Former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham are two candidates I keep forgetting are even still running for president. But during the Wednesday night CNN debate, those two were the most coherent and pragmatic of the four “undercard” contenders. I wouldn’t say they won the debate, but they certainly performed least poorly.
At the beginning of the debate, they were forgettable, as the two other presidential candidates on stage, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Rick Santorum, bickered over current GOP front-runner Donald Trump.
Jindal, who is 11th in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, lost major points with me when the candidates were asked to comment on Ahmed Mohamed, the ninth-grader who was removed from his school in handcuffs after bringing in a clock he built himself — a clock his English teacher thought was a bomb. Jindal flipped the discussion into one about Islamic terrorism. When pressed further about the specific news story, Jindal started talking about Christian business owners not wanting to provide flowers for same-sex wedding ceremonies.
Now, I’m not saying Pataki and Graham won the debate or improved their status in the campaign — I don’t think they did. They were mediocre at best. But compared to the nonsense the other two candidates sometimes discussed during the undercard debate, they at least had an argument apiece that made sense.
For Pataki, it was his spat with Santorum over the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses because she disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. Pataki brought up the rule of law and the fact that Davis is an elected official sworn to uphold the law.
“There’s a place where religion supersedes the rule of law,” Pataki said. “It’s called Iran. It shouldn’t be the United States.”
Santorum called the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage “unconstitutional.”
Pataki asked if the former Pennsylvania senator would defy the Supreme Court because he disagrees with it. Santorum said he would “If [the court is] wrong.”
And on it went.
Remember, conservatives were unhappy that President Obama passed a law — the Lilly Ledbetter act — because he was unhappy with a Supreme Court decision. And now, what, they’ve changed their tune? Because now it’s a decision they disagree with.
Graham’s moment of coherence came when he laid out the fact that Republicans can’t defund Planned Parenthood. The fact is that, as Graham said, Obama would veto any bill or budget that defunds Planned Parenthood, and there are not 67 senators to override that veto. The same goes with repealing Obamacare. Shutting down the government over these unwinnable fights will cause more harm to the party than good.
That being said, sending separate bills to Obama to veto would be an acceptable alternative.
“I’m not going to tell you things I can’t do. I’m not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we’re going to defund Obamacare as long as he’s president,” Graham said. “All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning.”
I know conservatives want those things defunded, and I know some far right organizations have argued that it’s possible if Republicans in Congress just fight hard enough, but there’s just no way Obama lets these things happen.
For offering those sobering thoughts, Pataki and Graham stood out. Overall, the candidates in the undercard debate proved why they weren’t in the main debate.
