The GOP Presidential candidates participated in a debate today at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley. The candidates were: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, Sam Brownback, Duncan hunter, Jim Gilmore, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo. The main theme throughout the debate was Ronald Reagan’s optimism, every candidate wanted to make sure this legacy survived.
Giuliani was asked how to continue Ronald Reagan’s (RR) Morning in America, Giuliani’s response was with RR’s optimism, because RR built on strengths of America, and did not run it down. Yes, these are all Republicans, and this is the RR library, but RR did his fair share of running down America, his entire trickle down policy did just that. RR’s deficit exceeded $200 billion, and the way the US moved past this was by raising taxes (there were some spending cuts, but it was really the tax increases that deserve the credit). Giuliani thinks that America has the greatest healthcare system in the world…how is that possible with nearly 50 million people uninsured? And what are the strengths of this program that we use to fix this problem? The sky-high profits HMOs make?
Giuliani also thinks that the Iranians took one look into the eyes of Ronald Reagan and decided to release hostages in 1981. If Iranians released their American hostages because of Ronald Reagan, it’s ridiculous to think it was because they had an awakening after looking into his eyes. Their decision to do so had to do with Reagan’s past connections to Iran than anything else (he would also later sell arms to Iran).
The one thing I like that Giuliani said was that no party has a monopoly on virtue or morals. A lot of the candidates tried to make that case. For example, Romney argued that the heart of the Republican Party is the American family; the US should have more marriages before babies. Well, I think the American family is at the heart of the Democratic Party; it should be at the heart of every political party. Democrats care about keeping families healthy, educating our youth, securing jobs, how is this not at the core of every American family? It’s nonsense, and what makes it worse is that Romney thinks that only Americans with a religious faith have moral and values. I think the average person cares about their family and their friends not because a religious text tells them to, but because these people are important to them. Those people that do not have a strong religious faith can certainly have morals and values.
I like that Tommy Thompson think the Iraqi government should vote on whether or not the US should stay in Iraq. If they vote yes, if you give us legitimacy, and if they vote no, the US should leave. One problem: Iraq will most certainly vote to keep the US in Iraq because it’s our resources, our soldiers, and our taxpayers money that funding their civil war. Why would they want to fight this themselves when they will most likely become the next Israel…their day-to-day existence will forever be dependent on our military support. Ron Paul said that Ike was elected to stop Korean War, and Nixon was elected to stop the Vietnam War. This is true, but both of these presidents first escalated the war before employing a cut and run policy. If Paul supports a cut and run policy, then I think he should be consistent and apply this to Iraq as well.
Huckabee on the economy: Republicans should not win in 2008 if they cannot prevent mass outsourcing of jobs. According to this logic, Hillary Clinton will be the next president. Globalization can’t and shouldn’t be prevented; it has a lot of benefits. The interdependency of the economies of different countries is generally a good thing, but it also includes labor. If the Republican Party is pro business, then how can they not support what’s in the best interest of business=>increasing profits by cutting costs. If Republicans have their way, and the 12+ million illegal immigrants are deported, there will definitely be more outsourcing. Huckabee will alienate a lot of potential supporters in the party.
According to McCain, there is a dangerous shift to the left in this country with regards to the appointment of Supreme Court justices. WTF? The current Supreme Court is like this: Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Breyer, Souter, Ginsburg, and Stevens. The entire membership of this court ranges from conservative to moderate, not to liberal.
As promised from my blog on the Democratic presidential candidates debate, I found a stupid question in this debate. Chris Matthews asked each candidate to respond to this question: Would the election of Hillary Clinton be a bad thing because Bill Clinton would be back in the White House? Someone like Hillary Clinton, I think, would be the dominant force behind her decisions, it’s just stupid to think that Hillary’s win will be a third term for Bill Clinton. This is a stupid question for another reason; I (every reasonable person should) know what the response will be from every candidate=> YES! How could someone expect Huckabee or McCain or Romney to say that Hillary Clinton’s victory would be a good thing? Also, why is Hillary Clinton the focus of the Republican debate? The Democrats last week were not asked about any of the Republican candidates. Are Republicans supposed to choose a candidate to nominate in 2008 based on their Hillary platform? Whoever hates Hillary the most gets the nomination? I think Huckabee would win the nomination with this reasoning.
Giuliani was asked how to continue Ronald Reagan’s (RR) Morning in America, Giuliani’s response was with RR’s optimism, because RR built on strengths of America, and did not run it down. Yes, these are all Republicans, and this is the RR library, but RR did his fair share of running down America, his entire trickle down policy did just that. RR’s deficit exceeded $200 billion, and the way the US moved past this was by raising taxes (there were some spending cuts, but it was really the tax increases that deserve the credit). Giuliani thinks that America has the greatest healthcare system in the world…how is that possible with nearly 50 million people uninsured? And what are the strengths of this program that we use to fix this problem? The sky-high profits HMOs make?
Giuliani also thinks that the Iranians took one look into the eyes of Ronald Reagan and decided to release hostages in 1981. If Iranians released their American hostages because of Ronald Reagan, it’s ridiculous to think it was because they had an awakening after looking into his eyes. Their decision to do so had to do with Reagan’s past connections to Iran than anything else (he would also later sell arms to Iran).
The one thing I like that Giuliani said was that no party has a monopoly on virtue or morals. A lot of the candidates tried to make that case. For example, Romney argued that the heart of the Republican Party is the American family; the US should have more marriages before babies. Well, I think the American family is at the heart of the Democratic Party; it should be at the heart of every political party. Democrats care about keeping families healthy, educating our youth, securing jobs, how is this not at the core of every American family? It’s nonsense, and what makes it worse is that Romney thinks that only Americans with a religious faith have moral and values. I think the average person cares about their family and their friends not because a religious text tells them to, but because these people are important to them. Those people that do not have a strong religious faith can certainly have morals and values.
I like that Tommy Thompson think the Iraqi government should vote on whether or not the US should stay in Iraq. If they vote yes, if you give us legitimacy, and if they vote no, the US should leave. One problem: Iraq will most certainly vote to keep the US in Iraq because it’s our resources, our soldiers, and our taxpayers money that funding their civil war. Why would they want to fight this themselves when they will most likely become the next Israel…their day-to-day existence will forever be dependent on our military support. Ron Paul said that Ike was elected to stop Korean War, and Nixon was elected to stop the Vietnam War. This is true, but both of these presidents first escalated the war before employing a cut and run policy. If Paul supports a cut and run policy, then I think he should be consistent and apply this to Iraq as well.
Huckabee on the economy: Republicans should not win in 2008 if they cannot prevent mass outsourcing of jobs. According to this logic, Hillary Clinton will be the next president. Globalization can’t and shouldn’t be prevented; it has a lot of benefits. The interdependency of the economies of different countries is generally a good thing, but it also includes labor. If the Republican Party is pro business, then how can they not support what’s in the best interest of business=>increasing profits by cutting costs. If Republicans have their way, and the 12+ million illegal immigrants are deported, there will definitely be more outsourcing. Huckabee will alienate a lot of potential supporters in the party.
According to McCain, there is a dangerous shift to the left in this country with regards to the appointment of Supreme Court justices. WTF? The current Supreme Court is like this: Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Breyer, Souter, Ginsburg, and Stevens. The entire membership of this court ranges from conservative to moderate, not to liberal.
As promised from my blog on the Democratic presidential candidates debate, I found a stupid question in this debate. Chris Matthews asked each candidate to respond to this question: Would the election of Hillary Clinton be a bad thing because Bill Clinton would be back in the White House? Someone like Hillary Clinton, I think, would be the dominant force behind her decisions, it’s just stupid to think that Hillary’s win will be a third term for Bill Clinton. This is a stupid question for another reason; I (every reasonable person should) know what the response will be from every candidate=> YES! How could someone expect Huckabee or McCain or Romney to say that Hillary Clinton’s victory would be a good thing? Also, why is Hillary Clinton the focus of the Republican debate? The Democrats last week were not asked about any of the Republican candidates. Are Republicans supposed to choose a candidate to nominate in 2008 based on their Hillary platform? Whoever hates Hillary the most gets the nomination? I think Huckabee would win the nomination with this reasoning.
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