Political reporter Jon Ward at the Huffington Post:
"...the sleeper threat will be the third panelist asking questions Monday in Columbia: Robert George, a Princeton professor who [formerly chaired] the National Organization for Marriage.
George, a 56-year old constitutional scholar who leads a new vanguard of conservative culture warriors, will force each of the candidates to articulate, in detail, where they stand on both constitutional issues and also on some of the most touchy social issues of the day, pressing them when their answers are not specific or substantive enough.
... "I think we need renewed fidelity to our old principles, and I think they're all going to agree with that, in theory. They're all going to agree with that as a statement," George said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "They're all going to say, 'Oh yeah, we don't need new principles, even though we have new challenges -- in some ways, unprecedented challenges."
"OK, fine. Once we get past that soundbite, what does it mean?" he said.
In addition to Perry, the candidates taking part will be former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), and former Godfathers's Pizza CEO Herman Cain.
... George said he is aware that many of the candidates would prefer not to talk in detail about such topics as abortion, gay marriage, and affirmative action.
"Politicians are … more comfortable talking about money than they are about fundamental principles of right and wrong," George said. "They're more comfortable talking about how to do things efficiently, how to do things rationally, where rationality is a kind of instrumental rationality: turning the economy around, getting new jobs, that kind of thing -– than they are about moral issues that are deeply controversial, that touch people in the heart, not just in the pocketbook."
