GOP Debate Setup to Derail Rep. Ron Paul Fails and Backfires

Troy Perkins

The Failed Setup

The FoxNews hosted debate held at the University of South Carolina at Columbia last night started like most modern political debates but progressively transformed into a make believe session of grown men playing tough guys, speculating about a theoretical terror attack on the United States. Along the way Texas Rep. Ron Paul was largely ignored with all but softball questions until, after being left out of three consecutive rounds of questions including abortion, the congressman was asked about the Iraq War, a subject that had already been debated earlier in the evening with all ten participants answering the Iraq issue. What was peculiar about this question to Paul was that the current subject was immigration. Five other candidates had been asked their opinion on immigration before Ron Paul was asked again about the war in Iraq. The congressman commenced to answer honestly, staying true to his constitutional values and stating that the Republicans have lost their way, that non interventionism was the long time tradition of the founding fathers, republicans and the Constitution. He continued by pointing out that war is to be actually declared by the Congress not approved by a resolution, per the Constitution of the United States, and that for that reason he had not supported it from the beginning.

When the moderator followed up by asking him if that "didn't change with the 9-11 attacks" Paul resolutely answered "No", pointing to Ronald Reagan's understanding that we do not understand the "irrationality of Middle East politics." He was then asked "are you suggesting that we invited the 9-11 attacks sir?" Paul answered that he was "suggesting that we listen to the people that attacked us and the reason they did it" pointing out the message of terrorists: that they like Americans in Iraq because we are easier to strike there.
As Ron Paul was being halted by FoxNews' moderation bell, Rudy Giuliani stopped everything with a request to respond which he was immediately granted without objection. The Mayor proceeded to spin Paul's statements after the moderator's attempt to trap Ron Paul into saying that the U.S. invited the attacks of 9-11 directly. But somehow Giuliani was allowed to construct a statement for Ron Paul implying that he actually said "that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq" which of course was never uttered by the congressman.

After the live audience "patriotically" applauded "America's Mayor", he was emboldened to say more, and who were the moderators to stand in his way or allow Paul to clarify what he had said? Suddenly it was like a one sided elementary school yard scuffle where little boys surprise themselves with good insults and are encouraged by on lookers to outdo the previous shot. As the clapping died down, Giuliani glared towards Paul like he had nailed him and then looked back towards the audience for more approval. That look of unsure approval that little kids get when they have their first brush with bravery.

Ron Paul was not addressed again until Rudy Giuliani authoritatively demanded a withdrawal of a statement that the congressman had never uttered. With the moderator's approval, Ron Paul, leaning slightly on the podium like a repetitive professor immediately gave a condensed history lesson about what the CIA calls "blowback". Yea, do an Internet search or re-watch this part of the debate if you don't know what it means. At this point Ron Paul went into statesman mode and spoke with knowledge and wisdom unheard of in debates, but of course being interrupted by the moderation bell chiming again. At least for that moment it did not seem like a debate at all. It was an education. "Could I have thirty seconds please… the, the, they are coming…" jumped Giuliani. Congressman Paul looked on calmly as the moderators reigned in the Mayor before he got himself in trouble. The subject was quickly changed as Ron Paul had calmly started a real discussion of presidential proportions while Giuliani wanted to keep snarling about terrorism and all he had done after 9-11.

Skipping the Strong Candidate on Strong Issues

One telling factor of this debate was the fact that Ron Paul and Tommy Thompson received the fewest questions; four, while McCain had six, and Romney and Giuliani had seven. The more important thing to note is that Ron Paul was completely kept from answering the questions on abortion and Immigration, two issues that no one else on stage could compare with him on.

Fair and Balanced Time

Also worthy of noting was the total times the candidates were allowed to talk. Aside from Ron Paul, the three "top tier" candidates, Romney, McCain and Giuliani, all talked between six and a half to over seven minutes. Paul was given about six and a half minutes total but nearly a full three minutes of that were spent answering the second Iraq question (he was the only candidate required to answer the same question fully and separately twice) and the follow-up history lesson he was required to give the other candidates and the nation after Giuliani tried to put words in his mouth. So Ron Paul in effect had less than four minutes of real talking time on issues comparatively.

The Terrorism Drill

Just like September 11, 2001 itself, there was a terror drill last night. Towards the end of the debate, the ten contenders were subjected to a mock terror drill "real time" to see how they would respond. This brainstorm session brought out the best in the would be kings as a third of them clearly expressed their support to authorize torture if they were President in a situation that John McCain admitted was a "one in a million" scenario.

• Mitt Romney was for torture as long as we change it's name to "enhanced interrogation techniques",
• Giuliani was against it if it's called torture but for it if it's called something else,
• Mike Huckabee implied Americans must be willing to give up liberty for security (something Franklin warned against),
• Tom Tancredo said he would call on the fictional character "Jack Bauer" (he does know that 24 is a TV show, right?),
• Jim Gilmore said he would goto the United Nations and form Homeland Security (don't we already have that?),
• Sam Brownback said we would do whatever it took
• Tommy Thompson said we could attack any country where terrorists trained (someone needs to point out that the 9-11 hijackers trained in the US including on military bases),
• Duncan Hunter said he would give his Secretary of Defense an hour to give him a plan.

When it was Ron Paul's turn to play spin the terror drill, the moderator gave him the economic policies to work on. The congressman brushed through the softball question and went on to point out that torture had become "newspeak" as "enhanced interrogation techniques" as used in the debate and that America had still neglected to deal with those responsible for 9-11-01 after the congress gave the President authority to go into Afghanistan. He further pointed out the likelihood that Bin Laden is (supposedly) in Pakistan who already has nuclear weapons and to whom we give money to. Paul pointed out the ridiculousness of talking about hypothetical terror attacks while we have forgotten those responsible for 9-11.

After the Debate

The debate ended shortly after a few more unrelated questions lobbed to a few of the candidates. Hannity and Colmes reported immediately afterward that Ron Paul was winning their own phone text poll with 30% after over 20,000 votes with Romney close behind and Giuliani in a distant third. Despite that poll being FoxNews' own poll, Shawn Hannity made it clear that he did not agree with the poll and joined other commentators there that those polls mean nothing anyway. Well why did they even have the poll in the first place? The final poll, according to FoxNews' website had Romney first and Paul in second place. As a side note, MSNBC's web poll had Ron Paul winning with over 30,000 votes total for last night's debate with 46%, Romney in second with 24% and Giuliani in third with 24%.

It's not even a question what last nights antics were about but truth wins in the end and now Ron Paul is forcing the controlled media to acknowledge him as not only a top contender in the 2008 Republican run, but the right man to be the first true statesman president in the White House in decades.

There is hope, get informed and get involved.