Last Thoughts on Ames Debate

During the 2008 Republican convention I noticed four words missing the entire time "middle class" and "small business". These were the essence of the Republican mantra beginning with Ronald Reagan. Last night in Ames, none of the candidates mentioned either,which is especially troubling when the nation's middle-class is under seige.

Instead, the same day we heard Willard Romney emphatically emphasize that corporations were people too. But the problem here is that corporations often make decisions that are against the best interests of the people or the society at large. While Beltway pundits felt that Romney acted presidential, I found his statements deferring to the generals and to the "employer community" indications that he lacks all sense of what a President is and what are his core principles. As if the GOP took its "double down" message seriously, Rand Paul and Sarah Palin defended the position of corporations as people.

What was interesting was that the Fox News poll immediately after the debate had Newt coming in second. It must be because the audience loves politicians who criticize the media even if it is their own. Newt spent his time complaining about Gotcha questions from the Fox News radical liberals. I guess it doesn't matter. The media is the media so Let's have at it.

Washington pundits generally treated last night's event as if it were serious. No one remarked on how absolutely insane the positions were.

For example, if you are an Hispanic, there was nothing there. Every candidate railed against illegal immigration, even though only four years before the GOP had people who argued for sensible immigration reform. If you were gay, forget about it. All candidates wanted to make marriage a national issue, not a state's one. If you are a woman, forget about reproductive rights. If you are for the environment, watch EPA get eliminated. And if you are a senior, there will be no new taxes to make entitlement reform possible.

The deal breaker was the united front the candidates had on not accepting a deficit deal which consisted of $10 cuts for every $1 in income tax revenues. Even Standard & Poors had to speak today and criticize the candidates for their misrepresentation of why the United States was downgraded. Because the GOP would not accept revenue increases. Remember the question was asked as a plant of an idea--to go for more cuts, more than the House GOP wanted when it comes to tax increases. That's why the questioner was flabberghasted by the rejection. It was supposed to be a new Fox bargaining chip this fall.

Mark Helperin gave Romney an A- and said he could see Romney standing next to Obama for a presidential debate. But Chris Hayes of the Nation pointed out that Romney does good set pieces but is maladroit when it comes to people. There is now a growing assumption in Washington that the nomination is Romney's for the taking.

But tomorrow comes Rick Perry or the Colbert Report's Rick Parry--the A for America, the A for Iowa. Mike Huckabee felt that his timing was awful, raining on Iowa's parade for the straw vote. But others see it as typical political genius--wipe out everyone else's press coverage. If there was a winner to last night's debate, it was Rick Perry. Tim Pawlenty reminded the audience that Michelle Bachmann hasn't accomplished anything and suffers from migraines. And the lesser candidates fought among themselves. Rick Perry is poised to fill the vacuum between the teabaggers and the establishment. Mitt Romney has tried to accommodate the social conservatives by coming out against gays but they know he isn't real.

Mike Papantanio, the leftwing lawyer from Ring of Fire, thinks Perry has played this beautifully. With Herman Cain not so subtly injecting the issue of Mormonism in the debate, Perry's prayer-a-thon, according to Papantanio, was a strategic move by Perry, who is that cynical,to subtly raise the Mormon question in the South. Perry knew the New Apostolic Reformation people would not turn off Southern Baptists and he knew every one of them is religiously against Mormonism. The Bible Belt equates the Mormons with polygamy and sex with young children. Fair or not, that's what Perry is exploiting.

From a money point of view Perry has all the Big Oil locked up. Romney has all the lobbyists locked up. Romney has raised more lobbyist money than all the other candidates combined. While Romney has made in-roads on Wall Street, he hasn't locked up that part of the franchise.

The potentially crippling element to the Perry campaign is that he is hated by the entire Bush clan and their entourage, including Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. One wonders what the trip to Perry by Donald Rumsfeld and Doug Feith was about. Is this a bridge-building exercise?

Rick Perry himself has alot of baggage in terms of his positions on a host of issues. He was for secession only months ago, considers Social Security and Medicare unconstitutional and is against the direct election of Senators. He also is the governor in a state where that position in notoriously weak as we understood in the 2000 elections. Texas has an abysmal record in terms of education and the number of people without health insurance. But in today's GOP those things are probably virtues.

So it's no surprise that Sister Sarah Palin entered the fray today to say she had more authority than Perry did and that she dealt with more substantial issues. Her appearance tomorrow in Ames should be interesting. I can't help feeling that she thinks she should enter the contest. She is really the darling of the Tea Party and she feels she is the reason so many right-wing women got involved in the 2010 elections. Letting Rick Perry steal away her reputation as Esther is just too much. If she is to enter, she has to do it around Labor Day to get on the various primary ballots.

David Axelrod said something stupid today. He will fire anyone who calls Mitt Romney "weird". You almost think Team Obama wants to take on Romney. Last night, Team Obama sensing the absurdity of the event sent out e-mails to get their supporters to watch the debate. I guess the idea was,"If you're disappointed with us, take a look at the insanity that awaits you."

The Ames Straw Poll means absolutely nothing. Candidates buy $30 tickets for people attending. Those who cast their ballots are entertained and fed for free. The total represents a little more than 1.5% of the registered Republicans in the state. The end result may be that Stephen Colbert's Rick Parry might win with the write-in vote. That would be the death knell for this charade.

One last comment--Did any one get it when Romney said he did not know how long his economic plan will take to have results? Boy, that was inspiring.