(L-R) Rick Santorum, former two-term senator from Pennsylvania; Congresswoman Michele Bachmann; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; Texas congressman Ron Paul; former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty; entrepreneur Herman Cain pose for a group photo before the first 2012 Republican presidential candidates' debate in Manchester, New Hampshire June 13, 2011. (Getty/Daylife)
The (grand) old plutocrat party. CNN will probably make a video available.There is a preliminary transcript available.
Michele Bachmann used the debate to formally announced that she is running for the office. Despite some enthusiasm from so-called conservatives (she is supposedlymore of a strong, independent, conservative female politician than Sarah Palin), I do not see her as being qualified for the office, and she has one big mark against her. John King labelled the Republicans the conservative party, but he is wrong in his characterization -and while there has been some movement towards a more sane foreign policy, I didn't really hear anything during those two hours to make me think that it was time well spent. Ron Paul still seems too much of an egg-head in his focus on economics and the Fed, and he still hasn't learned how to articulate his positions in a way that is easy to understand for those not versed in Austrian economics. It is no wonder that he may come off as a kook--he is talking above his audience, and is not a very good extemporaneous speaker. (Well, if you can called making prepared remarks during a debate extemporaneous speaking...) And there was too much talk of the free market, from Dr. Paul and from some of the other candidates.
According to his campaign website, Rick Santorum is the true conservative but I cannot recommend him as the model of the Catholic politician. (See his answer about maintaining American bases overseas so that we can respond to threats.)
As I listened to the debate, I was tempted to embrace the notion that we should just accept the transformation of the federation into a unitary nation-state, and seek political solutions accordingly. What is the point, after all, to working for relocalization and local economies if there is nothing to maintain stable communities, and the whole of the American experience and.constitution is working against it. Then I returned to the response: because such governance is ineffective, magnifies the problem, and is unsustainable.
Related:
GOP Hopefuls Assail Obama
Fox News
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