CNN GOP Debate: Anyone Else Catch the Obvious?

Republican Candidates in New Hampshire Debate | AP Photo

It is highly doubtful that I was the only viewer to catch the outrageous comments and topics on tap during last night's Republican debate.  What is shocking, however, is how easily CNN's moderator Jon King glossed over the outrageously offensive material without so much as an interjection.  Perhaps more shocking - and indeed saddening - is how the front pages of politico.com, nytimes.com, and washingtonpost.com all skipped over this topic.  Rather than focusing on the content of the debate and what that tells us about the Republican Party today, news outlets are much more honed in on the mild bantering between candidates and declaring who "won" last night's debate.

Our excursion into crazyland started once talk about the economy (which Romney and Paul were more than happy to stick to) grew dull and repetitive.  At that point the debate opened up for comments and attacks on the gay community, Muslims, immigration, and abortion.  That's right.  At a time when our country faces a burgeoning debt crisis, two and a half foreign wars, and abysmally slow economic recovery, the most important things to discuss were sealing off the US's borders to protect us from immigrants and keeping our troops safe from the evils of homosexuality.

It is safe to say that this was all off topic.  Day laborers working in fields and on lawns have nowhere near the economic influence of a reckless day trader on Wall Street, and gay people who serve our country in the armed forces certainly contribute more to our national security than heterosexuals who take advantage at the peace and security provided to them by those brave men and women.  Further, abortion must be the most utterly irrelevant topic after a lengthy debate on what should be done to re-stimulate the economy and repatriate outsourced jobs.

This then brings us to the commentary on the Muslim community and the star of this segment, Herman Cain.  If at all possible, this must have been the most outrageous topic within this part of the debate.  Candidates debated whether or not they could have a Muslim in their cabinet, and honestly declared that they would not unless that Muslim proved his or herself to be loyal to the US and not a terrorist threat.  Surprising?  Sadly, no.  What was astounding, however, was the validation of this topic by CNN and its host, Jon King.  After Herman Cain was given a chance to justify comments he had made earlier on this topic (before the debate), King continued the conversation with other candidates as though it were a legitimate question and not a gaffe from a bombastic candidate.

This entire portion of the debate was saddening, though not terribly surprising.  When Republican friends and colleagues tell me that not all Republicans are racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, etc, I have to agree.  Yes, you, as an individual, are not.  However, last night's debate should be an eye-opener to self-identifying moderate Republicans.  The debate was not only allowed to carry on in this manner by CNN, but  candidates and the audience were all too pleased to take swings at the overturning of DADT, immigrants, etc.  Candidates' comments that would have been met with shock in many other quarters were greeted with thunderous applause in New Hampshire last night.  The question then remains for moderate Republicans: do you want to be associated with such a crowd?  Last night, there was no 2007 John McCain to take a moral stand - every candidate joined in this hateful speech.

As a party, Republicans must grow, expand their base, and change their stance on social issues.  Last night's crowd was overwhelmingly White, and was noticeably graying.  If the GOP wants to remain a legitimate party and a bone fide challenger to Democrats in the future, they must back off the homophobia and xenophobia, etc and embrace a more diverse America.  This is not for the next four years, but the forty to follow.