Republican YouTube Debate
This was one of the more interesting questions from the Republican debate last night. The question was whether or not the candidates believe the literal truth of every word of the Bible.
Another high point was John McCain dismantling Mitt Romney over the torture “issue”. Look at him grinding his teeth! He looks like he wants to waterboard ol’ Mitt right up there on stage.
The question about gay people serving in the military was also worth watching, if only because the responses are shockingly honest. Duncan Hunter’s response, in particular, could be summed up as “The military is mostly conservative Christians, therefore people who conservative Christians might disagree with should be banned from serving.” I imagine if Duncan Hunter was born a few decades earlier he would have been making the same argument about minorities serving in the military. “How could all these honorable white soldiers be expected to serve in the same unit as black soldiers,” he might say, “that would be bad for unit cohesion!”
If we are to extend Mr. Hunter’s logic, we should enact a don’t ask don’t tell policy for anything to which a conservative Christian military service member might object. Islamic: you’re out. Liberal: right out. Atheist: gone. Mormon: sorry Mitt; but then your boys have already found an alternative to military service. It must be noted that this line of argument is based on the premise that Duncan Hunter’s reasoning is in any way logical which, of course, it is not. So I suppose the point is moot.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Great analysis. I didn’t watch the debate, though I am starting to work through it in pieces on youtube when I have spare moments. What I was most struck by in the clips you posted was how transparently evasive Mitt Romney was. He didn’t just dodge questions, he flat out just said things that didn’t answer direct questions. It’s also amazing to see how uncomfortable he gets when he has to backpedal on previous positions, without just saying he’s changed his mind or something like that.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Yeah, it makes sense that he would be really uncomfortable in that situation. He knows that his main weakness is that he’s perceived as a “flip-flopper” or somesuch nonsense.