It has been a long time since I last posted, I apologize. Life gets busy sometimes working a full time job, attending school full time, preparing to move into a new apartment, and having some semblance of a life. I did, however, take time to watch the debate in Arizona and boy was it worth it. Rick Santorum, in my humble opinion, got obliterated not only by his rivals, but by himself. I only wish that this debate would have happened sooner.
He took a what at first appeared to be a path less traveled, admitting to mistakes. This was a very bold move and something I would value above most other things. When he was pressed by the other candidates on his voting record (such as raising the debt ceiling 5 times, passing a bill that earmarked money for planned parenthood, voting for no child left behind, campaigning for Arlen Spectre etc.) he admitted to making a mistake. I would normally find this admirable, but then he said something that negated any semblance of respect I had for him. It was something along the lines of It's not necessarily what I believed in, but I politics is a team sport and sometimes you have to go with what the boss says. I can only hope that the American public sees this for what it truly is, Rick Santorum shooting himself in the foot. He reiterated this point a number of times, which only caused his sinking ship to take on more water. The audience vehemently booed him on several occasions, And I personally would've booed right along with them (if I were in Arizona at the debate and not in front of my computer at home).
This was all driven home by the other 3 candidates slamming Senator Santorum on every possible occasion, but the heavy lifting was done mostly by Gov. Romney followed closely by Ron Paul. I think the other 3 candidates realized there best shot at winning is to see Santorum Fall off from the front runner status so they were much more willing to form a sort of unspoken bond to cut the Senator off at the knees. Obviously, the person who will benefit most from this debate is Governor Romney. He was very successful at appearing to be the more competent and less defensive candidate and even had some room to use his very successful " we should focus on Obama and how much of a failure he is" rhetoric.
Ron Paul performed pretty well, I think he felt a bit rushed sometimes and it came through in his responses but he was able to get his message across. I thought that his opinions on birth control, which seems to be a big deal right now, were particularly well received because he was an OB/GYN. I thought there were three key parts of this debate that were of particular importance for Ron Paul.
1. His response to the last question "what do you think is the biggest misconception about yourself?" to which his response was that people don't think I can win. He was the only candidate that actually chose to answer the question (I'm not sure if the other candidates realized that the question was floating below their heads on the TV screen) and I think this translated well for his honesty and realness.
2. His response to the question "you called Rick Santorum fake in one of your ads, why did you say that?" he simply responded with "because he is a fake!" which was met with uproarious laughter from the crowd. He then went on to criticize Santorum's record of voting for something and then saying he wouldn't do it again. This was one of his shining moments and it cane through early in the debate.
3. His post debate interview where the moderator asked him about his response to last question. He asked why people should think he can win if he hasn't won any states yet? His answer was flawless. He first pointed out that not all the votes had been counted in Maine yet (which I believe he won and is a shady situation at best and outright corruption at worst) and that if you look at the delegates who are absolutely cemented in voting for certain candidates that he is in 2nd place. This was something I didn't know and I think is a fascinating statistic. He then went on to say how he routinely does better than the other candidates in polls against Obama through a wide variety of groups. I wish he would've conveyed this during the actual debate when more people were watching rather than after it was all said and done, but I'll take what I can get.
Overall this was my favorite debate so far and I think this will really shake things up for the upcoming contests!
Regards,
Jaryd Vartanian
P.S. don't forget to follow me on twitter @jvrp2012
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