Election Central Debate Roundup
• The transcript for this afternoon's Republican debate in Iowa is available here. Beware: This transcript was clearly done with voice recognition software, and has its fair share of errors.
• The debate — the last GOP event before the Iowa caucus — was in many ways a total bust. It was dull, the candidates were not really put on the spot in tough ways, and moderator Carolyn Washburn, editor of the Des Moines Register, openly said they would avoid high-profile national issues like Iraq and immigration. It's hard to pick out a winner, but there was one surefire loser: Carolyn Washburn.
• The best moment was when Fred Thompson led a candidates' revolt against hand-raising questions, regarding climate change. Thompson refused to do a show of hands, then asked for 30 seconds to give a more detailed answer. When Washburn said no, he stood firm and declared, "Well, then I'm not going to answer it." He then got his 30 seconds.
• John McCain gave the best answer on climate change: "Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies which our economy and technology is perfectly capable of, then all we've done is given our kids a cleaner world. But suppose they're [the skeptics] wrong, suppose they're wrong and climate change is real and we've done nothing? What kind of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation of Americans?"
• Rudy Giuliani defended himself on the Shag Fund story, insisting that none of this information was ever a secret: "All that information was available, and known to people, known six years ago, and I would make sure that government was transparent," he said, then alluding humorously to the scandals surrounding his 2000-2001 divorce. "My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did almost every time I did it."
• Not surprisingly, given his online following, Ron Paul praised the Internet: "The Internet is delightful for finding the information, and if there's a question that I need, ask, you can find it. So I spend a lot of time getting information that was at one time in my life was very difficult to find." On a side note, it's also made it easier for him to get money that was once difficult to find.
• Ron Paul was the only candidate to praise the NIE report showing that Iran had suspended their nuclear weapons program three years ago. "We would have no more preemptive war, we would threaten nobody," he said of his foreign policy vision. "Now it is proven once again Iraq didn't have the nuclear weapons, the Iranians have no nuclear weapons, there's no need for us to threaten the Iranians. I think this would be a major step toward peace."
• Rudy Giuliani kicked off the debate with some serious Lafferism. When he was asked if the national debt was a threat to our security, he gave his prescription for the problem: "Right now we should reduce the corporate tax to 25%. It'd be a major boost in revenues for the government. Most importantly, it would be a way of dealing with our fiscal policy in the same way the Fed is dealing with our monetary policy to create more liquidity, and there are other taxes we should get rid of."
• Mike Huckabee pitched his idea for a national sales tax, given the political branding "The Fair Tax," — and claimed it could empower the poor to new heights of wealth: "And that means the rich people aren't going to be made poor, but maybe the poor people could be made rich. That ought to be the goal of any tax system, not to punish somebody but to enable somebody. The Fair Tax does just that."
• Tom Tancredo challenged Mike Huckabee, the new Iowa frontrunner — in fact, he was the only one to seriously grill Huckabee at all. "And the question is," Tancredo said, "how are you going to convince America that you, in fact, changed your mind on the issue of immigration from when you were a governor?"
• Duncan Hunter attacked Mitt Romney over Bain Capital, Romney's old investment firm, joining up with a Chinese company to buy out an American defense contractor: "Being conservative, having a conservative leader, part of that means not sending technology to our adversaries, and that's going to be the big threat of this next 15-20 years." Romney smiled at the absurdity of Hunter's accusation, that he would be giving American technology to enemy countries.
• For some reason, Alan Keyes was allowed to the debate even though Dennis Kucinich will not be at tomorrow's Democratic event. Keyes' best moment was when he lashed out at Washburn for failing to call on him, and only giving him 30 seconds to supply an answer: "Your unfairness is now becoming so apparent that the voters in Iowa must understand there's a reason for it, and the reason is what I'm about to say." Later on, he quite openly scowled at Washburn for cutting him off after the time limit.
Comments (24)
Jeremy wrote on December 12, 2007 6:31 PM:Romney wasn't bad on climate change either. Nice to see that the Reps have come around a little bit toward the views on energy that Dems have held since the 70s.
http://ifthenknots.typepad.com/weblog/2006/04/in_the_1980_deb.html
As if anything a Republican candidate might say in the primaries will still be around if he's the nominee. The selected Repub nominee gets a full media makeover right after the Rethug convention.
He's got to be transmogrified from an extreme primary winner into a moderate general election contender. Every extreme or just plain stupid thing will be flushed down the ol' memri hole, and the press will greet the new Republican butterfly as if he had never been a catterpillar.
I thought this Republican debate was by far the most fair to all the candidates. Very refreshing to say the least. Unlike CNN, MSNBC and FOX they did not focus on the corporate funded candidates. I liked listening to Tancredo and Duncan Hunter for a change. I think Tancredo is very passionate about this country and a man of honor. I agree with him about immigration but I have to go with Ron Paul because I want our troops home NOW. I also think that Paul is best to deal with the impending economic crisis. Rudy Giuliani, Thompson, Romney and Huckabee were just as slimy as ever. Who on Gods holy earth would vote for these vile creatures?
Marie Meyer wrote on December 12, 2007 7:06 PM:amanda: Tancredo, a man of honor? I guess you mean "except for the draft-dodging": http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/12/11324/686/358/420682
LeRoy wrote on December 12, 2007 7:22 PM:Carolyn Washburn was awful.
PG wrote on December 12, 2007 7:33 PM:Guiliani: "My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did almost every time I did it."
I hope someone in the media exposes this for its blatant falsehood. Not only was his desire to keep his administration in NYC secret in ways that are very reminiscent of the current Bush administration (and this is well documented in the NY Times and the Village Voice), but even as he was leaving as mayor he asserted a kind of executive privilege to keep his mayoral paper secret and under his own control. It ended up a being a rather big deal, locally. This era, particularly as it is more recent history, says volumes about the kind of national leader he'd be: more of the same.
mkolb wrote on December 12, 2007 7:35 PM:LeRoy and Eric, I have to disagree with you about Ms. Washburn.
It's the first debate I've seen (and I have seen all the debates, Republican and Democrat) in which the questioner did not insert his/her own personality into the process. Ms. Washburn asked questions, made pretty sure everybody got to answer and moved on.
It wasn't a "Can I grab a headline for my organization"-fest that we've seen in most of the others: Wolf Blitzer, Tim Russert come to mind first.
But, geesh, Alan Keyes?
Steve wrote on December 12, 2007 7:37 PM:Rudy claiming that he ran a transparent government is about the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
PwapVt wrote on December 12, 2007 8:57 PM:What kind of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation of Americans?
bklynpol wrote on December 12, 2007 9:33 PM:Yes, Rudy's government was so open that he absconded with all of his documents and gave them to a friendly not for profit to homogenize. This was an unbelievable, illegal act by NY's mayor.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© wrote on December 12, 2007 9:35 PM:Guiliani: "My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did almost every time I did it."
I lived there during his entire reign of error.
He's lying.
As for the Rethuglican preznitial debate...let's just hope America has awoken from its long national nightmare and does not even consider one of these losers.
~
Alan Keyes shows up out of the blue but Kucinich is not allowed in the last Dem debate? We need to throw out all of the incumbents and vote for people who believe in our form of government--not fascism.
Adam Durand wrote on December 12, 2007 11:37 PM:PwapVt, thanks for pointing out McCain's implication that Americans own the planet.
megablahblah wrote on December 13, 2007 12:55 AM:Speak louder than the mainstream media for Kucinich on Dec 15.
CalD wrote on December 13, 2007 2:36 AM:Alan Keyes! Where did that come from? You suppose Clinton arranged his appearance just to remind people what a cakewalk Obama's senate run was?
Dan wrote on December 13, 2007 8:11 AM:Pwap and Adam, he's not running for president of the world...
jhupp wrote on December 13, 2007 8:33 AM:Curious: why doesn't anyone ever mention that passing a national sales tax would probably require a Constitutional amendment? This seems like not a minor point when the tax question is pitched in terms of debt. A president who wanted to pay down the debt would have to have a functional rather than political tax plan.
Richard L. Adlof wrote on December 13, 2007 9:37 AM:Let's see . . . The newspaper that recently dissed Edwards harshly and is excluding Kucinich and allowed Keyes on stage is running a mass debate . . . that glad hands the Republicans.
And how is it that the ownership of the Register not the story here?
AC wrote on December 13, 2007 12:12 PM:Dan,
He kind of is, actually. "Leader of the Free World" ring a bell?
It's not a huge gaff, but he really ought to have said something more expansive, like "future generations" or "our children." This would not only be true, but morally responsible.
ARG in Chicago wrote on December 13, 2007 1:46 PM:It's a crime that Dennis Kucinich will be excluded from the Democratic debate.
Send a strong message in support of the Constitution by contributing to Dennis Kucinich's campaign on December 15, the 216th anniversary of the Bill of Rights taking effect.
www.dennis4president.com
-- ARG
"Thompson refused to do a show of hands, then asked for 30 seconds to give a more detailed answer"
How about reporting it correctly next time?
After Thompson refused to raise his hand, Washburn tried to get him to answer yes or no. It was then that Fred Thompson said, "Are you going to give me a minute to answer it?"
He did not ask for "30 seconds" to give a more detailed answer. He was calling her bluff.
She tried to set a trap, three times:
Raise your hands
Yes or no
no I won't give you more time.
After three failed attempts to trap Fred, he trapped her, and made her look like a complete jerk...which went well with her aparachik clothing.
Fred's performance reminds me of Reagan's "I paid for this microphone!" memorable moment...a moment that went a long way to his winning the nomination.
votenic wrote on December 13, 2007 5:09 PM:2008 Presidential Election Weekly Poll
The Only Poll That Matters.
Results Posted Every Tuesday Evening.
And what do you think of Obadiah Shoher's arguments against the peace process ( samsonblinded.org/blog/we-need-a-respite-from-peace.htm )?
Alex wrote on December 15, 2007 7:40 AM:And what do you think of Obadiah Shoher's arguments against the peace process ( samsonblinded.org/blog/we-need-a-respite-from-peace.htm )?
