Almost nobody will watch the CNN/Tea Party Express Republican Debate being broadcast live on CNN tonight. And those who are actually interested will most likely TiVo it or catch the highlights on the news or in their favorite blog -- or wait to see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert lampoon for the rest of the week. It is up against the first night of "Monday Night Football." That being said, it does not help that the media is already calling the debate "Perry vs. Romney, Round Two." Why not call it "Two Republicans Split Hairs" and be done with it?
But splitting hairs is not the way most Republican voters will see the debate, regardless if they watch the live broadcast or if they watch it on YouTube or read about it in the Wall Street Journal. They will see a set of candidates that vary on their positions by degrees but where the two most preferred contenders are nearly diametrically opposed (sort of).
Although Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney do see eye-to-eye on several subjects (strong defense, limited government, less regulation), they are also quite dissimilar in their views on others. Like health care and Social Security, for instance. And since the debate is being held in Florida, a state with a large retirement (and close to retirement) population, those differences will undoubtedly be highlighted at the debate.
Perry is for the repeal of what the GOP faithful like to call Obamacare. A states' rights advocate, he has likened the Massachusetts health care plan passed during Romney's administration to the national health care reform act passed in 2010. Romney maintains they are different, that he, too, supports state oversight of health care as opposed to federal.
As for the Social Security issue, both men agree the system needs to be revamped for future generations. However, Perry is for at least partial privatization and Romney has attempted to paint him as a candidate who wishes to abolish Social Security altogether or at drastically abolish it as it is currently known, a decided unpopular position.
Perry has countered that that is not true and that he wants a more stable, self-perpetuating system where the individual controls at least part of their retirement funds (although how privatization would ensure stability is anyone's guess). He has labeled it a Ponzi scheme and has pointed to Romney referring to the management of Social Security as criminal.
With the Tea Party Express involved in the debate, there could be a few questions posed to the candidates that are more geared toward the fiscal conservative/less governance stance. If so, the Obamacare and Social Security repeal/revamp/elimination ideas of the candidates might be better extracted, the candidates pressed to express their positions in better detail.
Unless, of course, the contenders prefer to dance around the subject and simply push their talking points (which has become a problem with Michele Bachmann's responses of late), in which case nothing will be gained by the debate and viewers would have been correct in ignoring it or viewing it later (or on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart").
Regardless, the debate will be parsed ad infinitum, ad nauseum -- until the next debate (Fox News/Google will broadcast a debate from Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 22). Still, hopefully it will not devolve into the disservice that was the coverage of the MSNBC/Politico debate, which fell to simply posting sound bites and reporting on what Perry and Romney said -- even though there were six other candidates on the stage.
If the CNN/Tea Party Express Republican Debate does become "Perry vs. Romney, Round Two," the nation -- whether they watch it (or not) or delay their debate experience in some manner -- should perhaps take it as a cue to simply watch Stewart and Colbert eviscerate the poor coverage on their shows, like Stewart did following the MSNBC/Politico exchange. At least Stewart and Colbert tend to be insightful and entertaining.
Because who really enjoys uninspiring, non-entertaining, unoriginal quasi-repetitive programming when that kind of stuff can be seen daily on any news media broadcast?
Are you ready for some football?
second life indianapolis star real madrid vs barcelona live real madrid vs barcelona live food network star tim pawlenty the band perry
No comments:
Post a Comment