Saturday's Debate

I missed the first half of last night's Republican Presidential Candidates debate which featured Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum. I tuned in just as Romney and Gingrich were sparring over Gingrich's recent assertion that the Palestinians have never had a state. A substantive discussion which covered both our relations with Israel as well as criticisms of Gingrich for being too outspoken at times. A good discussion, with Gingrich stating that truth-telling is important for a leader to do, just as Ronald Reagan declared that the Soviet Union was an evil empire. Yet, at the end of the debate, the ABC commentators were sure that the key moment in the debate was when Perry and Romney had a dispute over a factual issue and Romney offered to bet Perry $10.000 that Perry was wrong. Well, "how out of touch with regular Iowans" that made Romney, huffed the ABC analysts. Maybe, but, that's hardly a substantial issue, is it?

And how ridiculous for Republicans to allow former Clinton campaign official and administration aide, George Stephanopolus to moderate the debate while only Gingrich and Santorum will agree to appear at a Donald Trump debate. For some reason, it is acceptable for a Republican debate to be moderated by the opposition, yet we won't see a Democratic debate moderated by conservatives will we?