Archive for October, 2011
Herman Cain watch: sometime this morning Cain is supposed to make the Left incredibly angry talking about “opportunity zones” the Unions are terrified of
Keep your eyes open.
Sometime this morning Herman Cain is supposed to speak on the “opportunity zones” he’d create as President in distressed urban areas where he’d essentially banish all Unions to provide businesses an opportunity to return to cities that Democrat mismanagement has blighted for the last forty years.
I believe this speech will be happening in Detroit.
I also believe the greatest gift Herman Cain brings to the 2012 table is his ability to force Republicans to talk about new approaches to old problems that the Cocktail Party GOP establishment would never in a million years debate about without Cain’s prompting.
Since the President does not create legislation — Congress does — there’s no real chance that Cain’s 9-9-9 plan would ever be implemented as he’s envisioned it on the campaign trail. I don’t think Cain believes he’d ever be able to thrust 9-9-9 through Congress, because that’s just not how these things work.
What I like about Cain’s vision and his boldness is that absent Cain in this race, Republicans would not be discussing the lugubrious and ridiculous tax code that’s hamstringing this country.
Without Cain, Republicans would not be openly talking about taking on the Unions directly and annihilating the Democrat power structures, in place for decades, that have crippled our major cities.
If Mittens Romneycare is your chosen candidate, you really need to ask yourself on a serious and personal level if you think Mittens would ever do anything bold or in the face of established convention if he was elected in 2012.
The biggest reason I can never support Mittens Romneycare is because I know, as the Cocktail Party establishment’s chosen candidate, that Mittens will maintain the very same status quo that allowed the Left to seize power in 2008 and that has almost completely bankrupted this country.
Cain really aims high with his ideas and is fearless in putting bold new concepts out there.
The fact the Unions despise him and are mobilizing against him warrants Cain greater and greater admiration in my eyes every day.
Meanwhile, the Left, the media, the Unions, and the Cocktail Party GOP establishment all want you to believe that Mittens Romneycare is “the inevitable 2012 GOP nominee”…aka, “John McCain 2.0″, since McCain was the Left and the Cocktail Party establishment’s combined 2008 favorite as well.
I have zero faith Mittens Romneycare would do anything in office to shake things up or turn this country around.
But, I believe Herman Cain has this fire and unconventional leadership within him.
He’s not perfect — and has never claimed to be (unlike Obama, or the “Obama-Lite” that is Mittens) — but anyone who drives the Left as nuts as he does deserves a good, considered look from anyone who wants to really clobber the Left, the Unions, the media, the Democrats, and the Cocktail Party establishment Republicans in equal measure.
Steve Jobs wanted to annihilate the teachers’ unions, keep schools open to 6pm, and abstain from publicly eating fancy foods in these austere times (but was overruled by the Obamas on that last one, because Barack had to have his cream pie)
I’m eager to read more details on what, exactly, is in the new Steve Jobs biography that’s set to drop in the next few weeks.
Apparently, it includes an account of Jobs really letting Barack Obama have it and telling him directly that Unions are destroying this country, preventing factories from opening in America, and that teachers’ unions in particular were responsible for depriving children of the educations they need to be able to remain competitive in the future.
Where Jobs scolded the White House for serving overly indulgent, “too fancy” fare at a meeting he was to attend with Obama…but the Obamas overruled him and insisted on gorging themselves on shrimp and expensive cream pies while the rest of America endures privation and austerity in their daily lives.
I wonder how those on the Left are going to absorb all this if they ever bother to read the new book on Jobs. Just about every Occupy Wall Street protestor seems to have an expensive Apple product of some kind on his or her person, whether it’s an Iphone, an Ipod, an Ipad, or a Mac laptop.
The Unions are providing muscle and support to the Occupoopers.
Steve Jobs wanted to annihilate the Unions.
Paradox, much?
Does anyone involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” protests have any idea at all what and why they are protesting?
I love using Facebook as a focus group and research tool.
Lately, I’ve been keeping a lookout for anyone posting anything related to “Occupy Wall Street”, particularly those here in the Chicago gay community who are advocating the “tax the rich!”, “down with capitalism!”, and “Obama 2012!” mentality of the Occupoopers.
A few days ago, I wrote to someone on Facebook who has posted a steady stream of #OWS videos and asked him what the protests were about, what those involved hoped to achieve, and most importantly what and why they were protesting.
Here’s the response I got back:
12 hours agoDAVID
It seems like the beginning of a social movement, the initial phase. During that phase people come together usually over a number of social, political, or economic issues and demands. If that movement is based in principles of democracy, then the process of moving to the next phase will be slow and confusing. It will be that way until the entire group that has amassed, or given support to the overall cause, comes to a consensus on the overlapping or most pertinent issue they can join in unity behind. From this the movement must then, based on these, form demands and a charter or manifesto. Until they work through this process the movement will seem to be disorganized and without power. The trick to attaining the power to meet your oppressor at the negotiating table or the guillotine rests in the ability of the group to unite all factions of the oppressed.
Does this make any sense at all to you?
The same guy who wrote the above also posted the video below recently, with the caption that “the lady speaking at 1:20 is awesome”.
Judge for yourself how “awesome” is defined by the Occupoopers…so named because they are — honest to goodness — defecating on the doorsteps of the private homes that surround their chosen Occupy Wall Street campsites.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the woman in the video complaining about the education system, when the education system in this country is completely controlled by the Left and has been aggressively pushing the Left’s agenda into the impressionable minds of children for the last 35 years or so.
If she’s an Occupooper, shouldn’t she be THRILLED with how this is working out? Does she want the public school system to be more Leftist and crazy than it is now?
My favorite part of the video, however, is the man near the beginning who starts talking about what a good thing it is that the Unions are so visible in all this. The Left needs to keep ripping off the masks and pushing aside the curtains and allowing Americans to see exactly what Unions are up to, so Americans can see just how much damage the Unions do to our economy (and, as a result, how many jobs the Unions cost Americans).
I wish I knew who said it, and exactly when, but I remember in college a political science professor reading our class something about “Unions always needing to be careful never to become identified too obviously with one political party, because when that happens it will be the end of both Unions and that party”.
Unions serve as the Left’s goon squad and the Democrat Party’s perpetual thugs.
If you are someone who doesn’t see this, I’d love for you to chime in below and tell me what good Unions do in the year 2011…particularly the public sector unions.
Hillbuzz Open Thread: October 21, 2011
Hillbuzz Nation, we at Buzzquarters will have to rely on you to keep the conversation going for awhile. We’re all having computer problems. Kevin’s PC was obliterated by a virus, and my beloved six-year-old iBook had a meltdown earlier today. The hard drive is damaged beyond repair, it would seem. Unlike Kevin, I’m not as good at posting from a cell phone, but I guess we’ll have to make it work for now.
We don’t spend a lot of time fundraising. Both Kevin and I lose money operating Hillbuzz in the best of times.
But if you enjoy what we do around here, and enjoy the community Kevin has created, we hope you’ll consider supporting us. If you’d like to help Kevin buy a new (or even a good used) laptop, please consider hitting his PayPal tip jar in the sidebar. If you’d like to help me buy a replacement hard drive, please buy an ad or three. You can reach thousands of super-cool conservative readers every week for as little as $11 a day.
Thanks as always for being a part of Team HB.
~Kathleen
Mitt Romney, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve: Crony Capitalism On Parade
My dad has a quaint saying that he picked up while he was serving on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal: “Money Talks and Sh*t Walks.”
So, what does the money say about Cocktail Party Establishment pick Mittens Romneycare–annoined the “frontrunner” by the Government-Controlled Media? And, by way of contrast, what does it say about GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul, whose media coverage blackout is so comically biased that it inspired a segment on The Daily Show and a three-day “Black This Out” fundraiser?
A recent independent analysis of fundraising by OpenSecrets.org reveals an interesting contrast between the employers of the top 3 sources of campaign contributions among the Top Tier candidates (yes, Ron Paul is #3 in fundraising among all GOP candidates–betcha didn’t read that in the Government-Controlled Media.)
Mittens Romneycare’s top contributors are employees of Goldman Sachs, recipient of over $3.8 billion in U.S. taxpayer bailouts, Credit Suisse Group (recipient of $287 billion in secret bailouts from the Federal Reserve), and Morgan Stanley, recipient of at least 31 secret loans from the Federal Reserve totaling billions of dollars.
Mitt Romney's Top Contributors
Mittens Romneycare is the status-quo choice of some of Wall Street’s worst offenders when it comes to sucking bailout money out of the pockets of U.S. taxpayers. Is it any wonder why the Government-Controlled Media is shoving this horror show of a candidate down our throats, while at the same time, gifting the Soros-Funded OWS Pee Party with 24/7 wall-to-wall “news” coverage?
It’s a SETUP, people.
The Government-Controlled Media is building up Mittens Romneycare knowing full well that it already has all the ammunition it needs to tear him right back down, using the Pee Party Pro-Testers complaints against Wall Street as “proof” that Mittens Romneycare is an evil, corrupt crony capitalist. (Which, incidentally, he is.)
GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul gets more donations from active-duty military than all other candidates combined. Photo H/T SpeakupUSA.com
In contrast, GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul’s top three groups of campaign contributors work for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and U.S. Navy.
Let me say that again. The top presidential candidate of members of our active-duty military is GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul. He beats ALL GOP candidates AND Barack Hussein Obama (who, incidentally, is not a Muslim.)
GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul has made a career fighting against federal government corruption and cronyism–particularly at the Federal Reserve. Most Americans think the Federal Reserve a government agency. But it’s actually a privately-owned central bank.
The Federal Reserve is allegedly supposed to regulate the value of the American dollar, and prevent booms, busts and bubbles. Like the mortgage bubble that has been destroying the U.S. economy for the past several years. But in reality, it’s simply a massive slush fund that facilitates massive corruption and intergenerational theft. It’s a tool of members of the Ruling Class like Barack Hussein Obama and Mittens Romneycare, whose campaigns are funded largely by banks whose employees sit on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve, as reported by ABC in a random act of journalism:
…the Federal Reserve consulted with [Obama donor] General Electric on the creation of a commercial paper funding facility and then provided $16 billion in financing to the company while its chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, served as a director on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Immelt is now President Obama’s “jobs czar.”
JP Morgan Chase could also have benefited from its chief executive Jamie Dimon’s position on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to the GAO. The bank received emergency loans from the Federal Reserve at the same time it served as the clearinghouse for the Fed’s emergency lending program.
The Federal Reserve gave JP Morgan Chase an 18-month exemption from risk-based leverage and capital requirements in 2008, the same year that the Fed gave it $29 billion to acquire Bear Stearns, according to the GAO.
Mittens Romneycare and Barack Hussein Obama are both cut from the same cloth. A Mittens Romneycare victory in November 2012 would be a continuation of the same crony capitalism that has bankrupted America and given real free-market capitalism a black eye.
So is it any wonder that the Government-Controlled Media (98% of whom are Democrats) gives Mittens Romneycare the label of “frontrunner” while giving GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul the least coverage of any candidate overall, according to the Pew Research Center?
Even GOP Frontrunner Sarah Palin supports Ron Paul in his bid to audit the Federal Reserve.
Once you understand the origins of the Federal Reserve, how the Fed benefits members of the Ruling Class like Barack Hussein Obama and Mitt Romney, government bailouts of top Democrat fundraisers on Wall Street, and “mainstream media” coverage, you get an entirely different picture of the GOP primary process.
Handpicked media darling Mittens Romneycare stands for the status quo–more bailouts, more crony capitalism, more Cocktail Parties. GOP Frontrunner Ron Paul want to slash the federal government’s budget by $1 trillion in his first year in office, end the Federal Reserve, and end the bailouts. And vastly different media coverage of both candidates is a direct reflection of this.
Learn more about the Federal Reserve here:
Hillbuzz Open Thread: October 20, 2011
Sorry for the late post! Busy day here at Buzzquarters.
What do your fellow members of the Anti-Obama Coalition need to know about today? What’s the scoop? What’s the skinny? What’s shakin’?
“I don’t think we know what we’re doing”
Rebel Pundit has the best videos from Chicago. I’m sorry I’m posting so many of these videos, but these filthy dirty commie hippies are just too entertaining. We are anonymous. We have fleas. Too funny.
Hillbuzz Open Thread: October 19, 2011
Another day, another open thread.
Have at it, Hillbuzz Nation.
What stories should we be reading?
What trends are you noticing?
What is the Government-Controlled Obama-Propaganda-Disguised-As-Fact Media covering up today?
How did the candidates perform in the GOP Western Debate on CNN?
These are just my impressions of the candidates based on their performances at the GOP CNN “Western Debate” tonight from Las Vegas. Please offer your own takes below in comments. It’s interesting to hear your own opinions.
Herman Cain: The winner of this debate in my opinion, since the agenda for both the Cocktail Party GOP establishment and the media is to destroy Cain…but Cain weathered these attacks well and seemed very presidential tonight. Of the candidates on the stage tonight, Cain is the only person who I am excited about campaigning for. He is the only candidate that I am willing to make the long drive to Iowa for, and the only candidate who I will suffer through the cold for to go canvassing door to door in the lead up to the Caucus. I think Herman Cain is the recipient of a great deal of racially motivated condescension and scorn from both the media and Mittens Romneycare personally. It’s very clear when Romneycare addresses or refers to Cain that he thinks Cain does not belong sharing a stage with him…that Romneycare is better than Cain. It really disgusts me when Mittens Romneycare does this and really revs me up to do anything I can to help Cain’s campaign. Mittens is at his smarmiest when attacking Cain, and it’s just stomach-turning.
Mittens Romneycare: Back in the 2008 election, I admit I was stymied by all the Republicans who said they would not help to elect John McCain and that they intended to sit the election out once he became the nominee because they were just so disgusted by the establishment and media foisting McCain onto Republicans as the nominee. This didn’t make any sense to me, because I thought every conservative out there should have been mobilized and energized to defeat Obama…I thought that meant they needed to put aside whatever issues they had with McCain because surely McCain was better than Obama.
Well, tonight I have to say that I finally understand where these people were coming from…because I probably feel about Mittens Romneycare what these people felt about John McCain. The smarminess, entitlement, and condescension emanating from Mittens Romneycare disgusts me. It is so clear that the Left wants Mittens to be the GOP nominee, and so clear that the Cocktail Party GOP establishment wants the same thing. This is the exact same situation we had in 2008 with McCain, folks. REPUBLICANS NEED TO STOP ALLOWING THE MEDIA, THE LEFT, AND THE COCKTAIL PARTY TO DETERMINE THE GOP NOMINEE.
I do not believe Mittens Romneycare will attack and repeal Obamacare.
I do not believe Mittens Romneycare will make the tough calls and take the political hits needed to actually eliminate illegal invasion of this country at our borders.
I do not believe Mittens Romneycare will do anything to fix our economy or create jobs.
Mittens Romneycare, like Obama before him, wants to be president just to be president and fully intends to allow the permanent political class to do whatever it wants. I think Mittens is the poster child for everything that is wrong with the Republican Party…he is so concerned with his image, and with getting favorable press, that he cannot be trusted to take firm stands and make tough decisions that are unpopular.
Watching Mittens in a debate is like watching an episode of Mad Men…he is an establishment candidate from another time, in a bad retro way that just doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t like watching Mad Men on TV, and I don’t want a Mad Men casting reject to be the next president.
Newt Gingrich: I can’t believe I am saying this, but Gingrich’s performances in the debates this years has actually wiped away 99% of the bad things I used to think about this man. I have now completely let go of the animosity I held in my heart for him because of what he did to his wife when divorcing her and how he behaved when he was Speaker of the House (and came off as very smarmy and condescending himself). I actually like Gingrich now and plan on reading his book and taking a very serious look at him for the first time ever. He is by far the most interesting speaker in the debates and is someone who shows great intelligence and depth in his remarks. I still have a major problem with him sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi advocating Al Gore’s Anthropogenic Global Warming cult and think he’s too much a part of the permanent political class to ever be trusted with the presidency….but I sure wouldn’t mind seeing him as Vice President in Herman Cain’s presidency. Just imagine a Cain/Gingrich ticket…with Cain’s leadership and Gingrich’s knowledge of Washington serving as a sort of Cheney-esque role in the Naval Observatory. At the very least, I want Gingrich in the next Cabinet. I would have never thought, in a million years, that I would have ever felt this way.
Rick Santorum: Ditto a lot of this for Santorum. He’s also someone I never liked in the past, but who has really redeemed himself in my eyes in the debates. I think he should be in the Senate again or should be a member of the next Cabinet, for sure. I want to see him in some sort of office so that he can be a candidate for president again in the future. I am actually starting to really like this man, despite my past feelings about him. He contributes a lot to the debates.
Rick Perry: I like Perry less and less with each debate. He comes off very amateurishly. Unlike a man like Cain who speaks so clearly and off the cuff, Perry just regurgitates canned lines he memorized during debate prep. This is as bad as Obama reading off his TelePrompTer. Perry was just not ready for the national stage. I also don’t trust him to do anything about illegal aliens since he hasn’t managed to do anything to curb illegal invasion across the Texas border. I don’t trust Perry, I don’t like his fumbling in the debates, and I don’t believe he will be able to turn this country around. I keep waiting for him to do something — ANYTHING — that would make me get excited about his campaign and make me believe in him, but every time he speaks it’s a let down. He reminds me of Mark Sanford a lot…another previously obscure Governor who a lot of conservative guys on the Internet claimed was going to be the next big thing…only to see him implode spectacularly.
Michele Bachmann: She will make an excellent Speaker of the House. That is the role I have always wanted for Bachmann. That is where I think her destiny lies. I want her focused on eliminating Obamacare and securing our borders as the next Speaker, replacing Boehner in 2013. I think she does very well in the debates but her failing is that she does not command the stage like she needs to and does not force the debate moderators to treat her like a first tier candidate. This is what’s hurting her.
Ron Paul: My good friend Kathleen is a Ron Paul supporter and I promised her I would keep an open mind to Paul and really listen to him in these debates, putting aside whatever bad impressions I had of Paul in the past. I have to say that Paul does himself an immense disservice by participating in these debates. He makes himself look incredibly crazy sometimes and actually hurts the other candidates on the stage as well, because he makes casual and Independent viewers believe the people sharing the stage with him are crazy too.
What comes to my mind when I see Ron Paul up on a stage is the sort of criticism I hear lobbed at the gay community for its Pride Parades, where eccentrics and oddities take to floats in June and give critics of the gay community ample ammunition for the whole next year because of all the outrageous drag queens, go-go boys, and other colorful types that draw attention to the extremes in the LGBTQAI community. Ron Paul is the Republican Party’s pride parade.
And he is a fool for not realizing this. If he really believed in the things he says and claims to support, then he’d put his ego aside, step down from the stage, and would shut up in public. Instead, he gives the Left endless sound bytes for the agenda-driven media to use when it wants to make conservatives seem crazy. I feel about Paul the way I feel about guys who climb up onto Pride Parade floats with their private parts hanging out of their shorts behaving so vulgar in public…I want to tell them all to climb down, wise up, and stop making the people around them look bad by behaving this way in front of the cameras.
I can see why people like Kathleen are attracted to the ideas behind Paul’s platform…but I wish Paul had someone in his inner circle with enough guts to tell him it’s time for him to get off the float, wise up, and find a new spokesperson for the things he believes in because every time he appears in public he not only hurts himself but also taints those around him as well.
Jon Huntsman: He was not at this debate, but yet remained as relevant as ever. Huntsman is not running for the Republican nomination but is instead on a vainglorious quest to become the 2012 version of Ross Perot and spoil the race by stealing just enough Republican votes to allow Obama to squeak to a second term. For this, Huntsman has been promised the Secretary of State position in Obama’s second term. If you don’t see this — or realize what Huntsman is doing — then I just don’t know what else I could say to make you appreciate what this man and the White House are up to.
What are your thoughts on the debate performances tonight?
CNN Western GOP Debate Live Blog Transcript
Here’s a link to where you can watch the CNN “Western GOP Debate” live via CNN.
Apparently, from advance reports featured across Drudge, the goal tonight for Mittens Romneycare and CNN is to attack Herman Cain.
The permanent political class has declared war on Herman Cain. By the Left’s typical logic — considering Cain is a black man — this means everyone attacking him is of course a racist.
Anderson Cooper is the moderator of the debate, which shouldn’t be allowed. Cooper is disingenuous in everything he does since he broadcasts from a glass closet. He’s gay, and is motivated in a lot of what he does from a gay perspective, but he isn’t open about it. This matters because when he attacks conservatives, he uses a lot of the talking points issued by the gay community, without acknowledging this is where the attacks are coming from. This is unfair to the politicians he attacks because it does not allow them the opportunity to really call Cooper out on the carpet for the lies and other garbage he repeats in his attacks.
The candidates are introducing themselves…and I am struck by just how smarmy Mittens Romneycare is. So entitled, believing the Cocktail Party GOP establishment has sewn the nomination up for him. He thinks he can’t lose, with the media pushing his candidacy and the permanent political class on both sides of the aisle working overtime to give the nomination to him.
First question from the audience: replacing the income tax with Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan
Bachmann: When you give Congress a new tax, it will never go away. How long before a Leftist president and Congress in the future run new taxes up to 90%. The other worry is a backdoor VAT that would add further secret taxes.
Cain: I encourage people to read our analysis. It is available at HermanCain.com — all the claims made against me are from people who have not read this. The reason that our plan is being attacked is because lobbyists, accountants, and politicians do not want to toss out the tax code and replace it with something simple. We need to throw out the ten million word mess and liberate the American people.
Santorum: Herman is well meaning but 80% of Americans would pay more under his plan with the sales tax, the income tax, and a VAT. He does not have any deductions or anything taking care of families. We have always wanted to encourage people to have children and we have given breaks to families. If you have Herman’s plan it will be like Europe and the birthrate will go down.
Cain: That simply is not true. Our analysis is available. To Bachmann, this is not a VAT. These are knee jerk reactions. If you read the analysis, we do have opportunity zones that address those who are making the least.
Bachmann: If at every level of production you have a tax, that is a VAT. That is a taxable event. Ultimately that becomes a VAT because it’s a hidden tax and every time the federal government needs the revenue they will dial up that rate.
Perry: Herman I love you brother but you don’t have to have a big analysis to figure this out. New Hampshire does not have a tax and you are gonna give em on. I’ll bump plans with ya brother, but if you want 9% on a new home, 9% on whatever, I don’t think so that ain’t gonna fly.
Cain: This is mixing apples and oranges. The state taxes is an apple, we are replacing it with an orange. This is not a value added tax. A loaf of bread already has five invisible taxes in it. We take those out and replace them with one visible tax.
Paul: It’s dangerous. It raises revenues. It’s regressive. A lot of people are not paying taxes and I like that. This will put taxes on these people and I don’t like that. What are you going to replace the income tax with? I say nothing. The wholesale price index went up today. Spending is the tax. I have offered a program to cut over one trillion out of my first year budget.
Cain: None of my distinguished colleagues understand the plan. We remove the hidden taxes and replace them with a single visible tax. I invite all families to do their own calculations on this.
Romneycare: If you permit, I ask Herman, will the state tax go away? Will the people in Nevada have to pay a state tax and the federal tax?
Cain: You are mixing apples and oranges.
Romneycare: I’ll be getting a bushel basket with apples and oranges and the people in Nevada don’t want to pay that. we have to talk about getting things growing again. We need to reduce taxes on employers and middle income families. Middle income people will see more taxes under your plan. I want to make sure the private sector opens up new markets for America. This is time to get America growing again and this is what my campaign is about.
(So smarmy when he talks…and very dismissive of Cain in a very disrespectful way)
Gingrich: Herman Cain deserves a lot of credit for the courage to go out there with a big idea at a very specific level. He gets us talking about something that matters instead of the usual junk that comes up in these things. If you take his plan there are a lot more complexities than Herman lets on, there’s a lot more detail than 9-9-9. I favor very narrow and focused tax cuts. Jobs are the number one focus. Change on this scale takes years to get through if done right.
Bachmann: Everyone needs to pay something in taxes, even if it is $1. I want to abolish the tax code, flatten it for all Americans, simplify it, and create job growth. To fuel the fire for this economy, we need tax code reform and also the regulatory burdens and lost jobs…repeal Obamacare and Dodd-Frank. Obama’s plan has been a plan for the destruction of this economy.
Cooper — let’s talk about Mittens Romneycare now.
Perry: Here’s the 9 we need to get focused on: it’s the 9% unemployment in this country. We need to create an environment where people get back to work. We have 300 years’ of resources under our feet but we have a government that is preventing us from bringing that to the surface. We need to put Americans to work and help them take care of their families. Americans need to understand we don’t have to wait on OPEC and allow them to hold us hostage. Let’s have American energy independence.
Romneycare: He’s right about energy independence. We are an energy rich nation that is acting like an energy poor nation. America produces an economy that is very very broad. It also includes trade policy, tax policy, and repealing Obamacare which is a burden on this economy.
Santorum: My plan has income mobility. People at the bottom of the income scale need the ability to rise. We have lost our manufacturing base and this is hurting people in the middle. Cut the corporate tax rate to zero. Repatriate money made overseas if invested in plants and equipment. Mitt doesn’t have credibility in repealing Obamacare because Romneycare was the basis of Obamacare.
Romneycare: (Very testy and condescending to Santorum) This is something I have talked about in every debate. I even wrote a book about it. Let me make it very clear. I was interviewed by Dan Balls and others if I would impose the Massachusetts plan on the nation. I have said that Obamacare is bad news and it is unconstitutional and that I would repeal it for the American people.
Santorum: The governor of Massachusetts just said he has to pick up the slack that was left by you, the top down government run program expanded the pool of access without addressing the costs and you are blowing up budgets up there. This is exactly what is happening with Obamacare.
Romneycare: What Obama has done is impose on the nation a plan that will not work and must be repealed.
Gingrich: There is a big difference between trying to solve problems from the top down and how to address the problems in a way that will actually work. There is a lot of big government involved in Romneycare that you don’t admit to.
Romneycare: We got the idea for the individual mandate from you.
Gingrich: That is not true. You got that from the Heritage Foundation.
Romneycare: We don’t have a government insurance plan. We rely on private insurers. The best way to make markets work is to buy products from private enterprises. If states don’t like a program they can change it.
Bachmann: Obamacare is so flat out unpopular that even the Obama administration is trying to toss parts out. Secretary Sebelius even wants to repeal it because it doesn’t work.
[ Commercial break: 730pm CST ]
NOTE: The disrespect shown to Herman Cain by Mittens Romneycare is disgusting. While watching this, I just kept imagining what the agenda-driven media would do if Romneycare was acting this way towards Obama…there would be nonstop shouts of RAAACISM! in every paper and on every network in the morning. Mittens Romneycare and — to some extent — Rick Perry really do treat Cain differently than the others on the stage, and really do condescend to him. It’s revolting.
Net result is that I like Cain more and more every time I hear him speak. I like Perry less and less in every debate and think he fumbles and bumbles through prepared talking points. I have never liked Mittens Romneycare for many reasons, but largely because he’s the Cocktail Party establishment’s clear pick and he’s the Republican the Left and media are pushing. But his mistreatment of Cain sickens me. Mittens comes off as smarmy, conceited, and very hostile towards the lone black man on the stage. It’s horrible to watch Romneycare smirk and smarm when addressing Cain. VERY DISRESPECTFUL.
Cain: There is no aspect of Obamacare that should be kept. It is a disaster. HR3400 was introduced in 2009. Instead of government being imposed on our system, we need market and patient driven reform. To allow loser pay laws. To allow insurance to be sold across state lines. We need patients and doctors to make decisions and not government.
Perry: Well, in Texas we have got one of the finest healthcare systems in the world, just in Houston alone. We have a 1200 mile border with Mexico and have a huge number of illegals coming into the country because there is a magnet called jobs. Those people who hire illegals need to be penalized. Mitt, you hired illegals in your own home and it’s the height of hypocrisy to hear you talk about immigration.
Romneycare: I never hired an illegal in my life. I’m speaking. I’m speaking. This is how the rules work. Anderson! Anderson! Are you going to let me talk? This is has been a tough couple of debates here for Rick so he’s getting testy. My time is this, when I was Governor, I took the time to empower the police to enforce immigration laws. You give $100,000 in tuition breaks to illegals. Texas is a magnet for illegals.
Perry: You stood here in front of the American people and did not tell the truth that you had illegals working for you on your property. The idea that you can stand here and talk about any of us having an immigration issue is just beyond me.
Romneycare: You wrote an op-ed saying you were for amnesty. I hired a lawn care company and when we found out they had illegals we let them go. We went to the company and we said you can’t have illegals working for you and so I fired them. It is hard in this country for homeowners to know if the people working for them as contractors are illegal. That’s why we need an e-verify system.
Cooper: will you order completion of the border fence with Mexico?
Cain: Allow me to give a serious answer. I believe we should secure the border for real: a fence, technology, and boots on the ground. I do not apologize at all for wanting to protect American citizens. Shut the back door, promote the front door, enforce the immigration laws already on the books. Empower the states to do what the federal government is not doing to enforce these laws.
Perry: We can build a fence, but it will take 15 years and billions of dollars. The way you really stop the illegal activities along the border is to put boots on the ground. You use predator drones and real time info to give the boots on the ground that information and to shut that border down and secure that border. To make America safe from the Iranians who are using the drug cartels to attack the country.
Bachmann: What about Obama’s uncle and aunt who are illegal and allowed to stay in this country? I am the only candidate who said I will build a double fence along the border because every year it costs this country 113 Billion for illegal aliens. It costs every household $1000 a year to care for illegals. I will build this fence and enforce English as the official language of this country.
Perry: You can build that fence, but by the time the fence gets built there is a lot better way than to stand here and say we are just going to build a fence and wipe our hands with it. The federal government has failed miserably to defend and protect that border. We have had to deal with this issue in the state of Texas and the impact on our state. I have put more than $400 million of resources on the ground protecting that border.
Romneycare: every single person here loves legal immigration. We respect people who come here legally. There are 4.5 million people in line who want to come here legally. To secure the border, we need a fence, we need boots on the ground to protect the fence, and we turn off the magnets that draw people here illegally. California and Florida have had no increase in illegal immigration but Texas is up 60%.
Perry: There is a magnet of people who hire illegals, and Mitt is one of the problems, he’s hiring illegals.
Audience: We have 50 million Latinos and not all of us our illegal, what do you feel about Latinos?
Gingrich: There are hundreds of different groups who come to America. We are the most open in history to immigration. Most Latinos are not immigrants and most were born in the United States. They want the same things that everyone wants. I think we have to have the same message for every American of every ethnic background. You will know it’s working because you will have a job and a chance to take care of your family.
Paul: I think a fence is symbolic. I think we need to remove the incentives to illegal immigration. In order to attract Latino votes, for too long this country has penalized or rewarded people for being in groups. We need to see everyone as individuals. If you have a free and prosperous society this group mentality should wash away. One place where we have disparity is in the court system.
Cain: My message to Latinos, blacks, whites, and all Americans is that we must start with boosting the economy that is one life support. If we have this economy growing we can take care of families and their American dream.
Perry: Truly, the plan I laid out last week about the energy industry and the treasure trove of resources we have in this country. I talked to Brian Sandoval the other day because the administration wants to see gas prices up to the European model and that the president wants to skyrocket electricity rates. If you get Americans working, the fastest way to do it is to pull back the regulations and get Americans working on energy independence.
Bachmann: I think there is a very real issue with magnets in this country and anchor babies. I was just in Arizona this weekend because when someone comes illegally across the border just to have a baby and all the welfare issues attach to that baby. This is an issue we can deal with legislatively in terms of anchor babies.
Santorum: We need to address family, faith, and marriage. The basic building block of society is a family. The Latino community understands the importance of faith and family. There is a lot going on in this country that is eroding our religious traditions and our family. We keep running roughshod over faith and family and someone needs to stand up for them.
Paul: Rights don’t come in bunches. I want to add about border control and the Latino vote. We need more border guards and I ask where our resources are. We worry more about the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We need those troops on our own border.
Audience: Yukka Mountain question
Gingrich: We need to find a safe method of handling nuclear waste. We have small units all across the country that is vastly more dangerous than keeping it in a very deep place. I am not a scientist. Yukka Mountain was selected by scientists as the safest place to keep this waste. It is unfortunately become very politicized in this state.
Romneycare: 49 states should not tell Nevada that they are going to put nuclear waste here and the federal government should not jam it down their throats. Other states should come up with plans to be compensated for hosting the waste. There should be a geological place that is safe that people will be compensated for hosting this waste.
Perry: When you think about France who gets 70% of energy from nuclear power that they have a glassification and innovation in this regard, Congressman Paul would allow the states to compete on this. We need to have a discussion on the 10th amendment and we don’t need to be subsidizing energy in any fashion. Some state out there will see the economic issue and have it in their state.
Audience: real estate bubble…how to fix foreclosures
Santorum: Market is decimated. Problem is that Perry and Romney supported TARP. They wrote letters saying to support the plan. This started the ball rolling. You guys complain about Romny flip flopping, this was the government trying to fix the market and manage decline. People who did things that were wrong and took bad risks are not getting hurt because their houses are losing value.
Perry: Rick has this wrong. We asked the government to ask. Not to pass TARP. I will get you the copy of that letter so that you can understand it.
Santorum: You sent a letter saying to vote for this plan. TARP was the only plan in play. That’s what your letter was about passing.
Perry: I know what my intention was. I was never for TARP.
Romneycare: Washington thinks it knows better than markets how to deal with the economy. These kinds of actions on government have never worked. The best we can do is to get the economy going.
Cain: I have said before that we were in a crisis in 2008 with the financial meltdown. I supported TARP but then the administration did a lot of things with it that were not spelled out at first and I then voiced my opposition to what they were doing.
Bachmann: What I want to say is that every day I am out somewhere talking to moms and when you talk about housing and foreclosures you talk about women who are at the end of their rope who are losing their nest and their family. Husbands through no fault of their own are losing their houses and I want to say one thing to moms across America that Obama has failed you on housing and foreclosures. I will not fail you. I will turn this country around. That’s how you turn this country around. Hold on moms it is not too late.
Cain: I stand by the statement that if you do not have a job and are not rich blame yourself. Wall Street didn’t waste one trillion dollars. You need to take your frustration out on the White House. They are blaming the wrong people with this Occupy Wall Street.
Paul: Mr. Cain blames the victims of this business cycle. I would go to Washington as well as Wall Street and I would blame the Federal Reserve. The bailouts come from both parties. They say the bailouts were needed or the world would come to an end. If you had to give money out, you should have given it to people who were losing their homes.
Cain: Paul is partly right but is mixing problems. The way TARP was administered was not right. What do the protestors want from Wall Street? To be given checks? You need to take the protests to the White House.
Paul: Government can’t manage anything properly. Nobody suffers any consequences in Washington. But the people who lose their jobs and their homes take all the consequences.
Romneycare: We can spend our time talking about things that happened three years ago, or we can talk about the president who failed us for three years. On every issue the administration has made it harder for people to find work. In the last three years, median income has dropped, the president is out there campaigning and not governing. This is time to have someone who understands how the economy works and to grow jobs and become the envy of the world. I know how to do it.
[ Commercial Break #2 ]
NOTE: It’s funny, but neither the White House nor the agenda-driven media realize how much damage the Occupy Wall Street protestors are doing to the Democrat Party brand. People see Communists and the Labor Unions out there amongst throngs of people who shout about how much they hate America, and this is all being tied indelibly to the Democrat Party brand. The White House and the media are encouraging the Occupy Wall Street people, but they have no sense at all of how much the visuals of this are driving Independents further away from the Democrat Party.People like Anderson Cooper in the agenda-driven media are encouraging these Occupy Wall Streeters — who hate America — while at the same time Cooper and company attack the Tea Party — that loves America — and the Left just doesn’t see that the vast majority of Americans love this country and are going to permanently turn on the party that’s siding with the America-haters.
[ Return from commercial break ]
Email question: With Robert Jeffers controversy, should candidate’s faith shape debate? This is about Mormonism being a cult.
Santorum: Voters should pay attention to a candidate’s values and what they stand for. What does a faith teach us about a person’s morals and belief structure. I am a Catholic and there are teachings about what is right and wrong. I try to be a faithful Catholic and there are things that relate to how I live my life and what I think is best for this country.
Gingrich: well, I think Faith does matter. How can you have a country founded on truths that say we are creating with unalienable rights without faith being important in this country. There is a very central part in our faith in terms of how we approach public life. I wonder how you can have judgment if you don’t have faith. Who you pray to or how you do it is between you and God but “endowed by our creator” does set a boundary about who we should have in office.
Perry: I can no more remove my faith than I can remove that I am the son of a tenant farmer. I did not agree with the individual’s statement about Romney. This country is based on these values that are so important going forward. The idea that we should not have our freedom of religion is wrong. We should be allowed to express opinions and I do not agree with all opinions. What people have lost faith in is the current occupant of the White House.
Romneycare: What was most troubling about what was said about me is that we should choose people based on their religion for public office. The founders went to great length that we should not choose people based on their religion. We should have tolerance for other people and faiths. It’s that principle that I wanted Perry to tell Jeffers he was wrong about. I don’t suggest people distance themselves from that faith.
Perry: I’ve already said I don’t agree with Jeffers’ remarks and I can’t say that anymore. I’ve said it already.
Question: Would you cut defense spending?
Bachmann: $500 BILLION is what the questioner mentioned. We saw an international assassination attempt from Iran on American soil. They disrespect the United States so much that they would attempt this here. The current president has engaged American troops in a FOURTH CONFLICT. This is how disrespected the United States is in the world today. He has taken the eyes off the number one issue in the world…Iran getting a nuclear weapon. We must stand up against Iran and we will be respected again in the world when I am president. Defense spending should be on the table but this president is stretching us too thinly. We cannot cut by $500 BILLION.
Gingrich: Look at the Super Committee idea in Washington. They are stupid, but they do things to claim they are only semi stupid. Historically illiterate politicians trying to make a numeric value about our military is stupid. We need to figure out where our threats are. I am a hawk but I am a cheap hawk. It is suicidally stupid to put the security of the United States at risk because of an arbitrary budget number.
Cooper asks Paul about eliminating Cabinet positions and departments.
Paul: I don’t want to cut any defense. I want to eliminate costs like keeping troops in Korea, Japan, and Germany. We are broke and can’t afford this. The debt bubble is imploding on us. It is going to get much worse. To cut military spending is wise. We would be safer if we eliminated the empire. We have an empire and we are doing this to ourselves. The Soviet Empire went broke by going into Afghanistan and look where we are.
Cain: We should not negotiate with terrorists. I think every situation needs to consider all the facts. I don’t think we can say on the surface whether Netanyahu did the right thing or not.
Santorum: You can’t negotiate with terrorists, period. To address the issues of spending, I would not cut one penny of military spending. The federal government has a first duty to protect us. We should have all the resources in place to defend our borders and when we engage in foreign countries we need to succeed. We need military not political objectives. Iran sent a message….they went after Saudi Arabia and the United States…it was a call to say that Iran is going to be the supreme leader of the Islamic world and they did it in coordination with Central and South Americans.
Paul: We have too many bases around the world. We have more weapons than every country put together. I want to hear someone up here willing to cut something, something real. No one is going to invade this country. They can’t even shoot a missile at us.
Audience: Why are we sending so much foreign aid when we can’t help our own people?
Perry; We need to have a very real debate about foreign aid. It is time for us to defund the United Nations. When you think about the Palestinian Authority circumventing the Oslo Accords to create conflict in New York without going through proper channels is a travesty. We need to have the debate about why we are funding the UN.
Romneycare: Foreign aid has several elements. One is defense. Part of it is humanitarian aid. I don’t think it makes sense to borrow from the Chinese to pay for this aid. Let the Chinese do it. There is aid going to Pakistan to supply troops in Afghanistan. We need to get rid of Obamacare, turn Medicaid back to states, cut federal employment back 10%. We link public service salaries to private sector and say we will not pay these people more than private citizens.
Paul: Foreign aid is taking money from the poor in this country and giving it to the rich in other countries. I would cut all foreign aid to every country. We spent billions on Egypt and look what’s happened there. Aid makes Israel dependent on us.
Bachmann: We should not cut foreign aid to Israel. Israel is our greatest ally. Obama is the first president to put daylight between the United States and Israel. We should look to Iraq and Libya to be reimbursed for what we did to liberate them.
Cain: We must never negotiate with terrorists. For foreign aid, I cite Reagan’s approach. Let’s clarify who are friends are and who the enemies are, and stop giving money to our enemies.
Paul: Who here will condemn Reagan for giving arms to Iran?
Santorum: We’ve negotiated for hostages with lots of countries like the Soviet Union.
Gingrich: Reagan thought the Iranian deal was a terrible mistake.
[ Commercial Break 830pm CST...up next, who has the best chance to beat Obama in 2012 ]
NOTE: There really needs to be some sort of forum without Romneycare, Paul, and Perry in it…I would love to see a debate with just Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, and Santorum. The world knows enough about Romneycare, Paul, and Perry. After every one of these debates, I hunger for more information about Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, and Santorum. I never feel like I want to hear more from Romneycare, Paul, or Perry.
Full disclosure: I have to admit that I am someone who used to HATE Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, but through their debate performances this year, I’ve actually come to like and respect both of them.
[Commercial ends ]
Who can beat Obama in the election?
Cooper pushed a poll saying Romneycare has the best chance of beating Obama….Santorum got just 1%.
Santorum: This poll is irrelevant because few Americans can name any of us, they aren’t paying attention to the election yet. I won the state of Pennsylvania, a state that’s Democrat and that Bush lost. No one on this stage has won a swing state as conservative. Romneycare has run as everything under the sun. I ran for re-election having sponsored welfare reform and as a moral and fiscal conesrvative.
Romneycare: I think the people of America are looking for someone who can beat Obama and get the country on the right track. We need someone who hasn’t spent his life in politics. NOTE: Here is the lie Romneycare likes to tell, ignoring that he was governor and claiming he spent his life in the private sector. The fact is that Romneycare was not in office longer only because he kept losing all his elections, except for the single time he won, that one term as Massachusetts governor.
Romneycare: Rick Perry was part of Al Gore’s presidential campaign. He allows illegal aliens into Texas.
Perry: That’s incorrect. Texas has led the nation in job creation. Ebay, Caterpillar, and others came to Texas. I have experience, and you failed as the Governor of Massachusetts.
Romneycare: I have a better record in my term of Governor than you do. The American people will be happy with an individual who created jobs and has been in the economy. I will use this skill to get America working again.
Cain: I should be president. Governor Romney has a distinguished career. The difference is that Romney is Wall Street and I am Main Street. I have managed small companies and worked with groups of businessmen. Between me and Obama, it would be the Problem Solver who fixes stuff versus the President who didn’t do anything.
Romneycare: I was chief executive officer four times, one was a financial services company, one was the Olympics, one was a consulting company, and one was a Governor.
Bachmann: Obama will be a one term president. Listen to Reagan, no pastels, only bold colors. This is a race to pick the next president. I am the most different from Obama.
Gingrich: Go to Newt.org and look at my plan to defeat Obama decisively and reestablish a conservative America on our values.
Cooper: the campaigns say it is time to end this debate…..
DEBATE ENDS
