The Santorum and Romney Show….Oh Yeah Newt and Ron Were There Too

The debate last night in Arizona was nothing too special in the grand scheme of the primary elections.  It did prove a few things about each candidate and we also had a few winners and losers.  The day started out with stories of the Mitt Romney campaign being caught on video removing hundreds of Santorum signs and then later on rumors of an audience that was stacked in Romney’s favor lead up to the debate.  During the debate I think that there were some clear winners and losers.

The losers were Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich.  Ron Paul continues to prove that he has no concept of foreign policy in the age of international terrorism.  Paul seemed to almost sympathize with the Iranian regime and at one point commented that Iran is procuring these weapons to protect themselves from a perceived threat from the West and Israel.  This is not the first time Paul has sympathized with these brutal regimes and terrorists.  This is why Paul’s support will continue to slip and will eventually just be a base of college age American’s who have no knowledge of how foreign politics work.  Paul has also repeatedly made the comment that America hates Congress and that Congress has it all wrong.  He does this and is seemingly oblivious to the fact that he is, in fact, a member of Congress himself.

Gingrich had some good points throughout the debate but seemed to look downtrodden and almost excepting of defeat.  I still think Gingrich has some fight left in him and I would have loved to see the excitement that he exhibited at CPAC a few short weeks ago.  However, with Gingrich seemingly excepting defeat this could push enough votes Santorum’s way to win the next few critical states.  Gingrich remains a wild card and if he doesn’t put in a good showing on Super Tuesday, I believe he will be out not long after.

Santorum vs. Romney

The story of the night was the epic battle waged by Santorum and Romney who both came out to be the big winners of the evening.  Santorum and Romney both handled the other’s criticisms well.  Romney however is particularly irritating here lately with the double standard that he is trying to foster in this race.  Romney appears to get very angry when someone calls his less than Conservative record into question, yet he feels as though he can use everyone else’s record against them.  Romney last night questioned Santorum about his support for notorious turncoat Arlen Specter.  Romney at one point even alleged that Santorum was in a way responsible for Obama care because of his support for Arlen Specter.  One of my Twitter followers remarked last night while this exchange was going on that Santorum was supporting Specter in 2004 and Romney was supporting abortion.  I found this to be a particularly interesting thought and scary as well.

Is Santorum the Conservative?

People have thrown all their support behind a guy that may or may not be a true strong Conservative.  That is a hell of a coin toss to wager on in my opinion.  I think however that this debate really didn’t sway to many people and those that are still on the fence will end up swaying to either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum.  Gingrich and Paul I think are becoming more and more marginalized everyday that they do not have the spot light.  The debate so heavily focusing on Santorum and Romney can only help Santorum who is still fighting for the number one spot in the anti-Romney camp.  Romney has to count on Gingrich and Santorum splitting the hardline Conservative vote.  If this doesn’t happen, I think there is a strong possibility that Santorum could come out of Super Tuesday as the frontrunner for the GOP.

The last thing I want to touch on is this whole idea of electability that everyone keeps referring to.  From everything that I have seen, Romney doesn’t seem to be enough of a debater to take on Obama.  Barack Obama is a very gifted speaker and debater and unless Romney sharpens his attack skills he will be promptly school by the President.  I don’t personally believe that Romney has a better chance than Gingrich or Santorum of being elected.  This idea of who is electable is a lie that is being fed to us through the mainstream media as a means of controlling the GOP primary.  People for the love of God; vote for the guy who you agree with not who you think has the best shot.  This idea of putting up a moderate to appease the independents doesn’t work.  If you don’t believe me look at the returns for the 2008 election.  We gave it to Obama by putting up a moderate.  If I see another person say, “I am voting for Romney because he can beat Obama.” I am going to scream.

The debate wasn’t particularly a must watch event, much like the other CNN debates that have been heavily on social issues and foreign policy.  These CNN debates seem to me to just be an attempt to get sound bites to use against the candidates during the general election.  I think that we will know more after Super Tuesday and not until then.  Unfortunately we will all have to wait and watch it play out because I do not believe anyone gained significant ground in last nights Arizona debate.