I watched the debate via Internet, but I assume the sound quality was the same for those watching on the TeeVee – boy! did that suck! The amount of reverb present whenever anyone was talking gave me a headache and sometimes made it next to impossible to figure out what was being said. I don’t know if that was a problem with the audio equipment or somehow resulted from the fact the debate appeared to have been held in an airplane hangar, but it was extremely annoying. Almost as annoying as the hagiographic video they ran of St. Ronald Reagan and his missus.
As for the GOP base audience, I took notes of the things to which they seemed to react/applaud. These included:
--Newt Gingrich’s charge that the “liberal media,” acting as the debate’s moderators, were “carrying water for Obama”;
--Michele Bachmann’s claim that the Affordable Care Act constitutes “socialized medicine”;
--Jon Huntsman’s charge that Obama should “get out from behind a teleprompter;”
--Santorum’s announced goal of cutting way back on food stamps and housing assistance; and
--Rick Perry’s assertion that Social Security was “a monstrous lie” that “won’t be there” for our children.
But by far, what drew the loudest and longest applause was Brian Williams attempt to ask Rick Perry about the record number of people he has executed as Governor of Texas. The really chilling thing about this applause is that it started before Williams could even finish setting up the question. He got as far as saying “Governor Perry, you’ve presided over the executions of the largest number of people of any modern governor –” when the audience broke into sustained and spontaneous applause. They were applauding Perry for killing a lot of people. If you wanted evidence of the bloodthirsty nature of the GOP base . . . There it is.
Individual assessments of each candidate's performance are below the fold.
