November 13, 2011 08:51 PM UTC

GOP Presidentials Do Somewhat Better Terrifying Rest Of World

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• by: Colorado Pols

How about that foreign policy debate last night? CNN’s Peter Hamby recaps:

Perry answered several questions with confidence. He drove the discussion on foreign aid commitments when he said he would zero out all foreign aid and start again from scratch, including close ally Israel.

Plus, he stole the show when he made a discussion about waterboarding personal, highlighting his military service and his commitment to protecting men and women in combat.

“For us not to have the ability to try to extract information from them to save our young people’s live is a travesty,” Perry said. “This is war, that’s what happens in war, and I am for using techniques — not torture — but using those techniques that we know will extract information to save young American lives.”

Washington Post:

Some of the most intense debate occurred on the question of the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding. Huntsman and Paul called it torture, while Perry, Cain and Bachmann defended the tactic used during the George W. Bush administration.

Obama has banned waterboarding. In doing that and in calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Bachmann said, the president “is allowing the [American Civil Liberties Union] to run the [Central Intelligence Agency].”

Perry later said of waterboarding: “I will be for it until I die.” [Pols emphasis]

Overall the debate last night was judged successful for Texas Gov. Rick Perry after his epically disastrous performance in Michigan last week. To the extent that his answers were delivered completely, he appears to have drawn a pass–even if it sounded exactly like George W. Bush’s administration praising the virtues of ‘a dunk in the water.’ According to National Journal’s cursory fact-check, pretty much all of the top candidates had major troubles with factuality including Perry, who apparently can see Russia from the Texas Governor’s mansion.

Solidifying frontrunner Mitt Romney had no big gaffes but no standout moments either–which is really all he needs to do at this point. His delivery from a vast arsenal of bromides such as “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” was unremarkable but in no way harmful in a GOP primary. On the other hand, Perry’s vow to “zero out” aid to Israel, even temporarily, complicates relations with pro-Israel GOP voters. Barring a major move in polling trajectories, we consider Romney’s campaign on autopilot, focused on caution–until the subject turns to “personhood” again. Then we don’t know what he’s going to do, so it’s a good thing they were debating foreign policy.

This foreign policy debate was former China ambassador Jon Huntsman’s moment to shine, though, and in the limited time he was given, he managed to put away his wonkiness long enough to score some very statesmanlike points. Hopefully somebody was paying attention:

I take a different approach on Afghanistan. I say it’s time to come home. I say this– I say this nation has achieved its key objectives in Afghanistan. We’ve had free elections in 2004. We’ve uprooted the Taliban. We’ve dismantled Al Qaeda. We have killed Osama bin Laden. I say this nation’s future is not Afghanistan. This nation’s future is not Iraq. This nation’s future is how prepared we are to meet the 21st Century competitive challenges. That’s economic and that’s education. And that’s gonna play out over the Asia-Pacific region. And we’re either prepared for that reality or we’re not. I don’t want to be nation building in Afghanistan when this nation so desperately needs to be built…

We diminish our standing in the world and the values that we project which include liberty, democracy, human rights, and open markets when we torture. We should not torture. Waterboarding is torture. We dilute ourselves down like a whole lot of other countries. And we lose that ability to project values that a lot of people in corners of this world are still relying on the United States to stand up for them.

It’s just remarkable to us, and perhaps the most telling statement about the state of this race and Republican Party politics in general we can imagine, that this eminently reasonable man Jon Huntsman is running absolute last in the Real Clear Politics average of polls–1%, less than even total noncontender Rick “Please Don’t Google Me” Santorum. Huntsman comes closer to what we think Americans might actually be looking for in an alternative to President Barack Obama than any of the leading GOP candidates. At any other time in American history, Huntsman would be considered sufficiently conservative–in fact, we think the Republican Party of previous generations would have preferred Huntsman’s politics over this constant appeal to radicalism by otherwise horrible candidates. Yet 1% of GOP primary voters back him today. 1%.

Folks, no one is more relieved to see Huntsman polling at 1% than Barack Obama.