Iowa Donnybrook: Tim vs. Michele

12 August 2011 |permalink | email article

The lead in Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa was the bitter slugfest between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann in what the Washington Post described as the last vestiges of “Minnesota nice.”

Both candidates, with perhaps the most at stake in Iowa, produced the hardest and most personal exchanges in the race thus far for the Republican presidential nomination. Bachmann has continued to move up polls prior to Saturday’s huge straw poll. Pawlenty, faring poorly in an earlier debate, was far more aggressive in going after her with his future tied to a strong showing..

Mitt Romney, the current frontrunner, survived some blows but all seven candidates never missed an opportunity to call Obama a failed president. Ron Paul, who often got the strongest applause, tangled repeatedly with Rick Santorum; Newt Gingrich accused Fox News’ moderator Chris Wallace of asking gotcha questions. The real loser was Jon Huntsman, a late starter, who never gained traction. Rick Perry’s Saturday announcement will shake up the polls.

Regaining His Groove

An angry President Obama picked his spot to let it all rip. Addressing auto workers in Michigan, he sharply criticized Congress for the political divide that he said worsened the country’s economic crisis. “There’s nothing wrong with the country,” he said, speaking to workers at Johnson Controls, a maker of high-tech battery systems. “There’s something wrong with our politics.” He blamed Republicans for shooting down most of his proposals, said calling lawmakers back from recess was not as effective as having lawmakers better spend their time listening to voters and hear about how dreadfully they had performed.

England’s Worse Riot

Prime Minister David Cameron told an emergency session in Parliament that he would consult with police consultant William J. Bratton who presided over a major drop in crime in New York City in the mid-1990, did the same as police chief in Los Angeles. Cameron may be less successful in trying to shut down social networking sites. In Egypt’s recent revolution such tactics were largely unsuccessful.

Notable

“The most visible shift in the political landscape” since 2005 “is the emergence of a single bloc of across-the-board conservatives. The long-standing divide between economic, pro-business conservatives and social conservatives has blurred.” – The Pew Research Center, in its recent quadrennial study of the American People.

 

 

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