Litmus Tests and Pancakes

Rachel and I convinced ourselves we would be Bad Americans if we didn't watch the Republican YouTube debate this morning. We tried to convince Brett this was a valid reason to go to work late, but he decided to be a Bad American/Good Japanese Worker instead. It was weird to watch a debate first thing in the morning, but I made pancakes and we watched in our pajamas, which was fun.

(I really try to avoid posting domestic political commentary because I know I don't have anything fresh to bring to the table and lots of people can do it so well, whereas only I can unveil horrors of nama gomi and the complexity of my bathroom. However, sometimes I can't help myself.)

This was the first time in my political consciousness there's been a Republican presidental primary. I had one happy moment at the very begining of the debate where I thought "ooh, a variety of smart Republicans, new." This rapidly changed to "eeeww, xenophobia." I think I tend to be overly emotional in my support for amnesty policies, and I can understand the side, but I thought a lot of the tenor of the debate was anti-all-immigration rather than anti-illegal immigration. And fences? Assimilation? What ever happened to open borders and salad bowls? In Tancredo's own words, they were all trying to out-Tancredo Tancredo. It made me upset when Guiliani and Huckabee had to defend strategically sound, humane policies. Who does it serve to deny access to the children of illegal immigrants?

It was interesting what a strong domestic focus the debate had. While it was refreshing it wasn't all Iraq and terrorism all the time (not a lot of "verb noun 9/11"ing), I think it speaks to the fact that we are lacking strong mass foreign policy constituencies.

I thought Huckabee did the best. I disagreed with nearly everything he said ("fairtax?") but it seemed as though he really believed it and wanted to stand by the policies he thought were best rather than trying to win over voters. I was glad Ron Paul was there to be a voice for withdrawing the troops.

Two of my friends and I once had an extended conversation on the elliptical machines that became a running joke about litmus test questions we could ask on first dates that would ensure we didn't date people who's political views were reprehensible to us. (The conversation started because one friend wanted to be sure not to date anyone who would disown a transgendered child. Long story.) My litmus test boiled down to "do you believe in progressive taxation?" but I could never come up with the appropriate first date lead-in. Watching the Republican debate reminded me to add "So, do you believe in torture?" to the list. An asterik, "waterboarding counts" is also clearly warranted.