BIg thing small stage.

Speaking of public speaking, a big thing happened on a small stage last evening.  When asked, what he would do differently in his campaign, Mitt Romney replied, he would spend less time criticizing his colleagues and more time criticizing Obama. I could be wrong, but it seemed he looked directly at Gingrich when he spoke. It was in my opinion a public apology, but it could also be characterized as a simple acknowledgement of fact. Romney's reply was thoughtful and presidential.

In response to the same question, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul said, they would do nothing differently. Their replies were a failure to reply responsively. It was a softball opportunity and they struck out. Gingrich replied, he would never have hired professional political consultants that he eventually had to fire. Gingrich said, he found that the Internet was an effective tool to reach out to the voters.

Last evening, the POTUS republican candidates sitcom was on TV again. Unfortunately, there is not much new being said in these debates. Not that what they have had to say is not important, it is just that the questions and the answers have all been asked and answered before. The candidate answers have all plateaued. The questions are flat too. The lack of new questions favors Romney who now has streamlined his responses to fit the old questions. Romney is reading my public speaking book. His smile is disarming and deflects the listener from his message. Santorum still appears to be a candidate in training and now that he has retroactively won Iowa, he appears affirmed that his positions on many issues are resonating with Americans, at least Iowans.

Ron Paul adds common sense to the debate. He responds rhetorically to every other candidates proposal with the remark, these are all good ideas, but  how are we going to pay for them. He offers the same solution which appeals to many young people and me too. He asserts that America can not pay to police the world. America has military bases in numerous countries. It is expensive and essentially is a cash subsidy to the economy of the other country.  How many countries have military bases in America? None. His suggestion. Close down all military bases in other countries. Bring the military home and save the money. In today's GPS world, where you can hit a small bus in Iran from a base in Missouri, there is no genuine reason for hundreds of military bases in other countries.

Ron Paul has a point.