Be sure to catch our live blog and commentarty of the debate HERE.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Category Archives: 2012 Primary
Live Blog of Debate 10-11-2011
You can watch the entire debate HERE and follow it along with our live blog below.
UPDATE – Newt Gingrich in action:
It will start here.
Hello all of my friends welcome to the show. Please forgive spelling errors as I will go back and fix them after.
Being a Bloomberg/Washington Post debate I expect several stupid/gotcha questions. I also expect questions that contain false premises. Do not trust the Washington Post fact checkers. But who knows maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I hope Charlie Rose plays it straight.
One minute answers generate sound bites, they do not allow for answers that have much real substance. The one minute format helps the journalists to create conflict and drama and news. It does not serve the country well to have a debate with such short answers.
Herman Cain is asked how to stop the paralysis in Washington – Cain talks 999 and balancing the budget very soon. If you do that too soon you risk “Hooverizing” the economy. It will be a shock. It is better to do it in 4-7 years.
Rick Perry – ask the same question essentially – Perry goes energy independence, Declaration of Energy Independence.
Mitt Romney says that he would be prepared to be a leader. I fear Mitt does not have the spine to lead. In the last debate he was saying that one could not be too against illegal immigration, but just before the last election he was on Meet the Press talking amnesty – that isn’t leading Mitt.
Rick Perry uses the word “intimidation” in reference to the Obama Administration on energy policy, Dodd Frank – etc etc. I like that Rick uses the hard word to describe this administration.
Michelle Bachmann is asked the jail question when it comes to Wall Street Execs. Bachmann is telling it like it is on how the government forced the private sector to meet rules that caused this problem. The Pinhead journalist tried to pin the “deregulation” lie and Michelle wouldn’t have it. Her answer is a home run and is spot on. I am an expert on this issue all and if anyone doubts what she just said please ask me to explain in the comments section and I will give you as much evidence as you need.
Newt goes after Geithner and Bernanke and backs Michelle up on Dodd and Frank. Look at the journalists trying to excuse how it was the govt who caused this problem – their bias is showing and they are getting perturbed and Newt is like “hold the phone” and gives them a lecture. A good Newt moment.
My internet just paused me for 30 seconds but I got most of the Ron Paul answer about how the bailouts were misused. He makes a valid point.
Rick Santorum talks about creating a good business environment, energy and manufacturing. Low tax – smart regulatory environment.
John Huntsman backs up Rick Santorum’s manufacturing answer, focuses on freedom of the marketplace to innovate. Says that DC is the gas capital of the world. “We are losing our ability to maintain a competitive marketplace today” . Good answer albeit obvious.
Newt is asked the end of life question on medicare – Newt does some name dropping of some doctor to increase his credibility and then creates an example to answer his question. Newt makes a very smart appeal to Palin backers, but then again Newt has backed Palin’s view on ObamaCare from minute one (and I know because I covered it).
Bachmann goes after Obama for refusing to put a plan on the table to fix medicare. Bachman goes after ObamaCare’s “Health Care Advisory Board” very thoughtfully.
John Huntsman goes right back to manufacturing and tax reform to create a good environment to make new production jobs. Huntsman hits a home run with his statement on a professional governing class and how people’s privacy and their family is exposed (and trashed) if they even consider running for office. Huntsman is saying that we have a ruling elite in much the same way that Rush Limbaugh has talked about for years. Huntsman than talks about the smart parts of the Simpson/Bowles deficit commission which actually came up with some great ideas on how to increase government revenue by lowering tax rates and simplifying the tax code.
The problem with Herman Cain 999 plan is that it gives government a national sales tax on top of some other larger taxes now and that can be dangerous if the Democrats take power again.
A reporter is trying to lecture Mitt Romney on credit and what is a hypothetical question…. Mitt was right to treat her as a chirping bird. Is there anything worse than a young, half-educated reporter with a case of hubris? WATCH THIS – notice how Mit is on both sides of the bailouts issue. This is a problem with Mitt is that he uses so much language that is full of escape hatches and it is hard to nail him down on a policy issue and Charlie Rose sees it.
Mitt name dropped Greg Mankiw (economist). Seriously – most economists are a joke and I know as I have debated some noted ones, but Mankiw is the real deal.
Cain is correct about the bailouts and how they were implemented to increase the power of the federal govt and pick winners and losers. That money should have been used to buy toxic assets as we did in the previous savings and loan crisis and it worked out.
Ron Paul is correct about Keynesian economics, he is right that the conservative economists predicted the bubble (In fact Dr. Hayek won the Nobel Price for his work on Market Bubbles) , and he is right about “Moral Hazard”.
OK BREAK TIME – This format makes it look like the GOP has real answers. I am glad that they are not being so rigid about the 60 second answers. This is turning out to be a better debate for the country than I was expecting.
A quick spell check and fix and we will continue after the commercial break.
So they are pulling “Reagan in compromise” video. The difference is that the Democrats in Reagan’s day were LBJ/JFK Democrats and the Democrat leadership of today are Alinsky radicals. They got no where with Perry and now they are pushing Romney on “compromise with Democrats” – Washington thinks that “compromise” means that Republicans cave and do what Democrats want – never forget that. How come “Compromise” cannot mean that Democrats come and do what Republicans want?
The “super committee” is a joke and it will be demagogued and is useless and Newt is explaining why. This is a youtube moment.
Bachmann: We spend 40% more than we take in every day. We must cut spending because it is impossible to tax enough to pay for the current levels of spending.
Now Charlie Rose is setting the table up to get the people there to go after Herman Cain with that video. Cain production drives the economy, confidence encourages growth, the 999 plan can be plainly changed with one rate. The reporter saying that people will spend more for bread and beer is just wrong. When you consider all of the inflation that is caused by so many hidden taxes that will be removed under 999 the 999 plan does work out and things will not cost more, in fact they will likely cost less. Cain is right on that point.
Bachmann points out that the 999 plan exposes people to a new tax and that Democrats could later convert that to a value added tax which would be a disaster – and she is correct as that is the Achilles heel of Cain’s 999 plan. Bachman says “turn 9 9 9 up side down” – wow.
Huntsman is right about the trade war scenario with China, we need to pressure China but we need to fix our environment at the same time.
Romney: American leaders have been played like a fiddle by the Chinese – that is VERY true. This is an area that Mitt Romney understands very well. I just hope he will follow through if he becomes president.
Perry – we need to be focused on how we will get America working again. I like Perry’s common sense approach. We need a governing philosophy, not a magic missile policy.
Santorum warns about the pitfalls of 999 if/when Democrats take power and how they will abuse it. Repeal ObamaCare “Business owner says that he will hire no one till he understands how ObamaCare will hurt him”
Romney says that ObamaCare has to be replaced with something.
Huntsman just cost himself a TON of votes by saying that the ObamaCare mandate wills tay and parts of it will stay as repealing all of it is “unrealistic”. That needs to go viral folks. I have not trusted Huntsmann since he misrepresented Reagan’s comments at Liberty Island and what he just said about not being able to repeal Obamacare is VERY indicative (I bet he regrets saying that already). Remember that Huntsman worked in the Obama Administration as Ambassador to China.
COMMERCIAL BREAK II
A special hello to my friend Olga Mancuso 🙂
Bachmann goes after Perry on his former Democrat days – He should be prepared for that. Lets see. Rick Perry used Micheal Reagan to defend himself – BRILLIANT – Perry was ready for the Debt question. Wow great answer. texas went from the 6th lowest debt ration to the second lowest.
Cain to Romney – can you explain to use simply what your 59 point economic plan does?? Cain makes a good point, that the Romney plan maybe too cryptic. The problem with cryptic is that it allows “escape hatches” that we discussed earlier. If you are for 59 things what are you really for, you don’t have to say much.
Newt on Obama’s class warfare. Newt is going after Romney on individual points of his 59 point plan and that is again another weakness of it.
Huntsman goes after Mitt for the mediocre performance of Massachusetts in job creation when governor. Mitt had inherited a much worse problem with a worse legislature than Huntsman did. So Huntsman’s question wasn’t exactly fair.
Ron Paul goes after Cain on the Federal Reserve – Cain stays on message very smartly.
Perry goes after ObamneyCare – Perry calls RomneyCare his “signature legislative achievement” – a good backhand indeed. Romney is getting in the weeds of his plan and again this is a weakness of RomneyCare.
Romney asks Bachmann what do you do to get Americans to get back to work “expand on it” – This question is a political calculation. Mitt knows that evangelicals are split between Perry and Bachmann so Mitt is trying to prop her up and divide that vote so the “establishment” can have Romney.
Santorum – question on economic freedom and TARP. Santorum points out that you can’t be both for TARP and be pro business and keeping govt out of the economy because it creates an opening that you can drive a truck through. Rick Goes after Cain on TARP. Rick made a valuable point about government intervention in the economy.
Commercial Break III
Spelling errors fixed and ready to go.
Healthcare – Perry says get the states more money to run state Medicaid programs and let the states do more experiments to see what works and what doesn’t. Why do we need a federal health care bureaucracy and each state have one as well. It is redundant, confusing, creates conflict, and crushes freedom.
Cain is asked about the Federal Reserve and say that the Federal Reserve must have its mission narrowed and that he has the names of two people in the wings to replace The Bernanke.
Ron Paul is right on about how Greenspan ushered in the mortgage bubble.
Small Business owner asked about how to free up credit and get the govt off the back of small business. Romney says that Frank-Dodd is the wrong bill with hundreds of thousands of pages of regulations, and it was written by the wrong people. Frank and Dodd were two of the worst perps in the economic mess.
Bachmann – Dodd-Frank is the job and small bank destruction act. More consolidation (Do a search on this site on the word “Consolidation” and learn something important after this debate is over).
Ron Paul is right about the need to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. Well said.
Perry – the Federal govt should not be involved in Solyndra or getting involved in the private sector to such a degree.
Rose shows the video of Bush from his ownership society speech:
Speaker Gingrich: Gingrich goes after Obama/Carter on malaise. Newt – China could not compete with us in 100 years if we got our act together in this country – ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!@!
Cain on the protesters – more of what he has said all week.
Romney – he blasts the Obama Jobs bill as stimulus two, the green jobs boondoggle etc etc. In order to create jobs you need to understand how employers think.
Pinhead reporter tosses Perry the “disparity” question and misrepresents the facts. Perry hits it out of the park. “The reason we have so much poverty is because we have a President who is a job killer”
Rick Santorum – collapse of the family has been its own economic disaster and he is spot on about that and any plan needs to address that.
OK Charlie Rose is asking each person to make a closing statement.
Bachmann – the best solutions are the ones that are closest to home. We don’t need big government.
Cain – I was po before I was poor. I know hat that means, we need to work the right problems, with the right priority and have the right people work on them and we need a bold plan.
Newt – We all have a sense of the pain level in the economy and the people want to know how we are going to salve it.
Ron Paul – If you care about people you need to restore liberty in America.
Santorum – when manufacturing left the middle class started to leave as well. We need to produce and have income mobility.
Huntsman – I participated in a family business and had a low unemployment state.
Perry – Son of farmers and a military veteran and governor. I have the CEO experience and work with the private sector to create the jobs and make America, America again.
Romney – We need leadership that believes in America. A strong defense is critical.
Debate over. You are welcome to add your thoughts. I thought that this debate did more for the Republican ticket than any other so far.
Perry need to come on stronger in the next debate if he wants to stay in this. Santrorun and Bachmann are right that Cain does show niavete in some areas and that is a problem. Mitt looked great but I am not a fan of escape hatch language.
UPDATE –
I am watching Bloomberg TV/Washington Post joke of fact-checking. They are using CBO numbers to defend ObamaCare. The CBO uses static analyses which never works and the CBO uses the assumptions that the party in power asks them to make. Even Obama’s own Medicare Actuary said that the CBO analysis was wrong.
A word about the GOP primaries being moved up in some states…
It is damn foolish. We got Obama in part because some of the primaries were front loaded. The result is candidates that do not get properly vetted. It gives the one with the big money an early advantage and it gives the one the media hypes an advantage as well. Stop this madness now. The media already has too much influence picking our candidates.
Chuck Norton
Politicalarena.org Editor
Reminder to the ‘Civility Police’: Reagan Savaged Carter and the Democrats With the Truth
The Carter record is a litany of despair, of broken promises, of sacred trusts abandoned and forgotten. Eight million — eight million out of work. Inflation running at 18 percent in the first quarter of this year. Black unemployment at 14 percent, higher than any single year since the government began keeping separate statistics. Four straight major deficits run up by Carter and his friends in Congress. The highest interest rates since the Civil War, reaching at times close to 20 percent, lately they’re down to more than 11 percent but now they’ve begun to go up again. Productivity falling for six straight quarters among the most productive people in the world.
Through his inflation he has raised taxes on the American people by 30 percent, while their real income has risen only 20 percent. The Lady standing there in the harbor has never betrayed us once. But this Administration in Washington has betrayed the working men and women of this country.
The President promised that he would not increase taxes for the low and middle-income people, the workers of America. Then he imposed on American families the largest single tax increase in our nation’s history. His answer to all this misery? He tries to tell us that we’re “only” in a recession, not a depression, as if definitions, words, relieve our suffering.
Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary. Well if it’s a definition — if it’s a definition he wants, I’ll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganlibertypark.htm
Gov. Rick Perry on the stream of lies from the Obama Administration. Withholding disaster funds for political reasons.
Talk about a slow response to Katrina, how about no response because you are a Republican.
White House: Gov. Perry disrespected us because he would not greet us when the President flew in.
The Facts: Obama flew into El Paso, a two-hour flight for Gov. Perry and yet just a few hours later Obama was to be in Austin, where Gov. Perry was, for two fund-raisers. “We offered to meet the President here in Austin” says Gov. Perry. President Obama refused to meet with him.
White House: Border counties are safer than ever.
The Facts: The White House bases that number on the number of illegal immigration apprehensions. The apprehensions are down because the economy in the USA is bad and fewer people are coming across, but the drug cartels and border violence are up and some parts of the border have been ceded to the drug cartels and are not under our control.
White House: Gov. Perry is not telling the truth about the fires as the federal government is paying 75% of the bill.
The Facts: The Federal Government is helping with 25 fires out of 9000. [Editor’s Note – By the way, wild fires would not be so bad if the federal government did not have restrictions on forest management such as cutting fire breaks and cleaning underbrush.]
UPDATE – If you want to see the depth of President Obama’s border security lie, the Federal Government through the BLM is posting these signs in Arizona just south of Interstate 8. This is not just on the border as Interstate 8 is THREE COUNTIES inland.
If the border is safer than ever, why are these signs needed now and say not when Reagan was in office or even Clinton?
The Arizona TEA Party recently posted this message on one of their web sites:
“Sheriff Dever’s Dept. (Cochise County) and also the Pinal County Sheriff’s Depts (Sheriff Paul Babeu) which are the two counties that are directly on the AZ/Mexican border, are now being sued by Obama and Eric Holder to prevent them from enforcing immigration laws? Mark, this situation has become extremely dangerous now. Not only are thousands of illegal Mexican immigrants crossing our border daily, we have thousands of OTM’s (Other Than Mexican….a-hem, middle-easterners). Obama and Holder want to stop these Sheriff Depts from apprehending them, and handing them over to ICE for deportation.”
ABC’s Jake Tapper makes a few observations about the president’s border speech. He quotes the increase in border agents from the early Bush Administration, counting the increases authorized by the former president as his own. In short putting up a light fence on a few hundred miles of border when that border is thousands of miles long is hardly securing it, and neither is adding 3000 border agents which is an ounce in the bucket. Obama has hardly secured the border and in fact files harassment suits against local law enforcement to stop serious enforcement of it.
Veronique de Rugy: The Alternative Minimum Tax Targets the Productive Middle Class, Not the Rich
The taxes Democrats propose to “soak the rich” always seem to miss those who they demagogue for not paying their fair share. They have been “soaking the rich” for decades and keep missing the target. Why?
Veronique de Rugy is one of the most respected economists alive today.
Political Arena Editor Chuck Norton comments from June 2011:
[Note – some people who are just reading the first few paragraphs are assuming that we are endorsing any form of class warfare, actually it is quite the opposite. Class Warfare is foolish because it not only causes wealth to flee, but it eventually destroys wealth. The opposite of poverty is wealth. One cannot be against poverty and against wealth at the same time as it is as perfect an economic paradox as is possible. Class warfare spreads poverty and that is what it is designed to do, because a prospering middle class whose wealth is growing doesn’t a host of government dependence programs.]
UPDATE 10-10-2002 – I have repeatedly talked about “Consolidation” as Obama’s economic theory. Dick Morris is on Sean Hannity right now saying that Obama wants to have one big union, one big corporation in each industry, along with one big government. He is describing Obama’s merging of Corporatism and Socialism. “The left voted for socialism and got Goldman Sachs”. Anyone mind of I just gloat for a minute 🙂 I started saying this over a year ago on my old college blog. We try to always bring you the cutting edge. ]
This came as absolutely no surprise to me. As with most taxes that are “designed to target the rich” they do no such thing and the “alternative minimum tax” is no different.
The Democratic Party leadership pretends to be interested in genuine class warfare. You hear President Obama talk about “taxing millionaires and billionaires” yet the very policies he and much of the Democratic leadership advocate do no such thing.
Democrats have not been interested in taxing the genuinely rich and aren’t today. John Kerry made $5,072,000 in 2003 and had a total federal tax burden of 12.34%. The very wealthy enjoy a 60,000 page tax code that is filled with exceptions. Much of the income those like John and Teresa Kerry receive is defined as “unearned income” or earnings that are not taxable at the wage earner rate so even if the regular income tax rate was increased to 50% the percentage the Kerry’s would pay would only go up by a couple of points, if that.
Yet small business “sub-s corporations” (most domestic small businesses that have between 1-200 employees) are taxed at the wage earner rate and would be devastated by a 50% rate. Small businesses do most of the hiring in this country. Would someone care to explain how Democrats can claim to be for workers while being against their employers?
We need to be mindful of how a politician defines “The Rich”. I have a close friend who owns a small car repair business. My friend qualified as “The Rich” because his small business is an s-corp that brings in more than 250k per year. Out of that 250K he pays federal and state taxes, his employees, the payroll tax matching, rent, equipment, insurance, parts to put on cars, consumables such as motor oil, advertising etc. What is left is what he gets for his family. He drives an old Chevy truck because that is what he can afford.
The truth is that very few people make over $250k in taxable wages. President Obama talks about taxing billionaires and millionaires (defined as those who make over $250k), but the way the tax code works the wealth of George Soros like billionaires is almost perfectly protected. If George Soros and the Kerry’s paid a percentage like small businesses must, who would fund the Tides Foundation and the Democrat’s 527 groups?
As you may be aware, Google made $3.1 BILLION last year and had a federal tax burden of 2.4%. Google throws fund-raising galas for Obama and the Democrats and have given the Democrats massive donations. Where are the “liberals” condemning the Google Corps of the world? How about GE, whose former CEO now works at the White House, earned 14.2 billion dollars and not only did they have a tax bill of zero, they received taxpayer subsidies.
Yet Obama has waged a rhetorical war against the Chamber of Commerce and who do they represent, you guessed it, most small and medium-sized domestic businesses. Obama blasted the Chamber of Commerce for daring to oppose his plan to tax such businesses at a rate of 39.6%.
[Note: In some cases capital gains is double taxed in that the corporate income tax is paid before hand on the same money. Some connected corporations pay next to zero tax anyways, and if the company is overseas the corporate income tax is usually less and is paid to another country. Once again it is the case of the medium sized corporation here in America that gets creamed because we have the highest corporate income tax in the industrialized world and those American companies do not have the resources to get goodies in the tax code or how it is enforced. Japan and several other countries have lowered their corporate income tax dramatically so now the US is the highest. – Editor]
Policies such as ObamaCare, tax increases, and other actions that cause regulatory uncertainty all but force the producers and investors to stop moving their money domestically. They have the option of just parking it or investing it in China, all of which has the effect of transferring the tax burden away from the wealthy onto the working poor and middle class. Democrats are not interested in taxing the wealthy; they are interested in taxing the domestic producer class.
This brings us to Norton’s First Law: big Business loves big government because big government taxes and regulates the small and medium-sized competition out of the competition. This is a staple of modern “Alinsky” style Democrat strategy. This process is called “consolidation”. The goal of leftist philosophy is to control the wealth “rationally” from above so that less is “left to chance”. With all of these small businesses creating wealth that is chaos which is difficult to control. Through consolidation more of the wealth that is created flows through large corporations that are easier to control.
The Obama bipartisan deficit commission was tasked with the challenge of how to raise revenue, grow the economy and pay off the debt. After an exhaustive study the commission concluded that lowering tax rates, lowering the corporate tax rate and simplifying the tax code to encourage tax compliance, and to encourage more wealth to come back home (so it at least can be taxed), was the most prudent course of action. Reagan would have been pleased with those recommendations.
If you wonder why so many jobs have moved overseas and in some cases to places where governments are corrupt and workers are really exploited; now you are seeing the other side of the coin. The private sector and the jobs that go with it cannot be expected to pay for a government that costs $4 trillion a year and hope to remain competitive. If you want to see demand for American labor to rise, start by making it more economical for jobs to come home.
UPDATE – The Obama Administration is using a variation of this very theme that I wrote about last June in it’s recent effort to raise taxes. Rest assured in the 6o,000 plus pages of the tax code that those who are the Democrats biggest donors will not be impacted greatly. As we have seen with Solyndra, the Stimulus Bill, and the other spending in this administration, much of the spending is done for the purpose of Chicago style kickbacks. One can be most confident that taxes will continue to follow that same path just as the so called Alternative Minimum Tax has.
UPDATE II – Warren Buffet opposes Obama’s new “Buffet Rule” campaign trial balloon because he sees it for what it really is. Real Clear Politics (follow the link to see the video):
CNBC: “Are you happy that the way it is being described. Is the program that the White House has presented a million dollars and over your program? ”
Warren Buffett: “Well, the precise program which will — I don’t know what their program will be. My program would be on the very high incomes that are taxed very low. Not just high incomes. Somebody making $50 million a year playing baseball, his taxes won’t change. Make $50 million a year appearing on television, his income won’t change. But, if they make a lot of money and pay a very low tax rate, like me, it would be changed by a minimum tax that would only bring them up to what other people pay.”
CNBC: “Does that mean you disagree with the president’s new jobs proposal which would be paid for by raising taxes on households with incomes of over $250,000.”
Buffett: “That’s another program that I won’t be discussing. My program is to have a tax on ultra-rich people who are very tax rates. Not just all rich people. It would probably apply to 50,000 people in a population of 300 million.”
Indeed. There is a small group of people who greatly benefit from the way the tax code works which is only a small portion of who most people would consider wealthy. Among these people are among the largest political donors in the country.
I am glad that Buffet clarified (read changed his tune just slightly) on this issue because the way his close friend President Obama had presented this it was going to just as we had described it earlier, a new tax that would barely touch him but sock smaller competition and CNBC called him out on it:
Andrew Klavan: Left vs Right – Why Are Conservatives So Mean?
Why Are Conservatives So Mean? –
Financial Crisis 101 –
[Note – This is a fabulously brilliant explanation of what happened and who caused it in 3 1/2 minutes]
Night of the Living Government –
“It always makes me feel bad when a politician tells me that I am acting out of self interest…”
Liberal Fantasies vs. Reality, Can you Spot the Difference? –
Limbaugh and Coulter and Beck, Oh My! –
Soros, Huffington, Maher, & Olbermann Can’t Be Wrong –
“Shut Up” –
Beyond the Elitist, Preening America-Hating Stereotypes –
Stop the Hate! –
The road to hell is paved with….
Behold! Your (Leftist Controlled) Public Sector Unions at Work –
Bumper Sticker Police –
Fox News Presidential Debate Live Blog & Commentary – UPDATED!
UPDATES (See Bottom of post for details) – Glenn Beck: Romney lied in the debate
New York Post: Romney not authentic, pandering
Fox News: Polling dictates Romney answers…
In the debate Romney trashed Rick Perry and takes the position that you cannot be too against illegal immigration, but he was talking amnesty with Tim Russert:
Live Blog by PoliticalArena.org editor Chuck Norton:
Perry opens up with setting an environment to help get small business hiring – points 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Perry: Texas was the number one state for relocation for five years in a row.
Mitt Romney opens up by attacking Obama on his job crushing policies – very smart. “Regulators have to be allies to business not foes”…
Romney is trying to walk the fence of the class warfare game. – We need to bring wealth home and dodging Brett’s question about that does not inspire confidence.
[Note – Romney had an opportunity to take on Obama’s recent push on class warfare he and he totally waffled. Romney’s answer fell somewhere between the non-committal committal and the non-denial denial. This is really indicative of a man who is making political calculations and is not standing on principle. This really bothered me.]
Bachmann goes after Obama on the “Out of every dollar I earn how much do I deserve to keep” question.
Federal Right to Work Law Question – Santorum goes after over reaching government unions – but the feds already took such bargaining away from the federal govt unions under Carter.
Newt: Unemployment should be tied to a business training program.
Huntsman targeted by Chris Wallace on his idea to subsidize natural gas…..and my internet freezes… so I did not hear the rest of his answer. OK – He favors it to ‘get the ball rolling’, so long as there is a quick phase out so it isn’t a long term thing…
Herman Cain on his 9 9 9 plan. Throw out the tax code totally. Romney wont toss out the tax code and start over and that dog wont hunt says Cain. Cain is absolutely right. The tax code is such a mess and so hard to comply with right now that modifying the edges of it will not help really fix the real problem which is the tax code itself.
How to get teeth in the 10th Amendment – Ron Paul says that he would veto every bill that violates the 10th amendment – It sounds great in theory, but that radical of a change so fast would be a huge shock to the economy. It would have to be phased in over time. There are just better answers to this question.
Gary Johnson gets his first answer. I promise, I promise list of goodies. Gary is a nice guy and pretty smart. I have had the pleasure of talking with him personally. He wants the Fair Tax. He needs to work on his charismatic approach IMO but a nice answer.
Megyn Kelly quoting Newt: Sure of course he is (a socialist) LOL I love it. Romney – I have news for Obama, European socialism isnt working for Europeans so stop trying to use it here.
Huntsman – this is the worst time to be raising any taxes and everybody knows that. We have structural problems with our tax code. Now huntsman is pretty much quoting the Obama deficit commission plan, which is actually a pretty good plan, which is why Obama ignored it.
Our friend Lee Doren in the debate with a question!! What department would YOU eliminate?? Herman Cain – we need to start all over on these departments like the EPA- he is right. More Cain – we need to use the Chilean model on Social Security – “The solution is FIX IT” – Herman Cain is GREAT at ‘make sure you are addressing the RIGHT problem’.
Newt – once again he refuses to accept the premise of the media figures question. Newt announces a NEW Contract with America – Far Deeper, far bolder, far more profound. Newt: Obama’s socialist policies..,. SMACK home run.
Newt just wowed the debate again.
Education Question: Gary Johnson – the department of education actually costs us more money than it spends. Santorum agrees saying “The federal education system doesn’t serve the customer” Great answer Rick. Newt Gingrich wants Pel Grants for K-12 – he obviously believes that the public schools have failed. Ron Paul – if you love your children get the govt out of public education, people need a right to opt out of the public school system when it is failing.
Rick Perry – comes out for school choice praises everyone on stage and slaps Romney for praising the “Race to the Top” program which is a regulatory disaster. Notice Romney does not deny what Perry said. Romney is dodging…. Romney just praised Arne Duncan /facepalm [Arne Duncan and ‘Race to the Top’ are both a disaster, if you do not know why I will be happy to explain in comments below – Editor]
[UPDATE – More on the education issue and Romney added in the update section below.]
Huntsman – I signed the second voucher bill in the United States. I have actually done something about this. Localize, Localize, Localize.
Bachmann asked the illegal immigration question – Should each state enforce the immigration laws because the feds will not. Wallace said that laws like Arizona’s are at odds with the Constitution – that is NOT so. The courts have said that the states can enforce federal law as long as the state law mimics it and the AZ law does.
Newt: E-Verify is a mess with massive fraud. Visa and Mastercard could run E- Verify better. Newt is right that E-Verify as it is now is useless. The federal govt keeps that program a mess.
Romney goes after Perry on in state tuition in Texas. Perry – only 4 dissenting votes in legislature on his tuition law – Perry is Right about this guys.
The accusation: Perry wants to hand ‘in state’ tuition to illegals who just waltz over the border…This particular “in state tuition for illegals” accusation is an easy one to bust when ALL of the facts are considered. WHY?????
The bill did not give in state tuition for all “illegals”, it gave it to the children of illegals who graduated in good standing from Texas high schools. The difference is a huge moral gulf. I am fine with punishing illegals who had illegal intent when crossing the border in the middle of the night.
What I am NOT willing to do is punish their children who could not control who their parents are or what they did. The very idea of punishing someone for the acts of their parents, or of continuing punishment via bloodline is morally repugnant to many good people, including myself. Would you want your kids to suffer for what YOU did, as a politician would you want to take the position that the children of those who do wrong should “pay”?
The very idea of “criminal intent” goes to the very fabric of our rule of law and of our legal procedure back to the earliest days of the common law. No case can be made that the kids of those illegals had criminal intent.
This policy is way better than having them go on state and federal welfare rolls. By the way, said students who get in state tuition have to had come out from the shadows and be on a path to citizenship
Foreign policy question – time to watch Ron Paul blow himself to bits … IF he gets asked the Iran question. He doesn’t get asked.
On Israel: Romney – you do not have an inch of space between you and your allies. Romney pounding Obama on his trashing of Israel and sucking up to Hamas. Well done Mitt. “It is unacceptable for Iran to be a nuclear state”.
Herman Cain – I like peace through strength so my policy would be “Peace Through Strength & Clarity”. Very good answer.
Perry on the Pakistan nuke question “Where do you start”? Perry answers that you begin with Pakistan’s neighbors who are our allies. – Good answer. Santorum says stabilize Iraq and then goes after Ron Paul. He obviously does not want to see RP as the nominee.
Newt: If the country is not your ally why are you giving them money? Newt says that the world could become dramatically more dangerous in a short time.
Gary Johnson – the biggest threat to our national security is that we are bankrupt – he was wise to ignore the stupid Cuba question at first. Cuba doesn’t matter right now.
Santorum: Just because our economy is sick doesn’t mean that our values are sick – /smacks Huntsman hard and lectures him on Obama’s stupid rules of engagement. [It is true that the rules of engagement that our soldiers are operating under are ridiculous and made by a pack of lawyers. They cost lives – Editor]
Bachmann is right on the separation question. Separation means that the US Govt should not be run as a Church of the United States, not the idiocy that the courts are engaged in now. Her constitutional interpretation is spot on.
Santorum on the gays in the military question – His answer is spot on. Folks, anyone who leads with or defines himself with his sexuality is making a mistake. Sex should not be an issue so soldiers, liberals, activists should not make it one.
Ron Paul on the day after pill – the rape question – we have too many laws already and the “day after pill” is just too hard to enforce a ban upon.
Perry: the fed govt has no business telling the states how to educate our children.
Cain on ObamaCare – I suspect that he is about to whack it out of the park….. he does. Herman Cain – I had stage four colon and liver cancer. ObamaCare would have resulted in delays in tests and treatments. The only reason I survived is because I got treated on MY timeline and not the federal governments. Great answer.
YouTube question from Ian McDonald – “I have a heart condition” – asks about the new provision for kids to stay on parents policies till they are 26 [Note – this was a GOP idea a long time ago and that was included in ObamaCare in an attempt to call it “bipartisan”]. Huntsman: lets have the states engage in experiments. In Utah we have a state backed catastrophic policy that can be a supplement to private insurance [This is also a long time GOP idea by the way].
Chris Wallace goes after Bachmann on the HPV causes retardation question. – Bachmann is spinning because the day after the last debate she doubled down on this issue . Bachmann is going after Perry on the Merck donations issue – the issue is a total red herring. Bachmann gets donations from Merck’s competition and those donations are more than what Perry got. Perry reminded us on the opt out and gave a touching story. Perry is trying a rise above strategy – it may be working.
Perry on Romney’s flip flopping. Sorry Mitt, but Perry is right about that. Romney has a cute line about experience to get this country going again, but he is shying away from substance and trying to go charismatic. It is already starting to get a tad old [Note – I am trained in political communications, including deception and propaganda, so I am more sensitive to the game Romney is playing. I am not sure regular folks wont fall for this tactic. I hope not].
Via Doug Scheon and Pat Caddell: Perry is winning the polling on Fox News on immigration – toldja 🙂
Question: How to jump start the turn around once elected:
Huntsman – good specifics on energy.
Herman Cain – the problem is a severe lack of confidence in leadership – great point and one that should not be underestimated. – Reagan, shining city on a hill – Cain is doing very well tonight.
Bachmann – first thing to do is repeal ObamaCare – its a good point because domestic business is scared to death of it, while the internationals love the idea so it can eliminate their domestic competition.
Romney – restore trust in the Oval Office
Perry – energy independent, repeal ObamaCare, reform the tax code,
Ron Paul – fix the Federal Reserve problem in creating market bubbles – Good point.
Newt Quoting Reagan – “When Jimmy Carter is unemployed it is a recovery”. Awesome.
Santorum – We need to remember who are are as Americans and we have a president who does not understand what America is all about. Obama is the new King George III who believes that things need to be dictated to on high. WOW
Gary Johnson – My neighbors two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this current administration. More – Balance the budget now, not 20 years form now. Do it NOW. Toss out the tax system and start over.
The Running-mate question:
Johnson picks Ron Paul.
Santorum – I would pick Newt.
Newt – I do not know yet but would be capable. Newts audio flaked out so I missed part of his answer.
Ron Paul – I defer
Rick Perry – I want to merge Herman Cain and Newt and make him VP 🙂
Romney – there are a couple images I am going to have a hard time getting out of my mind. Any one up here would be a great president or VP.
Bachmann – a solid conservative she says. Then she has a good moment saying, (paraphrasing) “Every 4 years we are told that we have to settle. I do not think that is true. We need a candidate who represents constitutional conservatives especially since Obama’s numbers will be even more in the tank come election time.”
Cain Hints using a non verbals that he is open to be asked for the VP spot and says – If Romney throws out his bad jobs plan and adopted 9 – 9 – 9 I could go for him, but am thinking Newt Gingrich.
Huntsmnan – I would pick Herman Cain.
END OF DEBATE –
Commentary
Romney had his first decent night, but once again everyone had their moments. Romney and Herman Cain stood out as far as showmanship is concerned.
Doug Scheon said that the people are still ahead of the candidates. That is a very astute observation, but I think Doug missed Mitt walking the fence on the class warfare card because Scheon is a Democrat who does not understand GOP sensitivities on that issue.
Mitt’s fence walking on this critical issue has actually managed to lower my confidence in him, but he did raise my estimates of him communications ability. I think more voters caught onto that than the Fox News team realizes.
If I was on Perry’s communications team. I would have this theme and pound it:
Voters have had enough of candidates who talk a great game and then lack follow through when elected. You guys TALK about plans and job creation, but I do it every day and I do something none of you have done, and that is have the best job growth under the totally irresponsible job killing policies of this president. Talk all you want, I walk the walk when the chips are down.
I am becoming more convinced that Romney is not going to replace the tax code, he is not going to tackle the bureaucracy and regulatory reform except superficially. His vision lacks boldness. Every time Romney was asked to state a BOLD plan or vision for reform he gave platitudes and/or his weak-sauce “59 points job plan” answer. Even Herman Cain made it clear that Romney”s 59 points plan is almost a joke.
I discussed tonights performance with two communications professionals. One who is from out West and another who is a DC insider with many years of political experience.
Out West:
I’m not liking Romney. Class warfare, the scare tactics and his flip flopping. I smell a John McCain all over. Conservative in the primaries and a moderate in the general & presidency. Perry needs to be specific and articulate more. My top three candidates so far are Perry, Gingrich & Cain. Santorum & Bachmann come off as bitter Perry haters, although I loved Rick Santorum’s smack-down on Ron Paul/Huntsman on foreign policy.
If Bachmann is so anti Obamacare, why is she not pounding Romney on Romneycare? If she’s truly principled, she’d hammer Romney instead of trying to pry back the Evangelical vote from Perry?[Answer: Bachmann wants Romney v Bachmann two man race, that is why.]
DC Insider:
Thanks, Chuck…good honest assessment of candidates’ positions. Right on…exactly about the Fox News team of Caddell, Scheon, and Parino missing the point on Romney’s fence walking. Romney’s communications person (Eric Fehrnstrom) and his strategist are crippling him [in the long run as they may have done OK in this battle but will lose the war with the charismatics and the fence walking].
UPDATE – Glenn Beck comparing Romney’s book from 2 and a half years ago to the recently released paperback version (ironically called ‘No Apologies’).
Romney then: The stimulus will help some but could be better. RomneyCare could be a national model.
Romney now: Stimulus is a war against free enterprise. National health care of any kind is unconstitutional.
Glenn Beck just read verbatim from the two versions of Romney’s book. When Perry hit Romney for making these changes he said “I have changed no such thing” – Romney lied.
I am going over clips from the debate. When Romney praised Obama’s radicalized and failed Education Secretary Arne Duncan in the debate, Romney was saying that we need to have a teacher accountability program like Duncan has proposed (and will never see the light of day).
How many “teacher accountability” programs have we had? Tinkering around the fringes of our failed education system will not fix the problem. Herman Cain lectured Romney last night for taking that same approach to his economic recovery and jobs program. Cain always says, “Make sure that you are working on the RIGHT problem”. The problems are institutional in education as well as our regulatory structure. Much like the tax code, they are structurally flawed and tinkering with them will not solve the problem.
UPDATE II – New York Post: Romney an unauthentic panderer
Today’s New York Post after going through Romney’s statements found out that he was not being honest in much the same way we did.
And yet maybe Perry’s debate wasn’t all awful. Far from it. The thing is, debates aren’t only about performance; they are also about the way the interchanges reveal the character of the candidates — their political character.
Do they stand up for what they believe? Do they believe in anything, or are they just willing to say whatever their audiences want to hear?
And in that regard, Romney did not perform well at all.
In the opening of the debate, Romney went after Perry for statements in his book, “Fed Up,” about Social Security and the problems with the direct election of senators. And Perry lowered the boom on him. Romney, he noted, changed his line on his own health-care plan in the text of the paperback version of his book “No Apology.”
Words poured from Romney’s mouth like smoke from a wildfire. He zoomed through sentences impossible to follow as he tried to deny that he had done what he had in fact done, which was scrub his own book as his own position changed.
The speed with which he spoke recalled the flim-flam salesman Harold Hill, clouding the minds of innocent Iowans as he raced through the song “Trouble in River City” in “The Music Man.”
Even more telling, Perry hit Romney for speaking well of President Obama’s “Race to the Top” initiative, as implemented by Education Secretary Arne Duncan–which Romney absolutely did in Miami on Wednesday. “I think Secretary Duncan has done some good things,” he said, as reported by Politico. “I hope that’s not heresy in this room.”
Romney denied it–a huge blunder, because this contradiction can be thrown back at him daily until the campaign is over. And because it speaks to precisely the reason Romney has been unable to make the sale with Republicans despite his incredible persistence in wooing them over the course of five years. He comes across as false, somehow.
Is unprepared and graceless worse than smooth and false in the eyes of voters desperate for authenticity? I don’t think so.
UPDATE III – Dan Henniger at Fox News
A reader sent us the following note:
Chuck, Dan Henninger just referenced your sentiments on Journal Editorial Report on Fox. He said that Romney’s answers scream “Polling, polling, polling”. The sentiment from the panel is that Romney is a well polished panderer.
UPDATE IV: Rick Perry Backer Matt Gaetz: Romney Supporters Voting for Herman Cain to ‘Skew Results’ | Sunshine.
This does not surprise me, they did not want Perry to be first and Romney second. So they decided to put their votes behind someone with very little support in the general public to help diminish Perry. As was shown in the last debate, to the Romney camp everything is a political calculation and that is very revealing.
Priceless: Why I’m a Democrat – College Democrats of America 2011 Summer Conference
In the video they all use slogans except three who mention policy positions. [Editor’s Note: In the video one person mentions NAFTA, which is just too long and complex of an issue to tackle in this post other than to say that here is a video of Bill Clinton’s comments at the signing]
1 – The Civil Rights Act – which Democrats filibustered and Republicans voted for by an 82% margin (eventually Dems caved). Democrats filibustered (successfully stopping the bills) all of the civil rights legislation in the 1950’s all of what was overwhelmingly supported by Republicans. One look at inner cities and inner city schools which are controlled by the Democratic Party show that the party is exploiting black Americans and has no real interest in empowering them.
2 – The Patriot Act – of which internal violations of using the act illegally have gone up exponentially under this administration. Through fast and loose “interpretation” Democrats have expanded the Act and Obama has been the worst administration when it comes to abuse of privacy rights that I am aware of.
Obama promised to put an end to warrantless wiretapping and do something about the Patriot Act. Where are the so called “far left privacy advocates” now? The Obama Administration (along with a willing Democratic Leadership in Congress) has consistently (1, 2, 3, 4, 5,) pushed for more domestic spying ability and extended the Patriot Act. More spying includes including wanting more wire taps on the internet and arguing that you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in email or cell phones or… well I think you got the point. Of course who was the first TV personality to speak out on these privacy violations. Clue: He’s the new Oprah.
Now we get to ask you if Obama is spying on YOUR library book list!
Related:
Patriot Act Warrants That Let Agents Enter Homes Without Owner Knowing Triple Under Obama
Google Comes Under Fire for ‘Secret’ Relationship with NSA. Cozy with Administration.
Obama Administration implemented policy to have political appointees review all FOIA requests….
Obama Administration wants more wiretaps on internet
Obama Administration Thinks Chicago’s Cameras Everywhere are Just Dandy
Obama Administration: You have no reasonable expectation of privacy in email or cell phones or…
3 – Because more women should be involved in politics – Wow that one is amazing. Shall we go through a list of Democrat misogyny hall of shame? While the first names that come up for sexual attacks, smears, lies, and name calling by Democrats are against Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Nikki Haley – Let us NOT forget how Hillary Clinton was mistreated by her fellow Democrats which resulted in the creation of dozens of PUMA groups and websites such as Hillbuzz. Remember how the Obama thugs used threats and in some cases physically kept Hillary delegates out of some caucuses? Remember how the Democrats “super delegates” stepped in when it looked like Hillary was going to win the nomination?
In fact Hillary Clinton’s own Communications Director Howard Wolfson said that Fox News was the only place where her campaign could get a fair shake because the Democrat Media Complex, also known as the elite media, was so grossly unfair even this web site spoke out against it.
This video is one the GOP can use, as it demonstrates that Democrat activists count on ignorance and mobocratic sloganeering.
Soros Funded Group Seeks to Control State Election Posts
A small tax-exempt political group with ties to wealthy liberals like billionaire financier George Soros has quietly helped elect 11 reform-minded progressive Democrats as secretaries of state to oversee the election process in battleground states and keep Republican “political operatives from deciding who can vote and how those votes are counted.”
Known as the Secretary of State Project (SOSP), the organization was formed by liberal activists in 2006 to put Democrats in charge of state election offices, where key decisions often are made in close races on which ballots are counted and which are not.
Pay attention to this part:
Named after Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, so-called 527 political groups — such as SOSP — have no upper limit on contributions and no restrictions on who may contribute in seeking to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office. They generally are not regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), creating a soft-money loophole.
While FEC regulations limit individual donations to a maximum of $2,500 per candidate and $5,000 to a PAC, a number of 527 groups have poured tens of millions of unregulated dollars into various political efforts.
SOSP has backed 11 winning candidates in 18 races, including such key states as Ohio, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico and Minnesota.
This is where illegal and foreign money and foreign governments influence our elections. The excuse the Soros funded group uses is that it claims Republicans stole the 200 presidential election on Florida. Of course when a group of newspapers went to Florida and recounted themselves they also concluded that president Bush had won fairly.
But let me tell you what wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair when Al Gore’s lawyers used a technicality to toss out military ballots in Florida. There were valid reasons why the Supreme Court ruled for President Bush in the Bush v. Gore lawsuits: the Florida Supreme Court was allowing Democrats to change the election rules on the fly during the count; and Gore’s lawyers and a partisan Florida Court wanted to allow selective recounting of discarded votes, meaning that only in areas where Gore had a substantial lead would the votes be recounted. President Bush’s team said that if there was going to be a recount it had to be all of the state and under one set of rules – and on that part of Bush v. Gore the Supreme Court agreed 7-2.
Of course Soros’ group has already stolen elections in Minnesota. USA Today, among others, report that Al Franken won his Senate seat through fraud.
Justice Department whistle blower J. Christian Adams went public after the Justice Department dismantled the integrity division of the section in charge of making sure that “Motor Voter” was enforced properly and that dead people were removed from the voter roles. The Obama Justice Department has made it clear that they will not take action in vote intimidation cases if the victims are white and/or the perpetrators are black.
J. Christian Adams via Ed Morrissey:
How The Department of Justice Allowed Vote Fraud in Minnesota
Former Department of Justice attorney J. Christian Adams has blown the whistle on politicization within Justice in enforcing election laws, specifically the laws requiring cleaning voter rolls of the deceased and convicted felons. While the main focus of the media (such as it is) has been on the politics of the issue, Adams wants to get more of a focus on the consequences of politicization. He talks with Twin Cities talk-show host Chris Baker about the impact of this politicization in Minnesota, a subject that Minnesota Majority knows all too well. The conservative organization has spent the past 20 months attempting to get the attention of the DoJ on this very subject, to no avail:
Minnesota Majority has experienced the DOJ’s refusal to investigate these kind of cases first-hand. On November 17th of 2008 (immediately following the 2008 General Election and while the Coleman-Franken recount battle was getting underway), Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis sent a certified letter to then Voting Section chief of the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ, Christopher Coates, requesting an investigation into apparent failures to comply with HAVA by Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. No response was forthcoming.
Since the DOJ in Washington DC failed to follow up on Davis’ complaint, Minnesota Majority contacted the local FBI office and lodged the same complaint. Special Agent Brian Kinney responded and visited the Minnesota Majority office to examine Minnesota Majority’s findings. At that time, he said, “based on what I see here there is more than enough evidence to initiate an internal complaint.” He gave his assurances that he would bring the matter to the attention of his supervisors. There was no further follow-up.
By October of 2009, Minnesota Majority had compiled evidence of further violations of HAVA in Minnesota, including a finding that ineligible felons were not being detected and flagged for challenge or removal from the voter rolls. This resulted in hundreds of fraudulent votes by ineligible felons being counted in Minnesota’s 2008 election. Davis sent another certified letter to Voting Section Chief Christopher Coates. Like the first complaint from nearly a year prior, the second letter went unanswered.
Minnesota Majority’s experience supports J. Christopher Adams’ claims that the DOJ’s policy is not to pursue violations of HAVA’s anti-fraud provisions. The dismissal of the voter intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party who brandished nightsticks outside a Philadelphia polling place during the 2008 General Election was the last straw for Adams, who resigned in protest. He claimed that his superiors also ordered himself and other attorneys not to comply with subpoenas issued by the US Civil Rights commission, placing them in what Adams called, “legal limbo.”
Voting Section Chief Christopher Coates, who worked with Adams on the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case was demoted and transferred to a post in South Carolina earlier this year.
The Civil Rights Commission has subpoenaed Coates to testify on the matter but his DOJ employers are currently blocking his testimony.
Why would the DoJ block testimony from one of its attorneys on the internal policies of Justice?
Gov. Christie on Leadership: People Want A President Who Will Lead, Take Risks
Leadership is never a political strategy, it is a moral one.
Gov. Christie: Government Union Spent $6 million in TV Ads Motivating People to Hate
Six million in less than three months…
Political Arena 