The Republican Debate: Is it Time for Despair?

I watched (most of) the Republican debate last night from an appropriate spot, which was the treadmill at my gym. Actually it was these guys who seemed to be on a treadmill, mouthing the usual platitudes and saying absolutely nothing new, interesting or original. Anyone who feels despair about the '08 elections would be pushed over the edge by last night's lifeless exercise.

Lower taxes, lower spending, Reagan was a God, etc. etc.

The media focused on the exchange between Mitt Romney and Rudi Giuliani on the line-item veto, but I was struck by the equally fatuous remarks that the media did not pick up.

Thus we had Tom Tancredo hammering away at illegal immigration, even though his own grandparents would have been barred under the take-no-prisoners policies he advocates. Tancredo seems to feel that if all illegal immigrants vanished, the economy would get a lift. This nativist pap is not only hypocritical but brain-dead, since illegal immigrants pick up jobs too dreary for Americans.


Mitt Romney appeared to be auditioning for CEO of the pro-business, anti-public U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as he advocated waiving Section 404 of Sarbanes Oxley for "small business." Penny stock outfits and CEOs of cruddy microcap companies would have a happy life under a President Romney, I suspect. The rest of 'em too, I also suspect.

I must confess that I do have a bit of a soft spot for Giuliani, lingering over from Sept. 11. Too bad he was as fatuous (the word is worth repeating) in pushing to the right as the rest of them.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



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