Dear Commons Community,

Last night CNN aired another debate among the Republican presidential hopefuls.  Three candidates (Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain) drew most of the attentiion.  Rick Santorum and Ron Paul made interesting comments.  Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich struggled to stay relevant.  There were several heated exchanges such as when Perry questioned Romney’s honesty over whether or not he (Romney) hired illegal immigrants to mow his lawn.

“Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home,” Mr. Perry said. “And you knew for — about it for a year.”

He went on, “And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you’re strong on immigration is, on its face, the height of hypocrisy.”

Candidates also questioned Herman Cain at this debate more so than in the previous ones.  For instance, Cain recently criticized the Occupy Wall Street protesters, saying, “Don’t blame Wall Street. Don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.”  At Tuesday night’s CNN debate, Cain stood by his comments — to loud cheers from the audience.

“I still stand by my statement,” he said.

“They might be frustrated with Wall Street and the bankers, but they’re directing their anger at the wrong place,” he added. “Wall Street didn’t put in failed economic policies. Wall Street didn’t spend a trillion dollars that didn’t do any good. Wall Street isn’t going around the country trying to sell another $450 billion. They ought to be over in front of the White House taking out their frustration.”

In response, Ron Paul criticized Cain for blaming the people who have been hurt by the financial crisis through no fault of their own.   “I think Mr. Cain has blamed the victims,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that are victims of this business cycle. We can’t blame the victims. But we also have to point …to Washington as well as Wall Street, but I’d go over to the Federal Reserve. They create the financial bubbles.”

All in all, good political theater!

Tony