Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) became the latest Republican presidential candidate to criticize the tone of Tuesday night's debate, speaking Friday in Newton, Iowa.
"I can tell you that after the first 45 minutes I was tempted to walk off that stage," he said, according to the Des Moines Register. "These TV shows where they beat up on each other, I think that's what the people like...They enjoy this. They think it's a game they're playing," he said.
Addressing the way in which the situation unfolded he asserted, "I thought it was disgusting."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney attacked each other over immigration in Tuesday's debate. Romney attacked Perry for signing a bill allowing undocumented immigrants who are Texas residents to pay in-state tuition rates. Perry attacked Romney for once hiring a landscaping company that employed undocumented immigrants to do lawn work at his Massachusetts home. Romney gave the company a second chance after the Boston Globe first reported the company's hiring practices, but after a second report about a year later showed undocumented immigrants working on his property, he fired the firm.
Other Republican candidates have criticized the tone of the debate. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who skipped the showdown to campaign in New Hampshire, said he was "completely embarrassed" by it and called it "more game-show-like than anything else." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the attacks between Romney and Perry made him "very uncomfortable," and that they "hurt the entire Republican Party."
