I guess we saw a different debate. Yes, Santorum did well, IMO; but that is insignificant because he is an also-ran at this point. I thought Romney came off very well. I tuned in to see Newt smack him down. That didn't happen. My wife would ask me why I kept saying "Dammit!" during the debate. It was because Mittens kept scoring points off Gingrich. At the very start, as they stood together, Romney smiled and appeared very gracious to Newt. Sure, it's an act, but he pulled it off well. When Newt tried to flash a smile, it looked forced, as if he never smiles in real life. In some debates, Romney adopts an Obama-esque air of superiority when someone dares to criticize him. I thought he held that in check during the last Florida debate (except for the "it's not worth getting angry" comment).
On the immigration question, I actually like Mitt's "self-deportation" idea. It's what we've been clamoring for on FR for years. Newt's response about deporting "Grandpa and Grandma" smacked of Perry's "heartless" comments which upset so many Freepers.
If you looked at the debate as one of the sheeple would, you'd have to say Mitt came off well. I hate to say it; but that's how it came off when I watched it. I knew Newt would lose Florida after that debate.
Of course, Romney was also helped by a pro-Romney crowd and an idiotic "moderator" in the person of Wolf Blitzed. He started the debate by asking Mitt and Newt to respond to each others' accusations, which is not a proper debate at all. That was when Newt should have tried his "what has this got to do with a debate?" approach. By the time he did, he was already muddied from the mudfight. Like it or not, I think an average person who is not a political junkie like us would have said "that Romney seems to be a right nice feller".
You and I saw the same debate. Probably the low point for Newt was when he tried twice to duck the question about Mitt’s finances, and then after Wolf pushed back and Mitt jumped in with the “Wouldn’t it be nice...” crack, he then said, “OK...” and started to respond to it in a lame way. I think we’ve all be in similar positions, where you just know you’re going to be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
I don’t like Mitt’s style but I can recognize a major shift when I see it, and he was far more ferocious and persistent in his attacks, sort of like a boxer who never landed a KO punch but just kept hammering away with rabbit punches that wore his opponent down.
And those sheeple who maybe watch a 2 minute replay of one debate on their local TV station the day before they vote don’t apply ANY of the kind of thought processes we do on FR all every day.
So, because Santorum is not running as well as Romney, doesn’t have the big money ads, etc, you are able to discount his message and criticisms of Romney?
Just because Santorum isn’t in the top two tier, doesn’t make his message any less right. You can’t say that Romney did well in the debate just because he is still ahead in the polls.
Santorum destroyed Romney in the debate and fools still vote for him.