The Daily Beast watches the debate with The Dartmouth Review

As the apparent representatives of young Granite State conservativism, staffers of The Dartmouth Review sat down again with a national news organization, this time the Daily Beast.

The group — which included Review editor-in-chief Sterling Beard ’12 — chuckled over the tweets of Michelle Malkin and former Review editor-in-chief Laura Ingraham '85 as they discussed low enthusiasm for the primary among college-age N.H. voters and the quality of the Republican field. Beard also said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., whom he described as “policy-wonkish”, would be his "fantasy" Republican candidate.

Check out the whole interview here, and an excerpt below:

When we began to talk about the mood on campus and what the future looks like for Dartmouth’s 2012 graduates, Beard’s tone became more ruminative.

“You have all of these people in my class who came to this campus when 'hope and change' was the big thing. But the problem was that 'hope and change' are empty. They sound nice, but there’s nothing behind them.”

“We just had the financial markets, people were looking for a national leader, and four years later we’re now about to enter a job market that has horrendous unemployment, has for a long time.”

“So the thing that Barack Obama has managed to inspire is … a pretty snarky generation … a bunch of college-age people, fresh graduates … who feel like they were let down ... And so anytime anyone starts talking about the greatness of the country or the greatness of America’s working man … everyone goes, ‘Yeah right, I’ve heard that before.’”

Next I asked him if he considered himself cynical. I could tell he didn’t but wanted to hear why. (He definitely didn’t sound snarky, in case you were wondering.)

His reply was heartfelt. “Because I’m a history major and I’m focusing on the United States … I don’t get cynical about the country itself. Because I realize how unique it is. Call it what you want — American exceptionalism, I suppose.”