Or try to anyway. CNN’s coverage is here. Transcript is here. Make your own scorecard here (the Ron Paul internet voters are out again). I-Report here. GOP3.com has a poll (registry required).
Why? Because I haven’t done anything like it for awhile. Also because I want to see what kind of questions CNN uses for the Republicans compared to the ones they used for the Democratic debate.
But let me front load my opinion of the debate. That’s what y’all really want, right. I was impressed with at least some of the answers of all the candidates. Yes, Democratic answers in debates impress me sometimes, too, but not as often. McCain seemed to have the least to explain and had good answers to all the questions he was asked.
Yes, they took shots at each other. Surprise. They’re running for president. The Democrats do this too. This is an important election, right? Why wouldn’t they take this seriously?
Who impressed me most? John McCain. Mike Huckabee did, too, just not as much.
Who didn’t impress me? Fred Thompson. He had some good sound bites, but not a good debate, IMO.
More time seemed to have been given to the second tier candidates in the Republican debate than was given in the Democratic debate.
Now back to the live blogging.
It’s in St. Petersburg, at the Mahaffey Theatre in the downtown. but I’ve never heard of the building they’re holding it in. Gov. Charlie Crist, who is from St. Pete (something I also didn’t know, I must be getting out of touch with my home state. [Ahh, he held local office during the 80's when I was out of touch.]), introduces the candidates.
CNN shows the rejected videos. No snowman. Sad (NOT!). No Dick Nixon. Then come the ground rules. They’ll be ignored but hey, what else is new?
First, a musical question, or rather a question in music. Clever lyrics. And I guess there was no question.
Illegal alien question for Giuliani. He denies that NYC was a sanctuary city, because they reported illegal aliens to the federal government which did nothing. Romney insists NYC was. Giuliani counters that Romney employed illegals in the governor’s mansion. Quite the aback and forth between two frontrunners over an important subject. I’m not convinced by the arguments of either. It’s just politics right now.
Amnesty question. Will they veto any bill that gives amnesty. Thompson- Yes. Cut off federal funding for sanctuary city. Romney supported Bush immigration plan. Re Giuliani, we’ve all had people we hired that probably wasn’t a good idea. Under Giuliani, NYC was a sanctuary city. Giuliani insists again it wasn’t. McCain would veto amnesty, and said the immigration bill did not include amnesty. Saddened by the debate thus far. We must secure the borders first. Much of the rhetoric is unfortunate. Tancredo says the debate is great. Everyone is trying to out-Tancredo Tancredo.
Of course, no one specifies what amnesty means to them. I bet it’s different for each one.
Tancredo gets a question about whether he would allow immigration for business. He rejects that there are jobs that Americans won’t do (as do I). Hunter says the fence works and reduced crossings by 90% and reduced crime in San Diego.
Huckabee, would you support same tuition rates for military children as he did for illegal alien children? We won’t punish a child for a crime the parent had committed. Supports a veteran’s bill of rights. Romney says talking to Huckabee is like talking to liberals of MA, it’s a good idea, but they want the government to pay for it. Huckabee responds that we’re a better country than to punish kids for the crimes of parents. Romney counters with are we going to give benefits to those here illegally.
Paul, do you believe in a conspiracy to form a North Amercian union? Briefly, yes. Calls it a contest of ideas. [Oooo, I love conspiracies]. Our national sovereignty is under threat.
Tackle the national debt. McCain - Republicans have forgotten how to be fiscally responsible. Against corruption and spending [well except for that banking thing some years back]. Romney - unnecessary spending must be vetoed [like you did in MA, gov?] Giuliani - across the board spending cuts. [but no line item veto]
Another spending question. Top three federal programs to reduce in size. Thompson - entitlements. I want to save Social Security. OMB’s 100 programs. Paul - Washington did not change me Education, Energy, Homeland Security. Huckabee - IRS by enacting the Fair Tax, Homeland Security.
Repeal of income tax. McCain - I don’t support Fair Tax, but we do need a simpler fairer tax code. Addresses Paul – that kind of isolationism caused WWII. Audience reaction was strong. Spent Thanksgiving with troops and their message is, “Let us win.” Paul - I’m not an isolationist. I’m a non-interventionist.
Question from Grover Norquist. Tancredo, Huckabee, Romney, Giuliani, all yes. Thompson I don’t do pledges to anyone but the American people. McCain the same. Paul- you have to cut spending. Hunter – yes, except for national emergency.
Elimination of farm subsidies. Romney no, Giuliani no, competition with European subsidies.
Giuliani’s security, while on personal travel.
Tancredo ad.
Lead paint on toys. Safe toys made in America. Tancredo - it is against the law — no one enforces it. I’ll change trade arrangement with China. Hunter - using money to buy defense weapons. Buy American. [What? We, ourselves take responsibility?]
Thompson ad. Romney and Huckabee in their own words. “I wanna give my buddies a little extra air time.” Romney - I was wrong. Huckabee - some tax is good. getting attacked is not always bad.
McCain ad.
Three gun questions. Opinion of gun control. [Why did CNN use gun questions asked by guys who are obviously not true gun enthusiasts?] Hunter - good answer. Giuliani - government can propose reasonable regulations. Thompson - Giuliani has supported a wide array of gun control laws.
Thompson - I own a couple of guns. I’m not going to tell you where they are or what they are. McCain - knows how to use one, but doesn’t own one. Hunter - an old .22. Romney - I have two guns at home–they’re owned by my son.
Black on black crime. Romney - the guy is lucky, because he’s got a dad standing next to him. Get more moms and dads. Better education. Better policing. Giuliani - Romney had a mixed record on crime. I had a very strong record. Romney – Everyone realizes Giuliani did a fine job. I did what I could at the state level.
What should a woman who has had an abortion be charged with, her doctor? Paul - we don’t need abortion police. It’s a crime. It’s up to the state. Thompson - Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Then it goes back to the states.
If Congress passed a federal ban, would you sign it? Giuliani - No, states decision. Parental consent, not criminalized. Romney - Overturn Roe v. Wade. We’re not there. If Congress got there and we had that kind of consensus, great.
Death penalty. Huckabee - toughest decisions I’ve had to make. Some crimes are truly only punishable by death. Death penalty and abortion are different. Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office. Tancredo - I would pray that He would help me do the right thing.
Do you believe every word of this book? Giuliani - I believe it but not literally in every sense. I read it frequently. Romney - The Bible is the Word of God. It’s a guide, but I know I don’t measure up. Huckabee – the Word of revelation from God to us. The Bible has messages that are clear and we all know we should do.
Romney ad. Break. Giuliani ad.
Foreign policy. Repairing the damage. Giuliani - Keep on the offense in the WOT. But make it clear that these people are the vast majority of Muslims. McCain - The first, continue the surge which is working. Reconstruct the country. No date for withdrawal. Hunter - To our critics, Americans helped you many times. I will never apologize.
Waterboarding. Romney - I oppose torture. As a candidate, I don’t think it’s wise to say what we would or would not use. I would certainly seek McCain’s counsel, as well as others. McCain - waterboarding is torture. Talk to the military. We, as Americans, should not inflict this on anyone. Romney - I’m not going to specify what we will and will not do. McCain - You would have to then withdraw from the Geneva Conventions. This is one thing that we should be able to do as presidential candidates.
Long term commitment to the people of Iraq. Thompson - We should be there as long as it takes. We’re focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, but there is a bigger picture. Paul - Give them their country back. al Sadr has won in the south. The people in the north are in charge and violence is down. What we achieved in peace with Vietnam than 20 years of French and American. McCain - American public opinion caused us to leave. I believe we can meet it and we can defeat it the threat in the Middle East. Paul responds. Tancredo - I wish we lived in a world Ron Paul would like. It would be a threat even if we never had a single person outside the US.
Is Rudi using 9/11? Giuliani - I would like people to look at my larger record.
Vive presidential power. Thompson - Thought for a second it was me. Vice president has his place. And his influence. McCain - Relied more on the VP for national security. I might have to in some other area.
Hunter ad. Break. Huckabee ad.
Gays in the military. Asked by a openly gay retired military general. Hunter - I believe what Colin Powell said. It’s bad for cohesion. Most are conservative. To force them to work with an open homosexual man would be bad. Huckabee - Conduct could put morale or cohesion at risk. Romney - This is not that time. Look to the military. The General – Military men are professional enough. Don’t ask, don’t tell is destructive. McCain - Military leaders say the present policy is working. It should be continued.
Support of Log Cabin Republicans. Huckabee - I disagree with them, but we can disagree on one or some issues, but still agree on things that are common to Republicans.
Borrowing from the Social Security trust fund. Thompson - Protect him from our generation. 2017 Social Security will be in the red. Romney - overspending in Washington is a problem. Take a new course. Not the Hillary Clinton path to the left, but the Ronald Reagan way.
Vision for human space exploration. Huckabee - Expand the space program, electronics, GPS, medical technologies are the result of the space program. Maybe Hillary could be one of the first to Mars. Tancredo – deficit spending, but would you spend more money. Everyone wants to spend money on something.
Why don’t blacks vote for Republicans? Giuliani - We haven’t done a good enough job explaining that what we propose is the best for all races. Education, for example. Moving people off welfare is another. Huckabee - 48% of African Americans did vote for me. Our party has better reach out to every American.
Confederate flag. Romney - The people of this country can go beyond this stuff. John Edwards is wrong. There are not two Americas. Thompson - He’s free to do what he wants in his room. It is not appropriate in public.
Paul ad.
Infrastructure fix. Giuliani - Long term investment in infrastructure in NYC. Sustained program of more than one president. Paul - taxed to blow up bridges overseas, while our bridges are falling down. McCain - Veto every pork barrel project. Line item veto. Let states make decisions. Giuliani - Line item veto is unconstitutional.
Independent run for Ron Paul? Paul - no intention of running as an independent. I’ve run 10 times as a Republican. This country is tired of what they’re getting.
Giuliani rooting for Red Sox. Giuliani - when I was mayor, the Yankees won 4 world series. Since I’ve not been mayor, they’ve won none. Romney - We love our sports teams but hate the Yankees.
That’s it. It was followed, as usual, by the talking heads telling us what was important.
Congratulations to both!