Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWith a few weeks to go before Iowans go to their caucuses and New Hampshirites go to the polls, six of the remaining Republican presidential candidates went after each other in yet another debate, this time at Drake University in Des Moines.This debate was televised by ABC, which was only the second one of these to be seen on broadcast TV. The other one was on CBS a few weeks ago, and also on a Saturday night. Since Saturday prime time has become a dumping ground of reruns and college football where Jackie Gleason and "All In The Family" once aired, many of you may not have noticed there was a debate on.
But there was, with ABC News' Diane Sawyer (who once worked for President Richard Nixon) and George Stephanopolous (who was part of President Bill Clinton's administration) asking the questions to a group of Ralph Kramdens and Archie Bunkers.
Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who's certainly no Edith Bunker (or is she?), had the line of the night in characterizing Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney as "Newt Romney", as if they were a celebrity couple combining names. Bachmann wasn't far off the mark, either, with both of them about to suck the life out of the GOP nomination.
Former House Speaker Gingrich, the new front-runner in the polls, took heat for his stands on replacing janitors with school children, and for referring to Palestinians as an "invented people". He also inferred that Romney's career as a politician might have been longer if he had defeated incumbent Edward Kennedy in the 1994 Massachusetts U.S. Senate race.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, inadvertently reminded everyone that he might as well be Thurston Howell III. He tried to make a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry concerning his (ever-changing) positions on health care, but the Texas governor declined. After all, who but Romney has $10,000 to burn?
Perry's still trying to live down his gaffes. He made a campaign ad bashing gays and President Obama while boasting about being a proud Christian, which got a record number of "Dislike" votes on You Tube (previously set by Rebecca Black for her "Friday" video). And he got the number of Supreme Court justices wrong, as well as flubbing Sonia Sotomayor's name. Well, that's not as misleading as asking 21-year olds to vote for him on November 12, 2012.
The most applause lines of the night went to Texas congressman Ron Paul. Considering he's a libertarian whose biggest support has come from college students (this was Drake, after all), it wasn't all that surprising. What's scary is that he's making more sense than the other GOP candidates combined.
The next real debate will be Thursday night, and will be seen on Republican-friendly Fox News Channel. The one after that, starring Donald Trump as moderator, might not take place as scheduled two days after Christmas. Most of the GOP candidates, with the exception of Gingrich and Rick Santorum, have decided to take a pass. Gee, I wonder why?
Once the votes have been cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, we should have a better idea as to which one gets to face President Obama next fall, and which ones get a one-way ticket off of "Fantasy Island". Or is that "Gilligan's Island"?
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