Last night’s debate continued the knock-down-drag-out battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and had plenty of personal attacks that would send waves of joy up and down the spines of liberals. It was also filled with low-point moments for both candidates whose one-upmanship and personal failings were often met with glaringly obvious rebuttals. Example: Gingrich claiming Romney profited from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because his blind trust held funds that bought bonds in both entities. Romney fired back that his team looked into it, Newt’s portfolio grew by doing the same. Newt’s attempt at holding the final world was to point out that, yes, this was true but he didn’t profit as much as Romney so it was somehow OK. It wasn’t the only low moment but it was the one that lost me completely and made me realize the two are stuck in the mud and spinning their wheels with no way out.
When asked about the subject Ron Paul scored major points by essentially saying he didn’t care and that it was time to move onto real issues. Rick Santorum repeatedly tried to elevate the debate beyond the petty attacks, Newt joyfully tried to echo his calls for a few minutes to score points, then Romney baited Gingrich and it began anew with an onslaught between them.
I would be the first person to argue that there is some benefit to this kind of infighting in a primary. Dirty laundry is aired and rebuttals honed for the general. Similar attacks and disclosure filled the Democrat primary in 2008 and it did not stop their candidate from going on to win. I could also argue that had we experienced more vetting in that election we may have been spared the embarrassment of nominating such a flawed candidate in John McCain.
We moved long ago though from productive vetting to childish and ill-formed arguments and that is not just because our candidates are poor vessels as attackers but also because they are almost the exact same candidate. Nearly every attack is followed with “well so did you.” On every topic from the environment to health care reform to immigration their attacks against one another recall Michele Bachmann simply lumping the two together as “Newt Romney.” Meanwhile their fake outrage over the other’s sinister attacks and attempts to play victim are laughable and only serve to lower their credibility and stature.
I have plenty of issues with both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul but last night I found myself very easily putting those aside. The two rose above, made their case on a host of issues and put forward consistent visions. While each disagrees strongly with the other, they rarily lower themselves to personal attacks. Where they disagree there is true division that represents fundamental ideological differences between libertarians and the christian right.
While entertaining in a schadenfreude way last nights debate and the ensuring attacks between Newt Romney is an embarrassment for our party advanced by two similarly flawed candidates. If this is the best we can do for November, I fear we will lose.
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Tags: Election 2012
