The truth? It doesn’t matter. At this point in this epic back and forth, up and down, in and out fight for the Republican nomination it really doesn’t matter who won or lost the last debate. What matters is this one, simple, indisputable fact. Which of the final four can wake this country up from the nightmare that is the Obama Administration?
We already know more about these candidates than we have known about any candidate for president since 1980. They have been vetted, re-vetted, examined, dissected, and picked over to the point of insanity. The media, the press, the democrats, fellow Republicans, and average, everyday citizens have asked every conceivable question and raised very possible scenario that any president might face during his or her tenure in the White House. It’s time to turn off the grill and decide which of the candidates are ready to serve.
The last debate before the South Carolina primary was the most informative of all the debates to date. Here are the primary points to ponder while on your way to the polls on Saturday:
1. Do you believe that Mitt Romney, the architect of government run, government mandated healthcare can make the case for the repeal of Obamacare without being laughed off of the debate stage? Believe me, I get the fact that, as government monstrosities go, Romney care is dwarfed by Obamacare. You can make any comparison you want between what Governor Romney did in Massachusetts and President Obama did in Washington. But at the end of the debate the fact remains we have a Republican frontrunner who says he is a conservative who, when he had the chance to craft a healthcare plan for his state decided a government mandate is better than a free market solution. On Thursday night, Rick Santorum finally penetrated the shield Mitt Romney has somehow managed to raise around Romneycare. If a Republican can successfully hang Romney with Romneycare what do you think President Obama will do?
2. Do you believe that a strong, constitutional government means babies can be aborted in one state while their lives are protected in another? Do you believe marriage can be defined by twenty-five states as being exclusively between a man and a woman and in 25 states as whatever the left can dream up? Are you ok with legalized prostitution, legalized drugs and a near isolationist foreign policy that will move America from the shinning city on a hill to the dark fortress behind the moat? Ron Paul’s libertarian world may sound like a utopia to his followers but to me it sounds like chaos and confusion on steroids. If abortion is the murder of an innocent, pre-born child who became a living being at the moment of conception and who is made in the image of the Creator then why would we allow it in any state? If abortion is legal in Maine and illegal in South Carolina do you think a young, scared, pregnant girl might get on a plane in South Carolina and fly to Maine to have an abortion? How about this? Let’s say you have two lesbians who get legally married in New York. Suppose one of the women is impregnated by artificial insemination and has a baby. Later, she decides to exit the homosexual lifestyle so she takes her biological baby and goes to South Carolina where same-sex marriage is illegal. Will the courts give the baby to the biological mother who now wants the child to be raised in a traditional home or will a lesbian in New York raise the child? If we legalize drugs do you think the addiction rates will go up or come down? How about the Taliban? Are they murderous dictators who like to cut the heads off of the people who challenge them or are they just misunderstood people who are defending their country? These are all questions you need to answer before you pick to a libertarian to be the standard bearer for the Republican Party.
3. Does Newt Gingrich have the discipline necessary to turn his big ideas into legislation that can be passed and implemented? Gingrich has been brilliant in the debates and on the stump. But at some point the candidate has to leave the stage and come down from the stump and actually govern. Big ideas have to implemented through a series of big decisions. Making big decisions requires discipline and the leadership to turn big decisions into policy requires focus. Does Newt Gingrich have the discipline necessary to turn his big ideas into big decisions that can become the laws that will restore our republic?
4. Finally, can a good man who loves his family and has a mostly consistent record of sticking to and leading on conservative issues overcome his few areas of inconsistency and defeat President Obama? Rick Santorum’s strength may be his greatest weakness. He is truly a good guy and in a postmodern world that has abandoned truth and reason good guys often finish last. Is he tough enough to go toe to toe with President Obama and come out on top? Rick Santorum is one of the most vilified people on the planet and his tormentors are the radical leftists who hate everything he stands for and has fought for. It would take a miracle for him to be elected president in the current cultural and political atmosphere. But then again, we thought it would be a miracle if he won Iowa.
The debate tonight should be the last. We don’t need any more debates to help us understand the positions and the potential of the candidates. Five candidates that started the race are gone. Cain, Huntsman, Bachman, Perry, and Pawlenty have all been eliminated from the race by the process of endless examination. Now it’s crunch time for the four who are left standing. Let’s review it, think it through, pray over it and then make a decision. Our future depends on it.
Related articles
- Palin to South Carolina: Vote for Newt (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Santorum ad paints Romney and Obama as the same (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Perry Drops Out Of Race, Endorses Gingrich (brandtstandard.com)
- Republican Debate: Romney faces attacks in South Carolina debate (vancouversun.com)
