Last night, I had three slices of free pizza and the good fortune to live blog the Republican debate, along with the fashionable Glynnis MacNichol, Huffington Post tour-de-force, Rachel Sklar and John Neffinger who was being held in a secret location which turned out to be the green room at Fox News. Our tit for tat is here.
I woke up this morning, with that uneasy feeling that I had witnessed something a little scary, and struggling to put it in words - here's what occurred to me.
Watching these white men on a stage it struck me that the fundamental underpinnings of the current Republican party are so flawed, just so fundamentally wrong, that the discussion of the nuances of the positions immediately falls into absurd satire.
It's like being at a Flat Earth Convention where everyone is arguing and dissecting their opinions about how the earth is flat, how we know the earth is flat, how important it is the earth be flat, when of course, the basic and fundamental truth is, the earth is round.
Ron Paul, ironically of that crowd, is the closest to owning a globe. At least he gets that the war in Iraq was not worth the blood and treasure, not even close and he got a huge reaction from a Republican audience, and a positive one at that.
The question about the last eight years is unanswerable if you are a Republican, and it's really tragic that we as Democrats have not done a better job of driving this home. Everything from unemployment to the price of a gallon of gasoline -- everything is worse now than eight years ago. The Republican Party is built on the premise that the wealthiest of the wealthy need to get wealthier and damn the rest. They have done extraordinarily well at their core strategy.
Other than the 8 year question, I thought Russert and Williams looked like fawning high school reporters given the chance to interview the town mayor, really, tragically bad.
For example, the question about Romney and his wealth, I believe the current Mitt donation is just under $20 million, it's an easily obtainable fact Tim, and on top of that, remember when Mitt raised $6 million in his phoneathon? He committed to not putting his own money in when he did press for that - nail him on it.
Any question about Romney and Massachusetts, just add a fact or two. Job creation? Ah not so good. Tax hikes? Absolutely. Deficit reduction? Hmm, not really.
There were a couple more moments, with 20/20 hindsight that struck me as tragically humorous.
Mike Huckabee, and the Easter Egg analogy: I wish I had been there with the follow up question, but Governor Huckabee, if you hide all the Easter eggs, you can find a least one right? So, if Saddam hide all the WMDs, then you would find one right?
Or, are you saying Governor, you actually believe in the Easter Bunny?
The question Ron Paul asked McCain about the Market Committee? Someone should have followed up and asked, "Senator McCain, do you have any idea what Congressman Paul is talking about?"
When Romney started talking about the separation of Church and State, Huckabee should have been asked the follow up question about his belief that Church and State are inseparable.
In fairness, when Huckabee started talking about real people and real problems, I thought he sounded like someone from the Democrat Party to tell the truth.
But, all in all, as my friend Atrios says, it's good to be there to document the atrocities.
I find it sad, and tragic, that the Republican Party has fallen to the point, where they actually are advocating assault rifles for all and like to tie Saddam Hussein to the Easter Bunny.
I didn't understand what prostitutes had to do with reforming the tax code of the United States.
I was surprised to learn that the Republicans once wanted to do away with the Department of Education.
And you know the scariest thing? The worst thing of all?
Something has happened to our country, our media, our national discourse, something has happened to the concept of fundamental truth in our nation, that there are men on that stage, who actually right now are favored to beat our nominee.
I want my country back.
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Posted January 25, 2008 | 11:16 AM (EST)