The Meet the press, facebook debate.

Having watched the debate on Saturday, I was curious to see what another debate so soon afterword would bring. What it brought was candidates challenging Mitt Romney. This made me very happy. It is good to see the other candidates stand up for themselves, rather than let the richer man beat up on them. Since I waited so long to write about it, I cannot pretend that the events of Monday morning have not in some small part effected how I am reacting. Mitt is sliding in the polls, just a little bit. This is due to a great comment made by John Huntsman.  Early in the debate Huntsman had a very strong moment when he said that he would put his country first. He then mentioned the fact that he has two sons in the Navy, who serve their country and do not care whether the president is a Republican or a Democrat.  
I found that even though Romney dodged (poorly I might add) tough questions, the candidates did give answers that had some substance in them. 
So what did they say? To those who have been following the candidates there are no real surprises. 
HUNTSMAN: Still endorses the Paul Ryan budget.
SANTORUM: Wants means tested Social Security, this means that wealthy seniors would get less benefits. Believes that food stamps and Medicaid should be given to the states as a block grant. This means that no federal guidelines would be given to the states. Right now states are required to cover all health and dental benefits to children who qualify for the program. Some states do more for adults, some states do less. States like Utah could very well decide that the program will not cover all health needs for children. He also wants to put a limit on how long a person can receive benefits. This breaks his own rule of letting states decide, and also opens up the very real possibility that families who are out of work for long periods would go without. 
GINGRICH: Believes that major cuts to social programs can be avoided if the government would enforce welfare fraud laws.


The candidates were asked whether it was un-American to ask for government assistance, none of them said that it was not. Rick Perry came close when he said that people want jobs they don't "clamor" for benefits. 


Santorum sounded a bit hypocritical when he talked about Iran being a theocracy that we could not tolerate that kind of government, when days before he had said that the U.S needs a "Jesus candidate". 
Romney looked like an out  of touch elitist when he said that it made him happy that Ted Kennedy had to mortgage his house in order to beat him. He followed this up by saying that he "liked" firing people who worked for him. 


Well, the real race begins soon, so we will have to wait and see if another candidate can unseat Romney. 

NH Republican debate.

The republican candidates debate two times this weekend before they participate in the primary on Tuesday. I have watched tonight's debate, and have some reaction to how it went.

My overall impressions are these: 1) It seems that the other candidates are not that committed to beating Mitt Romney. They were given ample opportunistic to draw him out and contest his record, but they did not. Santorum and Gingrich made a few weak swipes, but no real effort. I am not asking that they be nasty, I am just asking that they ask the questions of him that their supporters want asked. 2) Can Mitt just answer a question? I know, it's normal for a politician to dodge questions, but Mitt seems to have his dodge question setting on "high". 3) There have been no recent mentions of Tea Party events yet they still look to impress this group. This should concern moderate Republicans.

Now to the candidates themselves.
Santorum again advocates cutting all social programs.
Huntsman In favor of term limits in congress. I like this idea as well.
                He is the only candidate that has experiences outside of the United States.
Romney Says that Obama made one mistake after another when it came to foreign policy. I find this interesting                considering that Obama aided the people of Libya, used the information gathered to find Osama Bin Laden.
Says that Obama cut defense spending. This is not true, though he as advocated doing so he has signed a new bill that allocates over sixty billion dollars in new spending. He said that America needs to be able to fight two wars at once. His only solution to create jobs is cutting regulations that protect workers. He does not believe that Americans have a right to privacy implied in the constitution. This will be a problem among some Republicans and moderates and independent voters.
Perry We need to use natural resources that are found on federal lands.
Romney came off as at least somewhat sympathetic to gay couples. All candidates still stand by the ridiculous idea that marriage as one man one woman is three thousand years old. This is simply not true, perhaps these men aught to read the bible instead of just waving it around. This would have been a great time to bring up that marriage for Romney and Huntsman included polygamy until a few hundred years ago.
Paul This was my favorite moment of the night, so I will quote it as directly as I can. "A person who has not gone to war has no business sending men and women to war.: Ron Paul
This was said to Newt who did not go to war. This was a lovely moment.
Well that's pretty much it.

Rick Santorum speech.

Santorum came out of the back of the pack to all but win the Iowa votes. He gave a speech at the end of the voting, that I would like to respond to. First it is important to note that Rick is a better speaker than his close competitor Romney. He comes across as very sincere and passionate. He is smart in the way he speaks to an audience. He speaks to the crowd he is addressing. His quoting of C.S Lewis was well played. He is also very smart about how he phrases really poor ideas. This is demonstrated by his ideas about regulations. He is brilliant in the way he states "facts'. His assertions that we are losing jobs in America because of regulations. He is smart to keep it vague, rather than discuss safety standards or child labor laws he uses the blanket term regulations. The reality about what he is talking about is the possibility, and only the possibility of low paying unsafe jobs being brought back to this country. He is brilliant in his ability to leave out facts and make it seem like we are not missing anything.