The Republican Debate

Watching the Republicans debate Sunday night opened my eyes to a thing or two. It left a funny taste in my mouth.

My aim has always been, and still is, to stay independent throughout the months leading up to the actual votes in 2008. But these past few weeks have left me wondering if these Republican candidates have actually taken the time to study the America they are trying to lead.

Sunday night's debates did nothing to change that view.

Watching the debates, I couldn't help wonder if the GOP candidates are running to lead the entire country or just a segment of the country. Before you label me, I have voted for both parties in the past and I have not decided who will get my vote in 2008.

A few months back, the Republicans not only insulted the Hispanics by refusing to attend their debate under the guise of conflicting schedules, they followed that by disrespecting Blacks during their debate a few weeks later.

No party can afford to write off such a large segment of the society. Not even the party of Ronald Reagan.

In issue after issue, the GOP candidates Sunday night demonstrated their lack of knowledge and wisdom. The candidates became animated only while talking about Hillary Clinton. They forgot that Hillary Clinton was not on the podium with them and that they should have been focusing on issues that affect the American people.

They talked about privatizing Social Security. Funny but I remember President George Bush tried and failed in that regard. There is a reason he failed: It is just not in the interest of the country to do so. The perception is that the GOP is pushing such risky issues to help their wealthy friends, just as they appear to be doing in Iraq; Remember Halliburton?

Representative Tom Tancredo's hot button issue is illegal immigration and all he wants to do is deport every immigrant and build a wall between United States and Mexico. That may elicit cheers from the debate crowd but most Americans know that is not only impractical, it is also dangerous to the US economy. It is impossible to round up and deport 12 - 20 million people and doing so may destroy the economy.

On foreign policy, Mayor Rudy Giuliani wants to get tough with Russia's Vladimir Putin on Iran. He believes that American can spend Russia into oblivion. Amazing answer when you consider that we are currently running a deficit of over $500 billion and we are mired in a war with no end in sight. Former Senator Thompson and Representative Tancredo blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the war in Turkey because the Speaker whom Tancredo deemed "poor" wanted to declare as genocide a massacre of over a century ago. A few minutes spent doing research would have told the Colorado Representative that the issue goes deeper than that.

Governor Romney wants more troops and stronger military but he failed to say how he will increase the size of the military considering the American people are currently unwilling to enlist.

Perhaps the only candidate with common sense and the right attitude for Commander in Chief was Texas Representative Ron Paul. He talked about the out of control deficit spending by the Republicans (The other candidates either ignored him or sought to knock him down repeatedly), the need to bring the troops home and end the war in Iraq, the need to reach out to minorities and the need to live in peace with the rest of the world.

None of the other candidates shared those views.

One of the debate moderators called Senator Thompson lazy and the Senator lunched into a history lesson about his life. That may have been good for him, but I couldn't help think that the rest of America did not have the same opportunities he had.

Mayor Giuliani spent minutes after the debate bashing Hillary Clinton but for a candidate running for President, he failed to impress.

At the end of the debate, the candidates failed to earn my vote. For any candidate to earn my vote, he or she has to be in the middle of the road on most issues; must be forward thinking, embrace all races and creed, not be willing to go to war on a whim and be honest.

As Senator John McCain said during the debate, Mitt Romney might be able to distort his record as Governor of Massachusetts; he may not be able to fool a whole lot of us.

Not an inspiring debate for me. I will let you know what I think of the Democrats when they debate in the next few weeks.

I am The Outsider.