While Americans have been bombarded with Republican debates, most would argue that they haven’t been bombarded with, well, substance. Lackluster questions, vocal crowds, and candidates allowing moderators to set the premise of discussions have made the debates devolve into bickering and one-liners. The question of national security is at the forefront of Americans’ minds because of increased tensions with Iran, high gas prices, and the growing scandal of “Fast & Furious.”
Speaking of “Fast & Furious,” one of the biggest disappointments of the debate this week was that there wasn’t a single question concerning that program. Considering the debate was held in Arizona, where the program originated, one would think that CNN would have wanted to include that in the topics of the evening. Unfortunately, the candidates didn’t think to bring it up, either, in any of the foreign policy discussions.
Each of the candidates had their headline moment in the debate, but the true star of the debate seemed to be the media. As Joel Pollak pointed out, CNN’s John King had multiple moments of manipulation during the debate.
King turned an audience question about Iran to a question of how to deal with Israel:
Then King made the bold assumption that Americans don’t care about what’s going on in the world “until they have to.”
But the candidates did bring some content to the table in the area of foreign policy in what could be the last GOP debate. BreitbartTV collected some of the highlights, and we will list them here for your convenience to compare and contrast the candidates’ viewpoints.
Dr. Ron Paul:
Senator Rick Santorum:
Governor Mitt Romney:
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich: