7:02 - Oh dear. Diane Sawyer is using that same patronizing tone explaining the rules she used in the last debate. Was she completely shielded from all criticism last time?
7:03 - Romney says Obama taking credit for job creation is like the rooster taking credit for the sun rise.
7:04 - Santorum says we need a leader and says no one has more experience in dealing with Iraq than he does. Of our enemies, "if they cross us, they should fear us." Santorum says we need a Commander-in-Chief, not a manager. The CiC is not a CEO. [Quick trivia note: Santorum was a lawyer until he was first elected to Congress at age 32.]
7:05 - Romney wipes out Santorum by trying to marginalize him as a manager.
7:06 - George Stephanopoulos quotes some of negative things about Bain Capital to Newt Gingrich. Newt dances around the answer, promotes the New York Times' acrticle that profiled a company that still failed under Bain. Newt says "the New York Times" four times. I had no idea he was such a fan.
7:07 - Mitt says he can understand why the NYT would demonize capitalism but is surprised "some people on this stage" would do the same thing. This is a free enterprise system.
7:09 - Jon Huntsman: "Scrutinize our records. Especially look at what the governors did."
7:11 - There's Huntsman, Paul and Romney on the left side of the stage, Santorum, Gingrich and Perry on the right. If the right side of the stage all dropped out, I'd be happy. Kind of annoyed that Buddy Roemer isn't allowed to be here but Perry is, as Roemer was actually ahead of Perry in a couple NH polls.
7:12 - George asks Paul about a quote where he called Santorum corrupt. Paul says he was quoting from a survey that found Santorum to be one of the most corrupt in DC due to how much money he took from lobbyists.
7:14 - Santorum: "The group that called me corrupt was CREW, and if you haven't been sued by CREW, you're not a conservative, and you should know better than to cite George Soros-backed organizations. I'm not a libertarian; I do believe in some government. You put your own earmarks in bills." Rick's fighting back against Ron's charges quite effectively.
7:16 - Paul: "I vote against big spending. You vote for big spending, you're a big-government spender, not a conservative. Someone has to point out your record."
7:17 - Santorum: You're wrong about my record.
7:18 - Perry: This is why I got in this race. I am the only one, cept maybe Huntsman, who is an outsider of the culture of DC. Calls Paul a hypocrite for putting earmarks in spending bills and then voting on the bills.
7:19 - Paul: "I call it being a Constitutionalist. You designate every penny. Congress has more responsibility. Back to Santorum, he voted to raise the debt ceiling five times. What's your excuse?"
7:20 - Santorum: "I worked on welfare reform, tried to reform Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare."
Santorum and Paul are saying the opposite things about Rick's record. What is the truth?
7:21 - Huntsman: Being CiC is more than this political insider gobblety-gook we just heard. It's about being a leader. We need leadership that can be trusted. The American people don't trust their leaders. Everybody knows Congress needs term limits.
7:22 - Diane Sawyer asks Romney to respond to Huntsman's claim he'd speak best for the US. Romney: "Well, he'd be better than Obama, let's put it that way."
The occasional compliment to your opponent goes a long way with many voters.
7:25 - Josh McElveen points out Perry and Paul have military experience, asks Perry if military experience helps with being CiC.
7:27 - Gingrich points out his dad was in the military, he feels for veterans. I have a pretty good sense of what veteran families need.
7:28 - Paul: "People who get 3,4,5 deferrments have no right to send our kids to war. At least I went when I was called up. If you add up all the contractors and soldiers, etc., we've lost 8500 Americans in these two wars. Rick keeps bringing up "libertarian"
7:30 - Newt: "Ron has a long history of saying things that are inaccurate and false. I never asked for a deferrment. I personally resent the slander. I was married with a child at the time."
7:31 - Paul: "When I was drafted, I had a wife and two kids, and I went." (Applause.) George then asks him about the racist newsletter. "You're asking about something 20 years ago that I didn't write, it's a distraction. Let's talk about my work in race relations." Rattles of several stats about racial inequality, especially in selective law enforcement.
Commercials!
7:38 - George asks Romney if he thinks states have the right to ban contraception. Romney says no state wants to, and if he were governor, he'd veto it. George gets testy with Mitt about his answer, which prompts the crowd to jeer George. Mitt gets a laugh when he says "Leave it alone, contraception's working just fine." Paul then plugs the 4th Amendment for privacy rights.
7:40 - Santorum agrees with Mitt that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
Diane Sawyer then takes forever to plug a Yahoo! question, aaking what your solution is for gay couples if they're against gay marriage. Newt talks about hospital visitation rights but says it's a huge jump to change the definition of the sacrament of marriage.
7:42 - Huntsman says civil unions are fair, that he's a traditionalist with marriage, but he believes in reciprical benefits rights.
7:43 - Josh asks Santorum about gay adoption. Santorum says it's a states-rights issue, but believes marriage is a federal issue, but will not seek any federal law about adoption. "What about those 1800 couples who are already married?" Santorum wants a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage, and therefore the Constitution would say they aren't married.
7:48 - Romney's for state-level benefits to same-sex couples but still wants the definition of marriage to be between a man and a woman.
7:49 - Newt points out the media bias
7:50 - Mitt agrees with what Newt just said.
7:51 - George asks Paul about a possible 3rd-party run. Paul says he doesn't like absolutes, but he has no plans to run as 3rd party candidate.
7:52 - Perry brings up Obama's "war on religion."
7:53 - Huntsman rattles off all of the successes of the US military, and therefore for Afghanistan, it's time to bring our troops home. Mitt waffles on the topic. Huntsman comes back strongly, says the president makes the decision.
7:55 - Newt says we're asking the wrong questions, talks about Pakistan, Libya, we're underestimating all the problems. We need a "fundamentally" new strategy but it's not primarily a military problem.
7:56 - Santorum: "We need a strong president, and Obama's made the wrong decision at every turn, on Iran, on Libya, on Syria" etc. Calls out Huntsman for wanting to leave Afghanistan. Huntsman: "How long do you want to wait?" Santorum: "As long as it takes."
7:58 - Perry: "I would send troops back to Iraq." Says our withdrawal from Iraq as kowtowing to Obama's leftist liberal base. Every soldier that lost their life did so for nothing becuz of this president. Iran's moving in literally at the speed of light.
7:59 - Mitt counters with a more intelligent take on Iraq. Paul says he doesn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon but we vote for a president, not a king. Congress has to declare war, but we went into Afghanistan and Iraq, and they want to go to Syria and can't wait to bomb Iran. Our policy may be well-intended but it has bad consequences.
8:00 - Santorum gives some neocon argument.
Commercials!
8:08 - Romney's asked about roads and bridges, Mitt spins it to a private-sector vs. public-sector argument, praises the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people. Says Obama wants to turn us into a European-style welfare state.
8:09 - Newt says we can't compete with China if we have poor infrastructure. I would have an energy plan that frees us from Iran and Venezuela. If you don't have a systematic infrastructure program, you can't compete.
8:11 - Huntsman says governors know how to pay the bills. He'd strip all loopholes and deductions from tax codes to the tune of $1 trillion.
8:13 - Santorum says he'd keep five deductions - health care, housing, pensions, children and charities. The other side is I'd cut corporate taxes in half, but I'd shrink manufacturing taxes to zero.
8:16 - George asks Mitt "Why not go to zero?"
Diane Sawyer's starting to remind me of Jessica Lange's character on American Horror Story.
8:19 - Paul goes on his stump rant about the Federal Reserve, ecomonic bubbles, cutting spending, "you can't keep bailing out the debt." There's no plan.
8:20 - Perry: There is a plan! Create jobs! Allow our energy resources to be used, lower regulations.
8:22 - Huntsman brings up how Utah was #1 in job growth while Massachusetts was 47th for the 2nd time tonight. I sense a slight impatience from the audience. Jon boasts again he will get rid of all loopholes and tax deductions
8:24 - George asks Romney where he agrees with Huntsman, and Mitt respectfully declines it and asks himself a question of his own and proceeds to answer it.
8:26 - Newt says he's sure Obama's sincere about his desire to change us to a radical socialist European economy. (Laughs.)
8:28 - Santorum says Republicans should shrink from a phrase Mitt Romney used: "middle class." There are no classes in America.
8:30 - Romney: "My plan is broader than tax policy." Goes on about America's goods, trading. "We have to do something about regulations."
8:32 - Huntsman said it's nonsense to think you can slap a tariff on China your 1st day in office, as Mitt would do.
8:33 - Mitt: "Jon, you spent the last two years implementing the policies of Obama while the rest of us were trying to get Republicans elected."
8:34 - Huntsman: Rattles off some Chinese, says what Mitt is advocating might get an applause line, but it would lead to a trade war.
Commercials!
George: What would you be doing on a Saturday night if you weren't running for president?
Perry - I'd be at the shooting range.
Newt - I'd be watching the college basketball championship game.
Santorum - *football*
Newt - Football, right. Sorry.
Santorum - I'd be with my family watching the game.
Romney - Football.
Paul - I'd be reading an economic textbook.
Huntsman - I'd be calling my two boys in the US Navy.
Diane Sawyer thanks us all for watching and to the candidates.
We're done!
We go to Jake Tapper first, and he says we were waiting to see if anyone would lay a glove on Romney, and no one really did. David Muir says the Romney camp is thrilled. Donna Brazile said Democrats think Romney's the weakest of the six candidates. (You know she's lying.) Mary Mataline has clearly had plastic surgery. Okay, that's enough. So how'd they do?
6. RICK PERRY - His first real answer, he tried to tie "hypocrisy" to Ron Paul, which doesn't work. Then he tried to say he wants to put troops back in Iraq, and that Iranians can move at the speed of light. He seemed to be answering as if he was in front of South Carolina voters. "I'd be at the shootin' range."
5. NEWT GINGRICH - The only time we saw his trademark petulant anger was when it was directed at Ron Paul or the bias against the Catholic Church. He debated like a man who knew he'd done horrible damage to his campaign with his nasty concession speech in Iowa. His pandering answer at the end was a flame-out.
4. JON HUNTSMAN - He needed to bring it and he was just okay. He did seem like the most willing to go against Romney, but nothing really stuck. His tax plan didn't seem that great to boast about when compared to Santorum's.
3. RON PAUL - Strong at times, doddering at other times. Those who love his foreign policy tend to hate his domestic policy. Those who love his domestic policy tend to hate his foreign policy. Then there are the libertarians who love both. Paul poked gaping holes in Santorum's claims, and he drew the ire of Santorum and Gingrich.
2. RICK SANTORUM - I hate to say it, but he did pretty well in his new position as the NotRomney. He was able to give longer answers to questions, got more questions, and his supporters are the kind that appreciate his digs against Ron Paul. His nitpicking over "middle class" versus "middle income" was just stupid, but his neocon arguments and his social conservative stances probably help him greatly in South Carolina.
1. MITT ROMNEY - Thanks for coming to the debate, guys. It's been great getting to know you all, and you're all fine individuals. Each of you has some good in you, has issues that I'd agree with. Oh, you're going to attack me directly? Let me slap you down with a smile. This nomination's mine, and there's nothing you can do about it. And none of you will be my vice-presidential pick, but it's cute to see you try.
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