Just watched the NBC Republican debate held in Florida and for what it is worth (not much) off the cuff I saw Mitt Romney narrowly the winner over Newt Gingrich. I think he made the point that Gingrich has essentially been working all these years as a lobbyist or influence peddler and that he was connected with Freddie Mac and the housing mess
(But also just heard someone say that Romney‘s to-be-released tax info tomorrow will show he invested heavily in the scandal-ridden housing agency.)
I finally heard something from Rick Santorum I could agree with. The big banks should have been allowed to fail and the system right itself as is supposed to happen in capitalism, to which Ron Paul agreed. In fact Paul has said the taxpayers were stuck holding the bag.
(I know there is that claim out there that the government actually has made money on the deal, but that is not the taxpayers, and I’m not sure that makes sense, and anyway the bailout money, financed by taxpayers ultimately but initially by borrowing money, mostly from China — to which the taxpayers pay interest — would not have been needed if the government had not meddled in the system.)
Private citizens generally do not get bailed out by the government, nor should they be, and neither should businesses.
I don’t have a computer mind and there is no way to instantly fact check the debaters, you just have to get a general sense of things and recognize pure hogwash when you hear it. Fortunately, with Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman and Herman Cain (and who else? I can’t recall) out of the race, there was not quite as much hogwash, I thought.
It seemed strange that moderator Brian Williams began by asking so many political horse race questions.
But it was reinforced in the debate that all but Paul are itching to go to war with Iran or at least want it known that they would not hesitate. Actually we might have to ultimately take some type of military action against Iran if it were, to say, block the strait of Hormuz, but why give away our game plan or paint ourselves into a corner? I ask.
I’m giving Romney the edge in the race so far because the only possible reason anyone could vote for him is that they think he is such a level-headed businessman, and maybe a reasonable, if a little cool (and not in as in “cool man”), guy in other respects, and that we need to get our economy back on track. I’m not promoting him, I’m just saying…
Also, even though Gingrich is a good and forceful and quick-on-the draw debater, I am not convinced that Romney could not stand up to the vaunted Barack Obama and his fully-loaded automatic teleprompter.
I thought I heard one of the after-debate commentators say that the Republican party elite thinks they might have to find a way to go back to the smoked-filled room method of old at the convention if Gingrich seemed headed for victory (heard the smoke-filled room part — not sure about the rest — at least I’m honest).
I would think the Republicans will have to be united to beat Obama and that is still in question.
