The Republican Debate: Battle of the Neanderthals?

By Scott Horton

The first face-off of the Republican presidential candidates at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, got acid reviews around the world. The Times in London says that Bush was the clear-cut loser as the candidates ran from his name and record. My own view was that John McCain had most of the good moments, reflecting gravitas in abundance and scoring major points with a heavy lashing of Donald Rumsfeld’s conduct of the Iraq War. But the judgment of Germany’s Spiegel is devastating: “It was a sad round. Ten old white men exhausted themselves with slogans and platitudes in the first round of the Republican TV debates. Above all the three leading candidates–Giuliani, McCain and Romney–looked pathetic.”