GOP Debate: Ron Paul Gets Booed For Saying 70 Percent of Americans Oppose Iraq War

Posted by Steve Benen at 5:38 AM on October 22, 2007.

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

It's hard to overstate how awful the Republican Party looks when watching its would-be presidential nominees discuss their ideas for 90 minutes on Fox News. At one point during last night's debate in Orlando, Rudy Giuliani literally blew kisses to the state of the Florida in order to thank the state for helping steal the 2000 election. "You saved us in 2000," Giuliani said. "That was a big one."

Around the same time, Ron Paul mentioned "70- some percent of the people in America want the war over with. They're sick and tired of it and they want our troops to come home." The audience booed, though it was unclear if the Republican crowd was angry at the country for opposing the war, or angry with Paul for having the audacity to mention it.

The debate was filled with head-shaking moments like these. Duncan Hunter said Dems aren't trustworthy on national security because of the Bay of Pigs in 1961. Fred Thompson made fun of Ted Kennedy's weight. At one point, Romney said, "All of us here are Republicans...but it's essential that the strength of the house Ronald Reagan built is going to lead us." A few minutes later, he added, "All of us on the stage are Republican, but the question is, who will be able to build the house that Ronald Reagan built" -- apparently unaware that he'd already said the exact same thing a couple of minutes earlier.

Watching the entire event, one is filled with more than just dread. One sits there thinking, "What is wrong with these people?"

Specifics aside, the striking thing about these debates is recognizing just how little seriousness there is to the entire Republican nominating process. There isn't even a hint of substance, on any policy matter. Of the entire field, Ron Paul would at least try to articulate an idea that fell slightly outside the agreed-upon GOP talking points, and he was rewarded with robust boos.

This isn't to say last night's debate wasn't newsworthy. The event may have been mind-numbing, but at least it featured a few fireworks.

Huckabee, fairly early on, seemed to be taking the 11th-commandment approach to intra-party warfare: "What I'm interested in is fighting for the American people, and I think they're looking for a presidential candidate who's not so interested in a demolition derby against the other people in his own party."

But he was the only one. Fox News' questioners wanted some antagonism, they baited the candidates, and we saw some of the most direct criticism of the campaign cycle.

The evening got off to a fiery start when Fred D. Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator who has been criticized for a slow and sometimes disengaged beginning to his campaign, questioned the conservative credentials of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who has led in national opinion polls.

"Mayor Giuliani believes in federal funding for abortion," Mr. Thompson said. "He believes in sanctuary cities. He's for gun control. He supported Mario Cuomo, a liberal Democrat, against a Republican who was running for governor, then opposed the governor's tax cuts when he was there."

Mr. Giuliani was prepared for Mr. Thompson's criticism.

"You know, Fred has his problems, too," he said, going on to criticize Mr. Thompson, a lawyer, as "the single biggest obstacle to tort reform in the United States Senate."

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has renounced his past support of abortion rights and gay rights, questioned whether his rivals in the race are conservative enough.

"We're not going to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House by acting like Hillary Clinton," Mr. Romney said.

That drew a sharp response for Senator John McCain of Arizona. "Governor Romney, you've been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record," Mr. McCain said. "I don't want you to start fooling them about mine."

Mr. McCain also questioned whether Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Romney have the experience to be commander in chief. "I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time," he said. "I wasn't a governor for a short period of time. For 20-some years, including leading the largest squadron in the United States Navy, I led. I didn't manage for profit. I led for patriotism."

It was a bit like watching a car race for the crashes -- the only thing that made last night watchable was waiting to see who would hit their rivals the hardest.

I'm going to do a separate post on the subject, but the one issue that came up over and over again was Hillary Clinton, with whom the Republicans are apparently obsessed. By my count, the candidates mentioned the Democratic frontrunner by name 34 times, and mentioned President Bush twice.

As for who won, who knows? I didn't see any real stand-out performances or anything impressive, though McCain clearly had the most memorable line of the evening:

"In case you missed it, a few days ago, Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time."

It was an obvious reference to McCain being a prisoner of war during the Vietnam war, and the audience gave him a standing ovation for having mentioned it. I don't know if it'll translate to any actual votes, but it was nice to see Republicans honoring someone's military service.

So, what'd you think? Was I the only one watching? What do you suppose the ratio was between people watching the debate, and people watching the Red Sox game?

Tagged as: conservatives, huckabee, mccain, romney, giuliani, paul, thompson, republican party, election08

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.