I forced myself to watch last night’s Republican Presidential Candidates debate on MSNBC.  There’s plenty of commentary online.  For an excellent re-cap, I recommend Michael Scherer on Salon with a dash of the great Digby on Hullaballoo.

For me, the whole event looked as if it were taking place in another dimension, a strange world where the mess in Iraq didn’t exist, and neither did George W. Bush.  Ronald Reagan was mentioned over twenty times, the current president only once.  Three candidates proudly raised their hands to say they didn’t believe in evolution, only Giuliani showed the slightest hesitation at rolling back Roe v. Wade, Tommy Thompson said it was okay to fire people for being gay (though he retracted the statement today), and everyone fought for the title of “most likely to bomb Iran.”

The Reagan worship was sad and creepy, especially coming from moderator Chris Matthews.  Not all of us pray at the altar of Ronnie.  Some of us remember tens of thousands dying of AIDS while he never said a word.  And some of us understand that it was Reagan’s mantra -- “Government is the problem!” -- that paved the way for Katrina and every other massive government failure in the Bush, Jr. years.

Digby says it well...

I hope that Dems are not going to make the foolish mistake of allowing this election to be framed as "going back to good Reagan conservatism," because it's nonsense. Conservatism is conservatism and it's a miserable failure no matter who's in charge.

They all operate on the same "principles."

Right-wing bloggers seem to be split on who “won.”  Many pick Romney, the smooth-talking blow-dried Mormon as the most stylish candidate.  But I have trouble believing the GOP will get behind a man who answers a question about his health care plan in Massachusetts by saying, “I love it!  It’s a fabulous program!”  Hmm.  Doesn’t sound like the kind of guy I’d like to have a beer with while we bomb Iran.

The supposed front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, had a bad night, I thought.  (I try to like Rudy because he’s an opera buff, but I just can’t do it because he strikes me as just another right-wing, incompetent bully.  Here’s some evidence.)  America’s Mayor talked in circles about abortion and stem-cell research, losing whatever credibility he may have had on those issues.  John McCain looked old and confused at the top of the debate, but later picked up some points with reasonable positions on stem cells and Terri Schiavo.  (Of course, reasonableness doesn’t score well with the Republican primary voters Romney, and others were so desperately courting.)  Ultimately, the days of McCain looking presidential and inspiring have passed.

The rest of the pack were all different variations of the old-school right wing nut-job.  They dumped on Hillary (after a particularly cheap set-up question from Matthews), praised God, and blathered on about family values like Jerry Falwell in 1980.  Nothing new here, America, move along.  (For a glimpse of Reagan family values, click here.)

I felt very good about the Democrats’ chances.  The Dems’ debate last week may have been dull, but the candidates were speaking in real terms about the world as it actually exists.  They recognized that the policy in Iraq is not working and that the deficit and global warming are real problems.  They advocated diplomacy over tough guy cowboy bullshit.  Dare I believe that the vast majority of Americans, after six years of Bush/Cheney corrupt conservative GOP rule, will listen?

Ronald Reagan’s presidency ended in 1988.  That means many who will be voting for the first time in 2008 were not alive during his glorious reign in the city on the hill.  Many more have no memory of it.  But every one of them will have lived through Iraq, Katrina, Gonzales, Abramoff, Foley, DeLay, and... will it ever end?

I don’t know who should be the Democratic nominee.  But whoever he or she is, this one might be tough to blow, even for a Democrat.

- Jon

Photo from here.