Highlights from Iowa Debate December 15, 2011

Date: December 15, 2011

Location: Sioux City, Iowa

Host: Fox News Channel

Moderators: Meghan Kelly, Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, Neil Cavuto

Debaters: Michele Bachman, Rick Santorum, John Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry,

W. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich

Thursday December 15, 2011 marked the final G.O.P. debate before the January 3rd Iowa Caucus. The night started off with introductions, and the rules. 1 minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow ups, and if the candidates run too long they will be “politely” reminded by a pleasant little sound that kind of sounds like “You have 1 new text message.” The reason why I’m going over the rules is due to a small case of foreshadowing, the most memorable thing about the debate is how many times Bret Baier had to remind the candidates that they were egregiously overlapping the time limit. “After a long string of debates,” Baier Said. “We trust You all know the drill, and we won’t have to use that sound too much.” Oh how charming is his naivety. Another cute little feature added to the debate was the Twitter #Answer and #Dodge option which trended from the moment it was introduced to well after the debates conclusion . Many topics were at hand amid an extraordinary backdrop. The struggling American economy now further threatened by financial turmoil in Europe, gridlock on Capitol Hill, a real threat to world security posed by Iran as we’re pulling out the last of the U.S. Troops out of Iraq. However, the #1 question traveling the Twitterverse, was the issue of “electability” Who is the most likely candidate to beat Barack Obama in 2012. That’s the issue that’s keeping Republican voters up at night.

On the issue of electability the first question goes to Newt Gingrich, the present front runner. A man who’s own ½ sister claimed she’d never vote for him. Since Gingrich’s rise to the top it has been met with confliction and persistent doubt from Republicans. From Tom Coburn, to John Sununu, Even Glenn Beck said he couldn’t vote for Gingrich. How can He ease the minds of Republicans who feel Romney may be the safer bet? When asked that very question the Reagan Name drop drinking game began. Gingrich cited back in 1979 when Reagan was trailing Jimmy Carter by 30 points “And if People would’ve said Gosh, if electability were the #1 issue, they wouldn’t have nominated him.” Gingrich went further to say that Reagan believes what he’s talking about, and has big solutions which is why they wanted him to debate Jimmy Carter. Which is one thing in Reagan’s case. However, when it comes to Newt, I believe the G.O.P.’s Concern stems from his big solutions, and that Newt believes in what he’s talking about. Gingrich couldn’t hold back his laughter when questioned about Mitt Romney’s accusation toward him being an “unreliable conservative.” But to give Newt credit where it’s due he left it alone for the most part only pointing out his record and not giving in to the dark side and pointing out the irony of Mitt Romney being the one to lodge that allegation. It should also ease Iowa Governor Branstead’s concern of Newt’s Discipline and focus. “I Do Change things when conditions change” Gingrich so eloquently put it before even hearing the word flip-flopper, which is a much better way of putting it than Christine O’Donnell’s “He’s been consistent since he’s changed his mind.” In regards to Mitt Romney’s every position on everything. Ron Paul on electability said that any candidate on the stage could beat Obama and that Obama was beating himself. Obviously Paul hasn’t been paying too close to the numbers for example Santorum has been on a firestorm of campaigning visiting every county in Iowa, 350 town hall meetings and yet struggles to get his numbers out of the single digits, or John Huntsman, Whose stage presence only outshines Buddy Roemer’s (the guy who’s never invited to the debates) or even himself who after he came in second at the Iowa straw poll didn’t even get the recognition for it from any of the News organizations the very next day. W. Mitt Romney once again says that Government doesn’t create jobs, the private sector does. Which always brings me to that Lawrence O’Donnell commercial where he says “Government created Your job” the only person who had the right to use that line and make it sound authentic was Herman Cain and now he’s gone, the field should consider it a missed Opportunity. And to the point that he could get America working again, should I first point out that he couldn’t even do that for Bane Capital, or the fact that he just said, GOVERNMENT DOESN’T CREATE JOBS! Rick Perry wants to be the Tim Tebow of Iowa, but he didn’t get down on one knee and Tebow. And the disgusting irony when it came to John Huntsman, the concern towards his electability… is his electability, how he has the most appeal to the general election and to moderates, and his continuous refusal to sign THE PLEDGE!

The second topic of the night was “D.C. Culture” or in laments terms “Mudslinging.” Newt Gingrich being the front runner got the brunt of the abuse. First from Ron Paul who said that Gingrich was “selling access” and playing the “corrupt revolving door game” When Gingrich said he was a private citizen and it was Free Enterprise not lobbying. Paul went on to say “He has a different definition of Private Sector” explaining that a G.S.E. is a Government Sponsored Enterprise which mixes Government and Business and if carried to the extreme bares the danger of becoming fascist, and that Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are still receiving money from the taxpayer, and suggested that Gingrich profited off of that. Before Newt could even lick his wounds it was Michele Bachmann’s turn to take a swing at Gingrich. Claiming that Newt was involved in influence peddling and cashing in checks to the tune of $1.6 million+ Bachmann stated that there is a major difference between a credit union and Fannie & Freddie and that they were “The Epicenter” for the mortgage financial meltdown, and it “Shocks” her that Newt continually defends the Practice of F&F. “We can’t have a Czar nominee.” (ouch) Newt’s response “That’s Simply not true.” Bachmann went on to point out that Politifact.com backs up her claims. Which out of all the nominees Michele Bachmann actually does have a decent track record with Politifact.com. The next hit came from Neil Cavuto going back to Gingrich’s comment toward the Ryan Medicare Plan when he referred to it as “Right-wing social engineering” then quickly backed away from it as soon as the heat came his way swearing that those weren’t his words that it was more of a media distortion. The conversation had essentially changed to spending until we got over to Rick Perry. Neil Cavuto brought up quite the glaring contradiction of his statements of congressional spending yet receiving government subsidies when he was Texas Agriculture Commissioner. Now his easiest answer could have been, “I was a Democrat then, and You know how they love to spend” instead he most likely earned the Twitter #Dodge by refocusing on Newt. “The idea that you can’t tell the difference between lobbying and consulting” is what he felt they should be talking about on stage.

The next topic was The Judiciary and it’s “Activist Judges” Gingrich not backing down from his harsh criticism of the courts and leveling back the accusation toward the alteration of Checks and Balances back into the direction of the Judiciary when asked about his intentions of subpoenaing judges and before congress impeaching them or abolishing courts altogether regarding some of their more controversial decisions. “Grotesquely dictatorial, far too powerful, and down right arrogant” were just some of the adjectives shy of Oligarchy that Newt used in reference to the courts. Ron Paul reiterated the irresponsible, dangerous consequences of subpoenaing judges. W. Mitt Romney got a nice little quip and a slight carom shot in by saying “The only group that has less credibility then justices perhaps is congress.” And though I don’t agree with him on much, when Rick Perry suggested that we change the terms of the Supreme Court from lifetime. I got to say I couldn’t find myself disagreeing with him. But then every single candidate suggested having only conservatives on the Supreme Court then I remembered what I was watching.

And now it’s half-time

Topic Number 4 “Foreign Policy” with the news that Iran has in its possession a downed Predator Drone and maybe an even greater threat to our world security during Barbara Walter’s interview of Herman Cain during her Fascinating People of 2011, said that if he were offered a cabinet position he’d hope it would be for the defense department. Yes, we should leave the control of the button in the hopes that he won’t aim a Warhead at U-beka-beki-beki-stan-stan. The first question goes to Ron Paul who was presented with a hypothetical situation and #Dodged #Answered with the actual situation and went on the defensive by calling it “Another Iraq” and “War Propaganda” and that his greatest fear is that we’ll have a president who “Over reacts” when Israel itself is mixed on it’s sentiments towards Iran. (btw here’s where Bret Baier first reminds about the time limit. On Twitter it had been mentioned at least a dozen times by this point one tweeter saying the rest of the candidates just think it’s Rick Perry Playing Angry Birds) Michele Bachmann considered Ron Paul’s views on Iran the most dangerous view she’s ever heard. Because we know without a shadow of a doubt that Iran will use a nuclear weapon to wipe Israel of the “Face of the Map” (I’m guessing she meant face of the earth they can wipe Israel off the face of the map with an eraser not a nuke) Ron Paul retorted by saying that broad stroking all Muslim’s as radical is dangerous talk, (Ron Paul just lost Peter King’s support) and asked why we were flying our spy drone over Iran in the first place. Stating that we shouldn’t be policing the world when we are bankrupt ourselves that we are over reacting in the case of Iran and looked over at Bachmann rather angrily and said “We only need to go to war with a Declaration of War” it then continued back and forth whether or not the I.E.E. report was accurate in stating that Iran was only months away from having a nuclear weapon. (it’s after this heated exchange that Bret Baier says “We’ve been pretty liberal with our friendly ding” Fox News using liberal to describe it’s behavior at that moment Hell had frozen over so much that the devil started a Hockey League this is btw just about 5 minutes have passed since Baier’s first acknowledgement of the abuse of the time limit) Newt Gingrich laid down the foundation that we should face harsh realities when it comes to our reliance on the U.N. at one point even suggesting if another nation were to drop 11 missiles on us President Obama would want to talk it out. And that the U.N. has been indirectly funding terrorist organizations for years. John Huntsman However sees the U.N. as serving a purpose in peacekeeping and some humanitarian work. He went on to say that under a Huntsman administration he would update our foreign policy, from the current “Cold War George Kennett Mindset.” He went into great detail about his views on foreign policy, at which Bret Baier cut him off for over lapping his time limit (only 2 minutes have passed from the previous acknowledgment of time keeping) Huntsman wanted to continue, and he did and boomp, goes the time limit, again. Huntsman still continues “2 dings on that one” says Baier digging further for restraint to his ever growing frustration.

And now we move on to “Energy.” The first Point brought up by Neil Cavuto was in regards to the Keystone Pipeline, wanted to know how could Republicans force the issue to keep it from being held up for another year. Newt Gingrich was the first one up, and got great laughs when he pointed out that he was “Editing” in his head and not trying to sound “Zany.” Then he stated that Obama was willing to veto a middle class tax cut to satisfy left wing environmental extremists in San Francisco and kill American jobs. Cavuto responded in the best way he could “No offense sir, but you didn’t answer my question” Just say it Cavuto #Dodge. When Gingrich did #Answer the question he suggested that we let the “Popular Outrage” hit a fever pitch, that Obama’s hand is forced to sign the bill. Which I can only guess is what it will take for Gingrich to reinstate the Child labor laws if he ever becomes POTUS. When it was Rick Perry’s turn to speak on greener energy the question yet again was posed in a way that was asking him if he were a Hypocrite? His answer started out with him stating “Today is the 220th anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights” in a rather Robotic fashion at first I thought he was trying to hypnotize me. He eventually got to his point citing the tenth amendment (he likes it a lot) in regards to states choosing its course of innovation to be more competitive, then so be it. And that’s what separates Texas’ Energy Plan from Obama’s.

“Social Issues” or at least Social Network issues The Blogosphere has been lit up recently calling for the head of Eric Holder over the “Fast and Furious” Controversy. I’m pretty disgusted by this as well The second movie sucked, there was no reason to make three more. Oh, this is a different “Fast and Furious” My bad! The ideal choice when it comes to the development of a extremely dangerous situation coming from our border would be the Governor closest to the border. So Rick Perry leads us back in from our commercial break. He had called for Eric Holder to step down. Meghan Kelly pointed out that Current Evidence seems to lean toward the notion that Holder had no involvement of any wrong doing and quickly made efforts to stop it once he was made aware of it. Perry doubled down with the fact that Holder was ignorant to it even happening was grounds for his resignation. Now maybe I’m way off here but I was watching a report on CNN about two weeks back about the closest border town and how the cartels are basically crossing our border several times daily due to the fact that the corruption is overwhelming and there’s like one cop in the entire city. As for Holder’s accountability I still think we’re still in the investigation stage. However, if ignorance is more than enough to warrant resignation I think The Governor of Texas should consider Resigning, Since by his own admission he’s been dealing with this for over 11 years. When it came to the issue of Gay Rights/ Same Sex Marriage W. Mitt Romney said that he didn’t discriminate due to sexual orientation but opposed Same Sex Marriage. Rick Santorum claimed that Romney when he was Governor of Massachusetts issued Gay Marriage Licenses as a result of the courts stating that they couldn’t change the marriage laws without the Governor. Romney Cracked a little under this pressure, stuttering heavily and dancing around what Santorum suggested as a flip flop on a major conservative principle. At the end of his rebuttal he said “If I somehow missed somewhere, I’m happy to be corrected.” On the issue of abortion Michele Bachmann said she would be “100% Pro-life from conception to natural death.” Obviously negating all the wars she’d like to start without declaration. When it came to the Ronald Reagan 11th commandment “Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican” Rick Santorum replied “It’s a vetting process” which is a great answer for a guy who will be over looked in the nomination for that very reason. Rick Perry used self effacing humor mildly pointing out his previous debate flubs. Romney “We Can Handle it” and treating like it will be a necessary training exercise to prepare when Obama uses these very same tactics during the general election. Which should be very interesting to see how Romney handles it, since he got very defensive when it was Bret Baier confronting him on his record less than two weeks earlier. Gingrich touting himself for his awareness of behavior and for the most part he is sticking to his commitment, he referred to the other candidates as “Friends” and capable of beating Obama in 2012. Ron Paul, Pointed the finger at the Media for not bringing these issues up and that it’s the candidates responsibility expose these issues and he sneaks in a “Flip flop.” Bachmann #Dodge calling on Reagan and the Who will be the best one to take on Jimmy Carter. Huntsman #Dodge also calling on Reagan saying that this process has been rigorous, which I guess is Huntsmanian, for Muckraking, or he hasn’t paid much attention to some of the things his daughters have been up to.

Sorry this one had to be so long. I keep my conclusion brief If you actually read this your eyes are killing you at this point, (mine are) and for that I apologize. So I will go right to my Winners and Losers. This one was a bit harder to pick out and usually I’m sarcastic with this section, but this time I’ll be a bit more serious.

The Winners: The Fox News Team (for real) for hitting the candidates hard and not letting them off the hook when they tried to avert the topic. They show a sense of Fair and Balanced that I don’t normally get from their channel.

The Losers: The 1 minute Limit on answers.