How Many Children Could You Kill? The GOP Debates in Brief

From:  Truth Out 

COMMENT - How many children have been killed because of drones?  More coming.  See Drone Free Zone

Wednesday, 16 December 2015 00:00  
 By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed 

Republican presidential hopefuls on stage for the debate in at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, December 15, 2015. (Photo: Ruth Fremson / The New York Times) 

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The Republican presidential candidates were in a Las Vegas casino last night for a twin-bill CNN debate slate that bent the fabric of morality into bold new shapes. First up was the JV squad: Graham, Pataki, Huckabee and Santorum, all scratching for relevance like a drowning man grasping for the boat rail. Afterward came Bush, Trump, Cruz, Christie, Paul, Kasich, Rubio, Fiorina and Carson, and it was like being trapped in the worst elevator in the world.

There were a thousand moments within the confines of this double-barreled horror that quite simply defy language, but none more so than this. Hugh Hewitt, one of the debate panelists, is a right-wing talk show host whose main claim to fame is having overseen the construction of the Nixon Library. At one point, Hewitt asked Dr. Ben Carson about his qualifications to be commander-in-chief, and did so in chilling fashion.

"We're talking about ruthless things tonight," said Hewitt, "carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief?" After Carson replied with an anecdote about his experience as a pediatric neurosurgeon, Hewitt pressed: "So you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilians?"  MORE