No Bite, All Bark

The first 10 minutes of the January 7th GOP debate tells us all we need to know about candidates' behavior toward each other, when actually facing one another.

Gingrich made news this past week when a Super PAC supporting him purchased the rights to a 30 minute film which supposedly eviscerates Romney's tenure as CEO of Bain capital. It paints Romney as a job killing money hungry capitalist. For $1.5 million, that sounds like money well spent.

But when George Stephanopoulos asked Gingrich about video, Gingrich kindly reminded us viewers at home to check the facts on both the video and a New York Times article which described Bain capital as having gutted a company bone dry of its resources and employees. Gingrich missed a HUGE opportunity to lambast Romney in the very first 5 minutes of the debate. This was probably an overcompensation as a result of Gingrich trying to tame "Bad Newt".

Soon after, Huntsman was also asked what his thoughts were of Romney's time at Bain. (Huntsman's Super PAC's have not been too kind to Romney's Bain tenure either). Huntsman inexplicably went into a bizarre diatribe about focusing on both his and Romney's politcal careers, and not so much on their business careers. Huntsman passed up yet another wide open opportunity to get his hands dirty- something he continues to avoid during debates, which I believe is a great reason for why he is the only candidate yet to reach double digits in national polls. Perhaps he is too diplomatic. It makes one wonder what he thinks is going to happen if he keeps tapping Romney with kid gloves. Conservatives want fire, which is why all the fiery candidates- Perry, Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, and Santorum, have all had their moments. Huntsman won't ever get there with his tired media darling shtick.

And finally, Ron Paul, the isolationist himself, also backs down when coaxed by moderators. After Stephanopoulos asked Paul about his ads calling Santorum "corrupt", Paul quickly corrected Stephanopoulos to say that it was a quote of someone else. Why all the negative ads if when confronted, all the candidates quickly shy away? And Ron Paul especially. He is generally among the fieriest. But when presented with easy ammunition, Paul lowers his weapon and makes that silly smirk he seems to do in order to diffuse any tension. It must have been Santorum's teeth gritting. 

Overall, candidates are simply too light on one another. Sure, there were a couple of light verbal skirmishes, but the least one of these candidates could do is humor the moderators a bit and stand by their scathing advertisements.