Question: “Are you as nuts as your supporters about wacko conspiracy theories?”
Ron Paul “Well, actually, somewhat. The conspiracy isn’t as advanced as some people say, but it’s there….”
Question: “Are you going to do anything about the national debt?”
John McCain: “We should, but the GOP hasn’t so far. Look at these crazy wastes of money, like health care for poor children. I’ll cut that kind of spending. Ronald Reagan.”
Mitt Romney: “McCain’s right, but I’ll go further. Washington DC is broken, and we gotta cut entitlements. I spread healthcare and didn’t raise taxes.
Rudy Giuliani: “We should cut everything. Ronald Reagan. Use technology to replace people. Bush should be doing this now.”
Questioner: “Pick three programs to cut spending for.”
Fred Thompson: “Um. Uh. Save Social Security. Forget the minor crap, cut the big mamas. Cut 100 programs that the OMB has said bad things about.”
Ron Paul: “Dept. of Ed. Ronald Reagan. Dept. of Energy. Dept. of Homeland Security. Bring the troops home.”
Kline/Huckabee: “The IRS. Homeland Security is a mess.”
Questioner: “Replace federal income with sales tax?”
McCain: “No. Wall Street Journal says it soaks people. But taxes need to be fair. Bringing the troops home is the kind of thinking that caused WWII.” Reaction is a mix of cheers and boos.”
Paul: “I get more money from the troops than anyone else. McCain doesn’t get foreign policy.”
Grover Norquist/questioner: “Promise to veto any effort to raise taxes ever ever?”
Every candidate “I won’t raise taxes.”
McCain & Thompson: “Yes, but I don’t make pledges to anyone but Americans.”
Cut out of the same bolt?
Questioner: “Will you piss off Iowans by promising to eliminate farm subsidies?”
Romney: “No, because food is like oil — we need to be nutrition independent.”
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p>Whoo! Anderson Cooper: “Hey, Giuliani, what’s with this story on the Politico about spending tax money to protect you as you catted around with your mistress.”
Giuliani: “Talk to the cops about that stuff.”
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p>Questioner: “How will you stop the YELLOW PERIL OF LEAD TOYS?”
Tancredo: “I’ll fight illegal immigrants, whether they be people or objects.”
Hunter: “Forget the lead toys, what about the SCARY YELLOW MISSILES! Oh, and buy American for our troops this Christmas.”
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p>Questioner: “Fred Thompson, what’s with the ad calling Romney a liberal baby-killer and Huckabee a liberal tax-raiser?”
Thompson: “I just used their words. Don’t look at me.”
Romney: “I’ve flip-flopped and am proud of it. If you don’t like that, don’t vote for me.”
Huckabee: “Sure, I raised some taxes, but I’ve lowered others. So it all evens out, and I’m proud that I’m getting airtime.”
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p>
Thankfully, it’s not a new flat-screen TV. The old beast lets them bounce off and these turkeys keep talking.
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p>ROMNEY: He had new classes of state police, but how many police officer positions were cut due to the massive local aid cuts when he took office?
Questioner: “My god, this gun gives me such a hard-on!! What do you think of gun control?”
Hunter: “I love guns, and this idiot doesn’t even know how to handle them. And I think it’s great that there are lots of guns floating around Fallujah, Iraq.”
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p>Questioner: “Giuliani, 7 years ago you said that written exams should be required to own a gun. Since I don’t understand the Constitution, I object. So what’s your problem?”
Giuliani: “Cuz it worked in New Yawk, ya dumba-s. Gun control is okay if reasonable. Some states need mroe gun control than others. Hey I like federalism, but who cares what I think? We’ll punt it to the Supreme Court and make it their problem.”
Crowd: “boo! You’re threatening my paper-thin manhood!”
Thompson: “Rudy likes gun control, just like BILL CLINTON!!
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p>Questioner: “Talk to me about guns, because I’ll vote for the guy with the most phalluses.”
Thompson: “I have some. Short story.”
McCain: “I know guns, I fought in a war, dammit. I’m done with them.”
Hunter: “I have a gun, just like my Dad had a gun. We’re American, not Communist.”
Giuliani and Romney don’t own any guns.
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p>Questioner: “What are you going to do about black-on-black crime? Seems like all you care is Iraq.”
Candidates: “People come in black now? Since when?” (just kidding)
Romney: “The problem is not enough mom and dad families. If we can talk mom and dad into staying together, problem solved. Bill Cosby. Better education and policing also key. I love cops. Sex offenders bad.”
Giuliani: “Romney has a mixed record in fighting crime. Here are some stats that show how ineffective he was. Me, I have a great record on crime, particularly in poor neighborhoods like Harlem.”
Romney: “Well, I can’t argue with that. But I was only a governor, so what do you want from me? Blood?”
Huckabee says you fight gun violence with the right to carry. He’s saying that if we all have guns, it will deter anyone else from using their gun. So basically he envisions the future of American gun control as one big
Mexicanillegal, job-stealing, S-Chip abusing, undocumented worker stand-off.Baghdad is a great example of what happens when guns are completely unregulated. Perhaps the NRA could hold their next debate there.
Questioner: “What penalty for women who abort fetuses if abortion is illegal?”
Paul: “That’s not the feds’ business. Personally, I don’t think so. Doctors should be punished, but not the mother. I know what federalism is.”
Thompson: “Abortion and the SCOTUS are the most important issues ever.”
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p>Questioner: “Would sign a blanket federal ban on abortion, would you sign it?”
Giuliani: “No. Leave it to the states, where it should be in the first place.” (Surprising amounts of applause.)
Romney: “I agree with Thompson [that means McCain as well]. I’d sign that ban, but it ain’t gonna happen.”
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p>Questioner: “Death penalty: what would Jesus do?”
Huckabee: “Boy, did I slaughter my way through death row prisoners, and it was tough. I think death penalty is okay especially as a warning [even though nothing bears out if that works]. ” Jesus doesn’t get a mention, so Cooper goes in for a straight answer — “Jesus didn’t run for public office.”
Tancredo: “I pray a lot. And I think it’s okay.”
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p>Questioner: “Do you believe every word of the Holy Bible?”
Huckabee: “I’ll help you out Rudy.”
Giuliani: “I don’t believe it literally, I think there is room for allegory and interpretation. I love it, but I don’t believe the Jonah and the whale story, for example.”
Romney: “It’s the wordagawd. It’s a guide.” Cooper: Do you believe every word Romney: “um, no, uh, jeez, um, uh…”
Huckabee: “Either you believe it all or not. I’m a minister, and even I say parts of it are allegorical. Not the important parts — the Golden Rule is literally truth. I’m a minister.”
were the undocumented workers at mitt’s house doing marx brothers routines while they were cleaning out his flower beds?
“Who’sa gonna prune-a this here-a bush? Mamma mia, is it-a time for spaghetti already! Is it-a time for the soccer match?”
Questioner: “Check it out — I’m wearing a headscarf. Can you deal? Anyway, how are you going to make American less scummy in the eyes of Dar-el-Islam?”
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p>Giuliani: “Kill terrorists, love everyone else. 9/11. Be smart, and be tough unlike Democrats.”
McCain: “We’re winning in Iraq, and we won’t withdraw. Support the troops.”
Hunter: “America is awesome, and people who don’t realize it suck. It is AWESOMEEE!!!!”
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p>Questioner: “McCain is against waterboarding. Where do the rest of you get off disagreeing with a torture victim about torture?”
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p>Romney: “I’m against torture. Torture is anything I don’t like…anything I like is not torture. And let’s keep the schmucks we picked up in Afghanistan in Guantanamo so we can keep torturing him. The Constitution is optional.”
McCain: “You’re a coward not to say that waterboarding is torture and you’re lucky I don’t walk across this stage right now and kick your a-s. We should be better than the thug dictators, and you should talk to some real men about this issue.”
Romney: “Umm…don’t hurt me, but I have been told some stuff, and I’m not going to give you a straight answer. I’ll listen to you but I’m gonna do what I want.”
McCain: “You don’t get it, punk. Grow up. This is real life, not 24. This is a defining issue.” Even Anderson Cooper seems scared of McCain.
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p>Questioner: “We should stay in Iraq forever! It should be like the 51st state and stuff. Who here wants to stay a good long time?”
Thompson: “Eh..I’ll pass. We’ll stay a long while, but not a long long while. Plus, Iran is a scary country! And yes we’re doing well in Iraq.”
Paul: “We need to give the Iraqis their own country back. We’ve lost Southern Iraq to the al-Sadr brigades. Things are good in the north, ruled by some people whose name I forgot. Look at Vietnam: peace works, war doesn’t. America First.”
McCain: “We actually were winning Vietnam. Plus, bin Laden is meaner than the Vietnamese.”
Paul: “We brought it on ourselves.”
Tancredo: “You don’t get it, Ron, these guys are NUTS!”
(The crowd’s smelling blood)
Questioner: “How do you respond to people who say that you’re using 9/11 to get to the Oval Office.”
Giuliani: “Hey, I’ve done stuff other than 9/11. I fought against illegal immigrants. And stuff. 9/11”
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p>Questioner: “Are we gonna have another wacko VP with way too much power like Cheney is you’re picked?”
Thompson: “Sure, why not?”
McCain: “Not really, because I’m a real man unlike Georgy Bush was when he got picked to be president.”
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p>John Edwards runs an ad during the GOP debate. Um…interesting.
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p>Questioner: “I’m a military man, a retired Brigadier General who could eat each of you alive. And I’m gay. So what’s your problem with gay soldiers?”
Hunter: “I’ll bail out, and quote Colin Powell at you. And see, since our military is homophobic it would be bad to make them serve with gays. So we’re trapped by our own bigotry. Oh well.”
Huckabee: “I think gay soldiers are fine, as long as they don’t act gay.”
Cooper: “You once said you looked forward to gays in the military…still feel that way?” Romney: “um…well, it’s not that time, and don’t ask/don’t tell works. ” Cooper: “still look forward to that day?” Romney: “umm…uh…”
Brigadier-general live in audience: “You didn’t answer my question, nancy boys. Military people could deal with gays in their units, and you’re a bunch of testicle-less wonders. We’re professionals. Don’t ask don’t tell doesn’t work and kneecaps our military.”
The crowd is booing, embodying a key GOP principle: We love our troops as long as they shut up.
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p>Questioner: “Would you accept gay Republican support?”
Huckabee: “I’ll take anyone’s support. As long as they don’t act gay around me. Americans want someone with convictions who respects everyone.”
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p>I’ll leave it at that, and let the space nuts go on their own. In sum:
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p>Romney was smooth, but dodged many a question
Giuliani seemed less wacky liberal than before
McCain can be scary
Thompson is old
Huckabee is seductive
The rest don’t matter.
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p>
We’re watching, aren’t we?
Unlike the adirondack chair impressions I saw at the Democrat debate.
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p>BTW – did you know the General that they brought in to ask about gays in the military was on the steering committee of ‘Veterans for Kerry’? Gee, Anderson, now THAT’S unbiased!
If it’s Republicans they’re “really mixing it up”
If it’s Democrats, they’re “tearing each other down/divided/infighting/circular firing squad”
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p>As for the general, he is unbiased — he’s against the bigotry on parade that every one of those candidates embodies.
but since we’re so concerned with full-disclosure hear he probably should have mentioned it.
He’s a campaign advisor on military matters to Hillary Clinton, and also worked on John Kerry’s “Veterans for Kerry” campaign.
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p>THAT’S your idea of unbiased? Can we have Karl Rove do the questioning and make five minute speeches at the next Democrat debate?????
Frankly, it was good question, regardless of the General’s agenda. Romney’s dodge is ridiculous. Has this man not an ounce of integrity? Although, all the Republican answers were quite sad.
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p>
…Duncan Hunter is a bigoted idiot. He basically says only heterosexual Christians can serve in the military. So our military is tough enough knock the heads of “Islamofascists” but not tough enough to serve side-by-side with someone who holds something other than “Christian Values”? Hunter doesn’t have much respect for the troops. Thankfully he’s not a viable candidate.
Peter, this wasn’t a general election debate. This was a primary debate. And on this issue, every single one of these candidates is equally wrong, so how could the gentleman have a bias? If he asked this question during a general debate, a sure set-up for the Republican to display his instinctive bigotry, that would show bias.
Or are the gay Republican military men like the other party closet cases that try to pick up men in airport men’s rooms or snort meth with male prostitutes?
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p>And who said anything about unbiased? Isn’t the next debate sponsored by the NRA? I’m sure that debate will seek to represent a wide and diverse cross-section of Americans.
And if a GOP activist and organizer was given that sort of prestige and time asking questons at a Democrat debate, you’d be on the floor frothing at the mouth.
After all, Gay Brigadier Generals who used to work for Kerry are citizens and voters, too.
Regarding the BTW: Why should anyone care who was “brought in” to ask the question? Or are you just embarrassed that the question was asked?
Giuliani and Huckabee did well. McCain had some good moments, but some weird ones. There are occasional flashes of the Straight-Talk Express guy that I voted for in the 2000 primary, but they’re few and far between. Romney and Duncan Hunter share the prize for toolness — honestly, when Romney has to extemporize beyond his canned talking points, he sounds like an eighth grader. No one is going to be taking Thompson seriously in a couple of weeks. Ron Paul is sounding more and more like Mike Gravel, which doesn’t bode well for him. Tancredo — well, one trick ponies don’t win big elections. Did I get everyone?
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p>Bottom line: Huckabee by doing well did himself a lot of good. There’s already serious polling (Rasmussen) showing him ahead in Iowa, and within the margin of error in South Carolina. Romney should be very worried about him.
Huckabee once again seemed like a reasonable human being, and got to show that off now that the media thinks he has a chance. McCain and Paul had good points and crazy points, and Tancredo is Tancredo-ing crazier and crazier. Giuliani did better than usual, still seemed like a weird libertarian-fascist hybrid, but was more focused and intelligent than usual: it seems like he’s been taking Biden’s criticisms seriously. Mitt Romney looked like an utter idiot and fool. Thompson and Hunter were forgettable. Though Romney managed to make Thompson look reasonable.
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p>The last 3 Iowa polls show pretty much a dead heat between Huckabee and Romney, with the trajectory all looking in Huck’s favor. He’s tied with Paul for 4th in NH, but I think a win in Iowa would boost him, probably at Romney’s expense. And he’s already rising up in Florida too.
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p>Basically, I’m starting to think it comes down to whether Giuliani can hold on through January to pull ahead on Feb 5, and we’ll either see a Giuliani/Huckabee ticket or a Huckabee/McCain ticket. (The former seems tailor-made to go after Clinton in the general).
Romney’s the main rival, not Giuliani at this point. His national status will be torn to shreds with a 3rd or potentially 4 place finish in Iowa and then yet another loss in New Hampshire. Should Huckabee or Romney win in SC too, he’s not going to make many inroads during super-duper tuesday, and even if he did he wouldn’t win.
Sabutai, very entertaining. Next D debate I’m gonna do the same thing.
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p>My comments on this one are over at RMG. (Why not yours PP!)
(Warning: Heroes joke ahead)
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p>…didn’t happen there: Giuliani was saying something about illegal immigrants from Haiti and my friends whose house we were watching the debate at said spontaneously and simultaneously:
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p>
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p>and much laughter ensued. I countered of course that they’re only “taking memories that Americans don’t want”.
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p>My friends were amazed their stream of thought and humor was so aligned after only 3 years of marriage.
stealing American memories…
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p>Sounds like a Twilight Zone episode.
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p>BTW, kudos to Sabutai. Highly enlightening. We’ve cancelled cable.
unable to pay attention to politics and news this week.
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p>Will read tomorrow—I bet their was a lot of God talk