The debate turned out well for everyone besides Gingrich, who had been losing the momentum gained by his South Carolina win.
I'm not going to summarize the linked article and video, but here's some additional information:
In one instance, Gingrich mentioned his belief that it is critical that the US invest in a colony on the moon. In response, Romney said "I spent 25 years in business. If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, 'You're fired.'" Though Romney and Santorum both agreed that the private sector needs to be more explored in space, Santorum agreed with Romney that it is not a good time for the government to be paying for such an endeavor. He also called the proposal an attempt to get local votes from Florida's space-related constituency, and argued that they candidates should be focused on larger issues than arguing for local votes. Ron Paul did not believe that space exploration should be government funded for anything more than possible defense opportunities.
In response to an episode where Gingrich called Romney the most "anti-immigrant" candidate, Romney responded saying that he found the charge repulsive and that such over-the top-statements have characterized politics for too long. Santorum and Romney then agreed that blocking immigrants form jobs would get them to "self-deport," while Ron Paul though a better economy would keep out illegal immigrants (Though this seems counter-intuitive), but that we should patrol the borders more anyway.
In response to an episode where Gingrich called Romney the most "anti-immigrant" candidate, Romney responded saying that he found the charge repulsive and that such over-the top-statements have characterized politics for too long. Santorum and Romney then agreed that blocking immigrants form jobs would get them to "self-deport," while Ron Paul though a better economy would keep out illegal immigrants (Though this seems counter-intuitive), but that we should patrol the borders more anyway.
I think that, as recent GOP debates go, this debate was more legitimate than some of the other ones, likely due to the lack of less-popular candidates. I also liked the fact that the candidates were open and willing to criticize the appeals to local votes and extreme statements that have made national political debates and campaigns less... intellectual... than they should be.
Also, I particularly liked Ron Paul's defense of his health status.
2 comments:
It seems somewhat silly that Gingrich is trying to push for a space colony in our economic times. As it is, we still have a massive amount of people who are unemployed. I can see how if we invest in moon colonies, we could create jobs, but we would really only create jobs for highly educated people(such as those with PhDs). That would lead to more debt than profit. I don't know, I think the money could be put to better use then trying to be the first country to make a colony in space.
I agree with Jennifer. In regards to space exploration, I do believe in pursuing knowledge solely for the sake of knowledge, but given the current state of our economy, to invest billions in a moon colony would be rather superfluous.
I was actually watching last night's Colbert Report this afternoon and found Colbert's remarks about this subject quite entertaining, as usual. In response to Gingrich's idea of granting statehood to a moon colony once its population reached 13,000, Colbert declared, "That's right, the moon is gonna be a state. [Take that], Washington, D.C.!" And when he replayed Gingrich's proposal to establish commercial activities such as tourism and manufacturing on the moon, he replied, "Yes, America will bring manufacturing to the moon! Ohio....out of luck." Colbert's satire, though comical, effectively highlights the absurdity of colonizing the moon in these times, a point reiterated by Jenny.
When Romney made that comment about hypothetically firing a business executive who wanted to spend a couple hundred billion dollars colonizing the moon, I thought it was effective in highlighting the ridiculousness of Gingrich's proposal yet also possibly harmful to himself because it reminded viewers of his controversial remark, apparently taken out of context, that he "likes to fire people."
I also found Santorum's and Romney's scuffle noteworthy because it demonstrated how Romney's opponents are still utilizing the Obamacare-Romneycare comparison to discredit his health care policies.
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