The Debate has just ended and we wanted to give readers a SPECTRUM wrap up. This seasons debates have been incredibly entertaining. The Fox News Debate was great but the MSNBC debate was better. What I noticed most was that in the House Of Ronald Reagan (The Reagan National Library), the pack of GOP nominees violated, in every way imaginable, Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment. The Group regularly attacked each-other, much to the delight of democrats like myself. The big worry for the left, should be that Perry faded tonight. He was pummeled thoroughly, on things that will matter to the nation, but most importantly, to Republican primary voters. Perry was rocked, by his record of support for MANDATORY, vaccinations of girls as young as 12, with the HPV vaccine. In a GOP that doesn’t care for mandates, the idea of the Government forcing children to take an experimental vaccine is very harmful. His support for Hillary Care came up. It’s interesting to note that most of the attacks came from Ron Paul, a candidate that is absolutely no threat to Perry. The candidates that could threaten Perry, Bachman or Romney, kept their gloves off of him. The most disastrous statement from Perry, came when he thoroughly repudiated Social Security. The wild eyed Texan, called SS a scheme. Rick Perry was already warned publically by Karl Rove himself, to back off of that claim. To this, Perry attacked Rove as over the top!
And this is where the debate became very interesting because at this point, Rick Perry just restarted his war with the Bush’s and Karl Rove. I think of Karl Rove as ultimately being a pragmatic political practitioner. I never accepted the common wisdom that the Bush’s and Perry were in such an intractable war that the two were irreconcilably estranged. Ultimately professional politicians like Rove want to win. I never believed that he nor the Bush’s would be so small minded that they would obstruct a viable Republican candidate over personal differences. Tonight, that all ended. By attacking Rove, Perry launched an unforgivable assault on the political muscle of the Bush dynasty. Tomorrow, the war will be back on, and they will go after the barely viable Rick Perry.
I was surprised by Michele Bachman, who didn’t attack the candidates she needed to. She needed to land a career ended roundhouse to Perry and Romney. Michele is one of the biggest fundraisers the GOP has, and quite frankly she has been responsible for much of the enthusiasm and even language that has led to the current state of excitement in the GOP base. And yet, her reward has been to be denied any position of leadership or even a good committee position. She should know that she isn’t going to be anyone’s vice-president. She should have known that she had to end, the two front runners and solidify the tea party support. She didn’t do that and as a result she is finished.
The big surprise for me was, Rick Santorum, who sounded more like the elder statesman then Newt Gingrich. Even in my current political affiliation, I enjoyed his presentation. He actually talks about how you get legislative items through a bi-partisan legislature. He emphasized the need to push realistic ideas.
Mitt Romney, acted like a man who knows that Karl Rove has rigged this whole thing in his favor. This is the second debate and what has become clear is that Mitt realizes that he can win, by saying NOTHING! He knows he doesn’t have to play this tea party game...hence his refusal to align himself with Tea Party. He was asked explicitly, if he was a member of the Tea Party. He basically said no....more accurately he said, “if the tea party believes.......then i’m with the tea party”. Notice the subtle language. He rung Rick Perry’s bell once, but no major damage was done.
I will write a more through piece in the hours to come!
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