To begin, I’ll co-sign this from Andrew Sprung:
I don’t know if it was the most sickening thing I’ve seen in American politics; but it was pretty damn ugly. The coarsening of what is acceptable political language—treason was bandied about like it were just another political football—is deeply concerning, especially when one considers how minor or arcane many of these supposedly treasonous divergences of opinion really are.
Otherwise, I was surprised to see how hard Romney went after Perry regarding social security; and I was impressed that Mitt didn’t let up even though the crowd was clearly, decidedly on the Texas Governor’s side. There’s a myth about Reagan-as-communicator that says he used the media differently than others before him, taking the opportunity provided to speak over his questioners’ heads and directly to his audience. (I call it a myth because I’m supremely doubtful that he was the first to “discover” this tactic). Well, I thought Romney was kind of doing the opposite tonight; he ignored his audience, often, and chose instead to speak over them, directly to 1. Republican elites and 2. the establishment media.
He’s clearly going all-in on being the “serious” and “electable” candidate, damn the consequences. Although Perry took a bruising from Bachmann over his HPV policy, and thus I suppose may be vulnerable to destruction from previously neglected avenues, I’d still say that the only thing you really need to pay attention to at this juncture is how GOP opinion-shapers respond to Romney’s electability arguments. If Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes decide that Perry’s electable despite his “Ponzi scheme” baggage, then this is over.
Last and least, I would very much like to see Herman Cain and Rick Santorum leave, please. It’s long past the point of their bringing any kind of comedic or carnivalesque value; they’re tedious. Ron Paul should stay—if for no other reason than to allow the GOP crowd to keep revealing their love of the morally bankrupt Ayn Rand-inspired vulgar libertarianism he espouses. There’s a difference between coming to the conclusion that there are various things the state should not do, and being excited about the unfortunate—but supposedly unavoidable—consequences of that ideology. Go ahead and take a wild guess as to whether shouting “Yeah!,” when asked if society should let a 30-year-old comatose young man die, is indicative of the former or the latter.
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