The GOP presidential candidates, their sinews stiffened and their blood summoned up, may rightly dread Wednesday's version of what are inexplicably called debates. The candidates have some explaining to do, particularly regarding two subjects that deserve more searching examination than is possible in 60-second bursts on a stage cluttered with eight contestants.
But perhaps certain candidates can be compelled to expand upon, and improve upon, what they have been saying about foreign policy, and about the role of the judiciary in American democracy.
Most of the candidates have disparaged Barack Obama's decision that all U.S. troops will leave Iraq this year. (Ron Paul considers the withdrawal of U.S. assets insufficient; but, then, he might favor U.S. withdrawal from territories of the constitutionally dubious Louisiana Purchase.)