Republicans met last night in Arizona for yet another GOP presidential debate. Anticipation was high and the evening turn out to be — a great big blah! (yawn)
Newt Gingrich was all smiles and about as happy as a Girl Scout on cookie day, since past debates have frequently been his only boost and means for gaining supporters. But aside from that, the rest of the GOP contenders continued to beat, kick and scratch at each other in hopes of clawing to the top of the field. So what were the highlights of the evening? There weren’t many.
Santorum and Romney continued their back-and-forth public battle that has been playing out in campaign ads and stump speeches for the past several weeks. But their exchanges were predictable and did little to tip the scales of balance toward either man.
In one exchange, Romney took Santorum to task for endorsing Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in 2004 (who defected to the Democratic party in 2009), instead of supporting the more conservative Republican Rep. Patrick Toomey. But Santorum shot back by accusing Romney of being inconsistent by supporting the Wall Street bailout and not TARP. “I believe in markets, not just when they’re convenient for me,” Santorum said. Romney responded by accusing Santorum of supporting a bailout of the airline industry following 9/11. But Santorum defended himself, saying the comparison isn’t fair because the government shut down the airline industry and did not shut down the banks.
Needless to say, it was a rather boring evening.
The fact is, the people who support Romney will likely continue to support Romney. The people who support Santorum will likely continue to support Santorum. And so on… But the reality is, no one is head over heels in love with any of the remaining 4 men, which makes a brokered convention in August look to be a near certainty.
<span>Aside from the fact that Romney *hall-packed* the event AGAIN with his supporters to give the ILLUSION that he *WON* the debate…. …something MORE sinister STOOD OUT last night to many viewers and there's quite a bit of chatter going on about it this morning on cable news (MSNBC and CSPAN) and the blogosphere, particularly right-wing blogs: The "TAG-TEAM" of Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. Apparently I missed THIS major headline posted on The Daily Caller yetsrday: "Rand Paul says ‘it would be an honor to be considered’ as Romney’s veep (this explains a lot)" </span><span></span><span>On Wednesday, Chuck Todd, NBC News’ political director and host of MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown,” rhetorically asked: “Just what has Romney promised Ron Paul.” </span><span></span><span>Nobody knows if some sort of bargain has been made, but it is interesting that Rep. Ron Paul has never really attacked Mitt Romney yet he has frequently attacked more conservative candidates at just the moment they were beginning to pose a threat… Read more »