Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux
RECAP:
• general consensus amongst audience and candidates: Support the troops unless they're gay
• Newt Gingrich thinks he is too smart to answer your dumb questions
• Perry's opposition to the border fence and support for giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition put him at odds with the conservative base
• Everyone seems to have forgotten Michele Bachmann is in the debate, including her. The few times she did speak she said nothing, but she gave good crazy eyes.
• Line of the night: "my neighbors dog has created more shovel-ready jobs than Obama"- Governor Johnson
• Romney is the most presidential, but the conservative base is reluctant to back him
*Editorial: The moderators of these debates need to do a better job insisting candidates move from general or evasive answers to direct questions.
FACT CHECKING:
Bachmann:
"Obama has lowest public approval rating of any president in modern time"
FALSE:
Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford all had lower approval ratings at some time during their terms.
Romney:
When Obama "addressed the United Nations in his inaugural address and chastised our friend, Israel, for building settlements, and said nothing about Hamas launching thousands of rockets into Israel."
FALSE:
during that speech Obama specifically talked about an Israeli girl who is scared at night that a rocket from Hamas-controlled Gaza will kill her.
Bachmann:
when questioned about her statement that the HPV vaccine "was potentially dangerous" she said, " I didn't make that claim nor did I make that statement"
FALSE:
roll the tape!