he hated illegal immigrants more than any of the other candidates. Compared to last week, the Republican debaters seemed to stay much closer to their prescribed time limits, maybe because Chris Matthews was much less hesitant to cut them off if they didn’t. There were quite a few more questions from the internet. There were also plenty of softball questions to allow each candidate to insert their stump speech. The candidates also couldn’t help skipping the questions they were asked to answer questions they wanted to. With former First Lady Nancy Reagan in the auditorium, the candidates couldn’t help but reference her husband’s “Morning in America” at every opportunity. Everyone also talked about fiscal restraint, which was more ironic given the setting in the Reagan Library. In all the talk of fiscal restraint, no mention was made of fixing Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare except by Congressmen Paul and Tancredo, the only candidates who dared to talk about entitlements. After all, why piss off the senior citizen vote when you could instead rail against “spending?” In other news, Governor Thompson was thrown for a loop by a question about whether an employer could fire a gay employee if the employer disagreed with that lifestyle. To be fair, the delay in his response might be due to the fact that it was hard to tell if he was awake. Mayor Guiliani was the only candidate who put forth a pro-choice position. Mayor Guiliani is also the candidate who almost eloquently described the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam.