Gingrich, Perry Shine in Republican Foreign Policy Debate (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Saturday night's GOP foreign policy debate touched on a variety of subjects, including foreign aid, Iran and nuclear weapons, Pakistan, dealing with enemy combatants, and the rise of China as a super power threat to the U.S.

There were no major gaffes during the debate. Most of the Republican candidates held similar views on the foreign policy questions raised, with Jon Huntsman and, of course, Ron Paul dissenting to a degree.

The best moment of the debate was when moderator Scott Pelley attempted to lecture Newt Gingrich about the rule of law in dealing with enemy combatants. This was a big mistake. Gingrich slammed Pelley down by pointing out American citizens who join foreign armies at war against the U.S. become enemy combatants and thus forfeit their civil rights. They are just as subject to being killed by military action as any other enemy of the U.S.

Rick Perry surprised many people by turning in his best debate performance of the campaign so far. He gave solid answers on subjects ranging from Iran to cyber security. He made a little news with his zero-based foreign aid budgeting proposal which is bound to be popular because foreign aid is not.

Paul continued to sound like a broken record when it came to dealing with threats to the U.S. He seemed worried more about process, about the need to get Congress' permission for every military action rather than with dealing with the threat at hand. Huntsman too seemed a little weak, eager to declare victory in Afghanistan and go home, whether victory was achieved or not.

Romney, who always turns in a sound, albeit not spectacular debate performance, had the great line of the evening when he suggested Barack Obama's re-election means a nuclear Iran. Look for that to be in campaign commercials.

Cain gave some good answers to many of the questions, though without the signature, crowd pleasing lines that he can give when talking about his favorite subject, 9-9-9. Foreign policy is obviously not his strongest subject.

Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum display some competence in their answers. Their problem is that they had difficulty getting the attention of the moderators. The media seems to have already written off their chances of winning the nomination.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111113/us_ac/10428131_gingrich_perry_shine_in_republican_foreign_policy_debate

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