abc's NH GOP Debate and Romneycon

I made it through the whole GOP debate and I'll have to say the biggest loser was "abc" news.  The questions and conduct of the debate were ridiculously poor.  I think CBS has a debate today (1/8) and the bar for conduct has been set ridiculously low.  Henceforth perhaps we can refer to ABC News as "abc news" - all lower case - until they earn a upper case.

It sure looks like it is all over and the 3rd best candidate has all but warpped it up.  We can now start referring the GOP convention as Romneycon.  If no one has trademarked the term, I'd like to start right now with Romneycom^TM.

Since I will probably spend the next 9 to 10 months bashing Romney, let me at least throw in a few positive observations:  Romney is smart, polished, and he was successful in business.  While I find him incredibly annoying, he is not GWB and will likely do a far better job than "The Worst President of All Time."  He also never seemed to answer a question in the debate - he just jumped to a pre-prepared script.  Even when asked a simple Yes or No question, he wouldn't even state a Yes or No. 

Why is Romney so irritating:  because his marketing groomed scripts all were perfectly designed to hit on GOP conversative hot points.  Romney started grooming his message for the 2008 elections and has been effectively running for President for 6 years.  It shows.  While Romney is no George Bush, he is yet another George Bush:  a son of wealth and entitlement without a connection to the poor, the sick, and the old.

Of the also rans:

Why is Rick "Moonshine" Perry still on stage?  Does he really think we're going to declare war on Iraq a second time in order to put troops back into the country?  Perry is so 90s.  That crap might have worked in 1999 or 2000, but the US does not want a loonier George Bush. 

Huntsman is obviously the guy with real experience in foreign affairs and massively successful in terms of GOP governing - having done so in Utah.  However, how flaky is it to break out into Mandarin in a debate where much of you constituency does not trust China and does not understand Chinese.  Also, while I completely agree, how can you be a true conservative if your marriage isn't threatened by gay marriage.  (My marriage isn't and I don't know anyone's who would admit that gay marriage is a threat to their marriage, but bashing and holding down gays is a conservative litmus test just like global warming).  Huntsman, spare yourself further aggravation, please. 

Newt sounded smart when he ever he deigned to answer a question.  Unlike Romney, he actually answered questions.  I feel back that he didn't savage Romney for being the biggest flip-flopper of all time.  Newt's so called big score was that the government wasn't giving money to the Catholic church for child placement because, gasp, the church wouldn't follow the dictates of the government with respect to same sex households.  This is a worthy and interesting debate, but why would the government ever give money to a religious organization:  doing is exactly the same as government funding specific religions.  However, it does serve as a reminder of the many good things that organized religions do - particularly a large on like the Catholic Church.

Ron Paul tried to widdle Sanctorum down a little bit, but it was not completely whole hearted.  Ron is too old and too Libertarian for the GOP.  He has some utility because he helps show that Romney will never state a concrete position on anything.  At least Ron Paul always has a concrete position on everything. 

[Side story: My sister's neighbor is a big Ron Paul supporter. The irony is that he just had his second free government-paid for knee replacement, but under a Ron Paul government he would have to live with too painful and debilitating knees.]

Lastly, Sanctorum.  He peaked relatively early and made a good showing for himself.  Sanctorum
appears less cerebral than everyone except Moonshine, but he nice seemed to wrap himself up as a "cause guy" and somewhat defty combined that with a belief in government to put his previous government experience into prospective.  All a moot point, because unless Newt and Ron Paul drop out, he'll never have enough votes to catch Romney.

So  it all about Romneycom^TM now.