GOP Debate: Perry, Romney, Winners, Losers, No LGBT Issues?
Wednesday night’s GOP debate was a turning point for the 2012 Republican race. Pundits generally give Rick Perry or Mitt Romney the win, and Bachmann the loss, with Gingrich, Santorum, Cain, and Paul placing as irrelevant. The one tossup: Huntsman.
Some say huntsman was the most-improved, others say not enough. I actually thought he did well and distinguished himself as the only reasonable, thoughtful, adult. Which, in the crowd, means death.
WATCH:Â Republican Audience Cheers At News Rick Perry Executed 234 People
And yes, there was no talk about LGBT issues whatsoever. The real question is, “Why?”
Why did NBC/MSNBC ask no LGBT questions, considering LGBT and social issues have defined this race since it began?
Why did NBC/MSNBC ask no LGBT questions, given its audience supports and talks about LGBT issues?
Why did NBC/MSNBC ask no LGBT questions, when MSNBC’s lead anchor is a lesbian?
And why did NBC/MSNBC ask no LGBT questions when there was an LGBT demonstration outside the debate? “GetEQUAL protested outside on behalf of young people who committed suicide because they were bullied for their real or perceived sexual orientation,” writes Think Progress. “Every time a Republican candidate attacks the LGBT community, they are contributing to this bullying mentality.”
Conservative author Jonah Goldberg put it this way: “Wow MSNBC Is Dumb.”
I don’t mean that as an ideological thing. They’re professionally dumb. MSNBC gets terrible ratings. Some of Fox’s repeats beat MSNBC’s prime time fare. This debate offered the network a golden opportunity to reintroduce themselves to many viewers (including me) who’ve come to ignore them for all the obvious reasons. Instead of offering something like an interesting, balanced, panel. They went with Al Sharpton, Lawrence O’Donnell, Eugene Robinson and Ed Schultz, moderated by Rachel Maddow — with extra commentary from a seemingly drooling Chris Matthews (I particularly liked Al Sharpton sharing his insights on what turns off moderates and independents). In other words they doubled-down on their MSNBCness. Anyone who was thinking that maybe they should give the network a second chance probably turned within 5 minutes.  Liberals might respond that Fox does the same thing, except it really doesn’t. They always have at least one Democrat or liberal, particularly for something like a Democratic debate. MSNBC couldn’t even rustle up Joe Scarborough?
While I think Goldberg is way off on some of his criticism, I was disappointed in the MSNBC post-game wrap-up. Maddow was good but that’s about it.
The NBC team during the debate was excellent. Brian Williams and the questions he asked were as well. So much so that Gingrich played his “attack the moderator!” game.
Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post adds the winners were Romney, Huntsman, First 45 minutes Rick Perry, NBC/Politico, Santorum. Losers: Bachmann, Last Hour Rick Perry, Gingrich, Raise your hand questions.
After a strong start, Perry seemed to lose focus — meandering on his answer on Social Security and badly fumbling on climate change. Some of Perry’s struggles in the middle portion of the debate had to do with the fact that he was getting tough questions and having to weather a steady attack from his opponents — he joked at one point that he had become a “pinata†— but that’s what you get when you’re the frontrunner. Perry salvaged the second half of the debate with a very strong answer on the death penalty. But his uneven performance will likely keep the conversation about whether he is a clear frontrunner alive, which is not what the Perry forces wanted.
After Perry’s defining himself as the anti-science, anti-social security candidate, I agree.
Â
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
 |
An election expert told a federal judge that the witnesses the FBI relied on during its investigation that led to the seizure of ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, misunderstood elections.
Former U.S. Election Assistance Commission official Ryan Macias, “testified that the list of irregularities the FBI identified didn’t represent a crime and that the witnesses the government based their investigation on appeared misinformed,” NBC News reported.
The witnesses the FBI cited “use contradictory terminology and it represents a misunderstanding of how elections work,” Macias said.
Macias also told a judge that the evidence the Bureau used to justify the controversial seizure of the ballots “doesn’t make sense.”
READ MORE: ‘Wrong Answer’: Conservative CPAC Audience Cheers Impeachment
Fulton County officials submitted a sworn declaration from Macias, who had advised the county during the 2020 election, the Associated Press reported. He said the Justice Department’s affidavit contains “a multitude of false or misleading statements and omissions” and offered explanations for the alleged “deficiencies.”
Fulton County is suing to force the return of its election materials. Its attorney, Abbe Lowell “criticized the government’s witnesses and information, which were laid out in a since-unsealed sworn affidavit that is ‘full of inaccuracies,'” NBC reported.
Lowell also argued that the government’s witness list couldn’t be trusted because it included “someone who was sanctioned twice by the courts for lying about elections.”
The person Lowell referred to, NBC reported, was Kurt Olsen, “a Republican who tried to overturn the 2020 election results. Olsen was appointed by President Donald Trump to investigate the 2020 election from within his administration.”
Lowell also told the judge that there was no crime because there was no proof of intentional wrongdoing.
“The only element that turns normal election irregularities into crime is intent,” he said.
READ MORE: Rubio Vows to ‘Destroy’ Parts of Iran’s Military Trump Bragged Were Already Decimated
Image via Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to contradict the commander-in-chief on Friday, speaking on the administration’s war efforts in Iran.
“We’re going to destroy their navy, we are going to destroy their air force, and we are going to significantly destroy their missile launchers so they can never hide behind these things to get a nuclear weapon,” Secretary Rubio said, according to CNN. He also insisted the U.S. military is “ahead of schedule” on these goals.
But according to President Donald Trump, those goals were already completed.
“We’re having, by the way, a tremendous success, as you know, in Iran,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “We had one in Venezuela, and now we’re having one in Iran.”
“They have no Navy left. They have no Air Force left. They have no anti aircraft equipment left, no radar left, no leaders left. The leaders are all gone,” he said.
“Nobody knows who to talk to,” Trump continued, despite having also insisted that he is in productive negotiations with Iran. “But we’re actually talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly. You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal.”
Iran has publicly denied it is negotiating with the United States.
CNN also reported that Rubio said “that the US can achieve its objectives in the Iran war ‘without any ground troops,’ as more than 1000 extra service members have been ordered to deploy to the region.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re having tremendous success in Iran. They have no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft equipment, no radar, no leaders left.
You have no idea how badly they want to make a deal and we’ll see what happens. pic.twitter.com/VXD0fokxxw
— Department of State (@StateDept) March 24, 2026
READ MORE: ‘Wrong Answer’: Conservative CPAC Audience Cheers Impeachment
Image via Reuters
The chairman of the influential Conservative Political Action Conference was stunned on Friday when his audience delivered an unexpectedly awkward response.
“How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” Matt Schlapp asked.
The audience cheered, applauded, and cried, “yeah!”
Schlapp quickly cut them off.
“No. That was the wrong answer,” he retorted, appearing somewhat embarrassed.
“How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” Schlapp was forced to ask again.
“No,” he quickly directed.
Things did not appear to be going as planned.
“Can someone bring some coffee out?” Schlapp asked.
“We’ve got to keep this House majority!” he then declared, apparently cognizant that impeachment of the president could be possible were Republicans to lose control.
An attempt by @mschlapp to hype up the CPAC crowd goes horribly wrong —
“How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?”
[cheers]
“That was the wrong answer…” pic.twitter.com/PQUCThdgV3
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 27, 2026
READ MORE: The GOP’s Secret Weapon? A ‘Known Unknown’ That Could Swing the Midterms: Columnist
Image via Reuters
FBI Witnesses in Georgia Case Didn’t Understand ‘How Elections Work’ Says Expert
Rubio Vows to ‘Destroy’ Parts of Iran’s Military Trump Bragged Were Already Decimated
‘Wrong Answer’: Conservative CPAC Audience Cheers Impeachment
American Credibility Has Collapsed — Only the ‘Strange’ Reality TV Show Remains: Columnist
‘Enough Tacos for a Restaurant’: Trump’s Latest Iran Retreat Ripped for ‘Winging It’
News3 days ago‘Blank Check’: Trump’s Board of Peace to Get $1.25 Billion From State Department
News2 days ago‘Wrong Answer’: Conservative CPAC Audience Cheers Impeachment
News4 days agoTrump Unleashes Unhinged Early Morning Tirade Targeting Enemies and Allies
News2 days agoFBI Witnesses in Georgia Case Didn’t Understand ‘How Elections Work’ Says Expert
News3 days ago‘Enough Tacos for a Restaurant’: Trump’s Latest Iran Retreat Ripped for ‘Winging It’
News3 days agoTrump Is So Desperate to End the War He Doesn’t Even Want to Call It One: Columnist
News3 days agoHow Iran Hoodwinked Trump With America’s Own Strategies: Columnist
News2 days agoRubio Vows to ‘Destroy’ Parts of Iran’s Military Trump Bragged Were Already Decimated
