Here's the LA Times report:
In a Saturday night Fox News forum hosted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the contenders appeared one at a time, under strict orders to avoid mentioning rivals by name. But the questions from a panel of three GOP state attorneys general did elicit some major policy differences among them, most notably on illegal immigration, a major point of contention on the campaign trail.Here's the NYT:
Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, was pressed on how conservatives can “trust that a President Gingrich will not advance these sorts of big government approaches” that he had advocated, including his one-time support for a mandate that citizens obtain health insurance. Mr. Gingrich noted that he did so in league with other conservatives and that “every conservative has in fact left that kind of a model.”...Politico:
And Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was asked pointed questions about his health care overhaul there, and what he would say to President Obama if Mr. Obama were to note during a general election debate its similarities to the federal health care law so hated by Republicans. “Why didn’t you give me a call?” he said, reprising a well-worn line from the campaign trail.
Asked why conservatives should trust that he won’t advance “big government approaches,” given his history of supporting an individual health-care mandate, climate change policies and a larger federal role in education policy, Gingrich said it was his years in Washington that made him best-suited to transform government.
“You cannot get the scale of change we want, and you can’t get the scale of change the tea parties want, by just appointing good people who have no understanding of the fight they’re about to be in,” Gingrich said.
Posts
14 comments:
Barney Frank compared three different Republican presidential candidates to various characters from the Wizard of Oz on "This Week".
I have a feeling I know what one of Crackskullbob's political sketches will be.
Did Bachmann get to say to both Romney and Gingrich, "You're full of it?" -- which they are.
There are more debates than bowl games.
Using Newt's rationale, only the very experienced but guilty parties [i.e Barney Frank] can fix the housing market.
I don't buy that. Our financial problems were caused by long serving Congress critters from both parties. We should not give them a do-over.
I got the impression it was going to be more like a gang interview, but that's what most of these "debates" have been.
Complete waste of time. No republican can beat Obama.
The format worked surprisingly well. The attorneys general were maybe a bit too onboard with the small government agenda, but they asked tough, thoughtful questions. Romney came across the best after a nearly disastrous two weeks (I see this morning that he’s down 25 from his high of 70 on intrade). Perhaps I haven’t been paying close enough attention, but for the first time, Paul struck me as a bumbling fool. Perry was just OK, but you should see his commercials in Iowa; they’re terrific! Concise, folksy, …almost charming. Too bad there’s so little to back it up.
“Complete waste of time. No republican can beat Obama.”
Nonsense. Romney could beat him. But first he’s got to get to the general campaign where he can begin to act more like the moderate he is.
Romney can't even beat Newt Gingrich...
Newt friggin Gingrich!
Huntsman would have been the right pick but he was shunned for being normal (you know, believing in science and all)...
“You cannot get the scale of change we want, and you can’t get the scale of change the tea parties want, by just appointing good people who have no understanding of the fight they’re about to be in,” Gingrich said.
This is telling of what a gingrich administration will look like. FEAR!!! Fear of tackling the big bureaucracy for the sake of saying it's to big and that you can find the right people to reduce its largess. Jesus, we are fucked.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar--TS Eliot
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar--TS Eliot
sorry dbl post...
@Methadras
You have no idea how fucked we are.
The argument we must have is that we must stop spending more than we take in via taxes. Not decrease the rate of growth, we must stop deficit spending. If you think not, look at Portugal. The government there raided everyones retirement account to patch holes in this years budget. only this year ends in 3 weeks. What are they going to do next year?
And if you think that won't happen here, its already been suggested...by a "conservative" no less. Rick Santorum to be specific.
Now here's the scary part. The cuts must be MORE than just to balance the budget at projected revenues, because when you stop the deficit spending, the artificial support for the markets fails, and revenues go down even MORE!!!!
Now let's talk about whats even worser. Medicare spending, the stuff that happens automatically, is projected to grow at 8% for fy 2013. Realistically it's gone up 10% for the past decade, so let's be generous and take it lower to 7%. That puts Medicare spending, the stuff you can't touch, at $7 trillion by 2033.
Do you think THAT is sustainable?!
And worser yet, if the growth follows the historic 10%, the date is 2019. Seven years, 7 trillion dollars.
Do you think THAT is sustainable?
If you're halfway to a breaking point before crashing, you have less than half the time to stop it. We are spending approximately 75% what we can afford on Medicare.
That gives us 3 years to get our house in order. Now look at DC, look at Madison, look at California, New York, Chicago...Do you see anyone with the will to fix this mess?
It's not a matter of how, it's just a matter of when.
As a semi-driver I always have to be aware of inertia. It takes 3 football fields to stop a loaded semi with perfect road conditions. Any closer and you WILL be in an accident. Tell me there isn't more inertia in a government.
Buy bullets, and seeds. Land if you can. And make friends with your neighbors, cause that's all we're gonna have very quickly.
i know that it's easy shorthand to call them 'debates' but what these have been are group interviews. so far, the closest we've come to an actual debate is when cain and gingrich sat down together for a couple of hours.
Post a Comment