COMMENTARY | MSNBC reports that the CNN Republican Debate was held in Arizona on Feb. 22, in what might be the last Republican debate during the primaries. This was a very important debate for both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, since both candidates are basically vying for the Republican nomination. As I watched this debate unfold, it became pretty clear that neither candidate was prepared to give 110 percent, and here is why both of them failed to impress during the Arizona debate.
The first thing that was noticeable was that Romney was on the attack, as he outlined the massive spending programs that Santorum voted for. Santorum really failed to impress during this debate because he was apologizing left and right for his votes, and seemed to not really know how to turn those attacks around on Romney. Santorum came into this debate less than 10 percentage points ahead of Romney, so he really needed to step up his game to prove he is the right candidate for the Republican Party. Santorum faltered on some basic questions, could not defend his past very well, and came off looking like a deer in the headlights. Santorum clearly was caught off guard by the attacks on his voting record, and he did not have the leadership skills to handle that type of pressure.
Although Romney did well at attacking Santorum, that was about all he did well at through the entire debate. Romney was more focused on attacking Santorum than he was about getting into the details of his own policies, which could hurt him in the upcoming primaries. I had expected Romney to come out and really dive into his plans for the economy, jobs, taxes, and gas prices, but he did not give a whole lot of information to the voters in this regard. Romney seemed to just want to attack Santorum and his voting record all night. Romney even failed to directly answer a few questions during the debate, and just came out of left field with a response about turning back to the conservative values of America. This was probably the biggest debate of the Republican Party so far, and Romney just blew off a lot of the important details voters wanted to hear.
Santorum also was attacked numerous times by Ron Paul, and Paul called him a phony basically during the debate. Santorum did not respond well to the negative comments Paul was making either, and he did not really have a comeback for him. Paul also mentioned how it seemed Santorum had an excuse for everything he voted for, which basically nailed it right on the head. Santorum was giving excuses on why he voted for more funding for Planned Parenthood, and how he voted for more government spending, which there is really no good excuse for. Santorum was too busy making excuses the whole night, when he should have been talking about how he could right his wrongs if he was the nominee.
Myself, Personal Opinion
Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, Brooke Brower, and Carrie Dann,, “First Thoughts: About last night”, MSNBC