The Republican candidates’ debate: Couldn’t watch more than about ten minutes of it, can’t really bring myself to write about it. Here’s a quote from Jonathan Chait over at the Daily Beast today which pretty well sums up how I felt about what little I saw:
“The media seems to consider Romney the winner. Pardon the condescension, but they’re not thinking like Republican base voters. Romney approaches every question as if he is in an actual debate, trying to provide the most intellectually compelling answer available, within the bounds of political expediency. Perry treats questions as interruptions. What scientists do you trust on climate change? I don’t want to risk the economy. Are you taking a radical position on social security? We can have reasons or we can have results. His total liberation from the constraints of reason give Perry a chance to represent the Republican id in a way Romney simply cannot match.”
The Republican id is a scary thing by itself, and Perry is a bully. His biggest applause line came when he bragged about his record of presiding over 236 executions as governor of Texas. His response both to Romney and the moderators when challenged on points of fact, “Wanna make something of it?”
I’m mostly staying off the news lately and a happier man for it, but as the election draws near, I’ll succumb to my addiction and start to obsess on every word and every development, and it’s not going to be fun. The actual thought of Perry as president turns my stomach, the worst of Ronald Reagan and George Bush combined. Times two.
I’m beginning to feel more and more like the kid who grows up in a crazy, dysfunctional family: I can’t possibly be related to these people. I must have been left on the doorstep by a band of Gypsies.
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