So here’s what I learned from the guys at Panera Bread this morning:
1. Romney made Santorum look bad without making himself look good.
2. Consensus: Gingrich was very impressive; he’s the one who could beat the president. I said I won’t vote for him because he’s an ——-. Response: But he’s an ——- who can save the country. He did win the debate after all.
3. A couple of intelligent people who switched from Newt or Cain to Santorum are now thinking of switching back to Newt. Possible mini-Newt surge in GA?
4. Probing question: Is Santorum too extreme to be president? Evidence: Abstinence education isn’t a proper function of government.
5. Not a single good word said about Romney beyond his effectiveness in keeping Santorum on the defensive.
UPDATE: The latest poll from GA, which was, of course, not influenced by the debate, has Gingrich holding on to a narrow lead and Romney a weak third. The effectual truth of the debate might be that Santorum doesn’t end up overtaking him over the next week or two.
February 23rd, 2012 | 1:35 pm
“Consensus: Gingrich was very impressive; he’s the one who could beat the president. I said I won’t vote for him because he’s an ——-. Response: But he’s an ——- who can save the country. He did win the debate after all.” the fantasy that just won’t stay dead. Gingrich is going to sell a lot of books on this fantasy after he is done losing the nomination.
February 23rd, 2012 | 3:43 pm
when does it get to be too much? Look back over the postmodern conservative archives and see how much we have dilated on the debates, as if the performance in the latest debate is the determinative factor of who should be the nominee. Our attention to this point has been valid (and is excused) by virtue of the analytic cap we have been wearing: there seems little doubt that the ups and downs of the campaign have been, and may likely continue to be, heavily influenced by debate performances….after all, that’s what killed off rick perry and (in some measure) herman cain, and that’s what brought newt to the fore for awhile, and maybe will again. So we can say that in commenting on the debates, we are just doing our job as big-time po-mo analysts.
But from a “normative” standpoint–i mean making up one’s mind about which candidate to support or advocate for–how much of debate analysis is enough? I am far from anti-debate, especially compared to some of the other criteria on which one might judge. The debates have proven one fairly good criterion by which to reach a judgment.
Yet by noow–barring something truly egregious–we have seen enough. To make further performance on debates a serious criterion for making up one’s mind has reached the point of absurdity. It’s marginal value for making a determination is approaching zero. So what if Newt outperformed the others last nite (when no one was paying any attention to him) tells me nothing important about him I don’t already know. If Mitt hits a little below the belt or appears too mechanical, it tells me noting I don’t already know. Maybe Santorum’s performance still had some relevance–we had not seen him perform in the spotlight before–but in truth his result pretty much confirmed what all of us knew about him already.
So now friends I abjure from making any further analysis of the debates in a way that would affect my own personal judgment, other than taking into account the actual political impact of the debates (which could remain important). I know all i need to know about the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates, and so do all the other po-mo all-stars.
So when does it get to be too much? circa, February 23, 2012, one day–as Newt pointed out–after George Washington’s birthday..
February 23rd, 2012 | 5:06 pm
I think I’m going to miss the debates a little. Too bad the moderators didn’t ask some questions about some more important issues, but then again, it isn’t like most of the candidates wanted to be asked about premium support Medicare anyway. You are right that the last question mark was Santorum and he showed us that he is what he is and isn’t going to improve much. A one-on-one Romney Santorum debate would have been interesting and maybe good preparation for the general election.
February 23rd, 2012 | 8:20 pm
Well thanks, Pete and Peter, for analyzing all these debates. It’s given me a good sense of things without suffering too much myself through them. Despite ceaser’s admonition not to make too much of the debate-by-debate developments (which does make Peter’s new openness to Newt ridiculous), this latest one does sound like one more reason to believe that Santorum cannot win. (P.S., Pete, The Douthat article you linked to below for my benefit does not seem conclusive.) Again, if he can, or if he’s as much as a risk as Romney, I’m certain he’d be a better president than Romney.
So perhaps it’s time for an old “Newt” idea: A Contract! But not w/ America. Rather, A Contract with Romney. Republicans get him to swear to 10 things, number one being to give greater leeway for Congressional leadership.
February 23rd, 2012 | 8:34 pm
Carl, I stipulate to all of Douthat’s criticisms of Santorum and have more of my own, but, in a constrained choice, I still prefer Santorum to Romney for the reasons you mention. Run Mitch Run. Or somebody.
I’m not sure that Romney can stay bought or that his word, once given, would be worth more than a poll showing that X policy he committed to was polling at 41%. He has Edward Heath written all over him.
I think that Peter was more describing the attitudes of some people he spoke to and his sense of where the winds of public opinion might be blowing in Georgia after the debate rather than his own opinon of Gingrich.
February 24th, 2012 | 10:56 am
I myself is am less open to Newt than any other American. I’m not for the Newt surge in Georgia. I fear it!
February 24th, 2012 | 10:57 am
I myself is am less open to Newt than any other American. I’m not for the Newt surge in Georgia. I fear it! My teaching style here is deficient. I was also just reporting on the Santorum loses 35 states thing. My own view on Santorum’s electability remains in flux.
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