Live Blog Transcript: GOP Florida Debate on NBC – January 23rd, 2012 at 9pm EST/8pm CST
What: Republican presidential debate in Florida
When: Tonight — Monday January 23rd, 2012
Time: 9pm EST/8pm CST
Where: NBC
How to Watch: Livestream can be found here. Note: NBC has one of the worst track records in providing a reliable Internet stream to watch these debates. I can’t recall a single time they’ve hosted one where the stream worked properly. So cross your fingers.
Alternate streams: National Journal or TampaBay.com
I’ll live-blog-transcribe the debate once it starts at 9pm EST and 8pm CST. Refresh this page every ten minutes for updates.
Where do things stand?
Governor Sarah Palin, while still not officially endorsing Speaker Gingrich, continues to run interference for him and smack back at the Romneycare surrogates who’ve been ganging up on him since his blowout win on Saturday in South Carolina. Today, Governor Palin punched Christ Christie in the face for “making a rookie mistake” and falling right into the media’s hands in attacking Gingrich. It is crystal clear that Governor Palin is signaling her supporters to vote for Gingrich and help him all they can — though I don’t presume to know if or when the Governor will make an official endorsement in the primaries. What she’s doing is enough to affirm my 100% support for Newt Gingrich in this race.
The Cocktail Party GOP establishment and Willard Mittens Romneycare are rattled, with Mittens running hostile attack ads against Gingrich in Florida (in addition to sending his attack dogs like Pawlenty and Christie as minions to attack Gingrich by proxy).
Pawlenty is getting more face time than ever — as he seems to believe he’d be Mittens’ top VP choice if Romneycare becomes the nominee (he’s wrong, of course, but Pawlenty’s not where he is in life by being right all that often).
It smacks as great desperation from him, and the Cocktail Party itself. Clearly the Tea Party has awakened and is defying the Cocktail Party again; the media, of course, is siding with the Cocktail Party in the effort to push Mittens to the nomination as he will be the weakest general election candidate against Obama.
Rasmussen has Gingrich at 41 in Florida to 32 for Romneycare, with 11% for Santorum, 8% for the Fifth Dimensional imp known as Luap noR!, and 9% of Floridians who have no concept of what’s going on or that there’s a primary.
Gallup now has Gingrich and Romneycare essentially tied nationally.
Insider Advantage has Gingrich winning 34 to Romneycare’s 25, with Luap noR! at 13 and Santorum at 11.
It looks like Romneycare is using Santorum the way Obama used Edwards in 2008…as a vote-splitting spoiler who is staying in the race in hopes of landing a Cabinet position of some kind in the end.
Will Republican voters see through this and can the Tea Party mobilize to prevent the Cocktail Party GOP establishment from gaming this race for Romneycare?
We’ll get more clues at tonight’s debate. I’m so excited about watching Gingrich in action tonight my boyfriend Justin and I splurged on a honey-baked ham and have invited friends over for Newt Debate Watch Party. Just so you know, we don’t get a honey-baked ham for just anybody or anything…but celebrating the Cocktail Party GOP establishment’s big defeat on Saturday and hoping for a repeat in Florida this week is a big enough deal to us to get a honey-baked ham to snack on as we watch the debate tonight.
Are you as excited for this as I am?
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HotAir thinks it will be the nastiest debate yet and that Willard “Mittens” Romneycare will be in attack mode. Do you think Mittens will be that stupid? When he attacks, he comes off as smug and brittle. He can’t be that dumb, can he, to think voters are going to like seeing more of that side of him? We’ll know in a few minutes I guess.
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756pm CST: Waiting for the debate to start…hoping the TampaBay.com feed works. If you know of other feeds besides the three I have linked above, please add them in comments so that we have back-ups.
Uggh. Brian Williams is moderating. He’s the worst moderator of the bunch, and that’s saying something.
Note: there should never, ever be more than 4 people in a debate. I think 4 is the perfect number to hear from everyone.
Brian mentions that Santorum, Romneycare, and Gingrich all won one contest.
– Electability question (the dumbest word of the 2012 campaign season) –
First question to Gingrich
GINGRICH: In 1980, when Reagan was 30 points behind and the GOP establishment called it voodoo exonomics, Reagan won the debates and the nomination and the election and won more states than FDR over Hoover. Need courage to stand up to the Washington establishment and make it uncomfortable. People not sending someone to manage decay but to change Washington.
First off, when I was Speaker we had four consecutive balanced budgets. Most people think that’s good. We had low unemployment and we reformed welfare. I took responsibility for the 1998 election and I did not want to stay around for the Nancy Pelosi days. We achieved conservative values with me as Speaker with a Democrat president.
ROMNEYCARE: Well, i think it comes down to leadership. You choose the person who will lead the free world and it’s about leadership. The Speaker led the party in 1994 and then resigned in disgrace. I went to my first job in the 1970s and in the 1990s the Speaker resigned in disgrace. I went on to run the Olympics games. I turned around the Olympics and turned around Massachusetts. The Speaker sat on a sofa with Nancy Pelosi. We have very different perspectives and leadership and how to get elected and to get the country right.
GINGRICH: I will not chase Romney’s misinformation. He just said about four things that were false and you can check on my website. This is the worst kind of trivial politics. We have an ad where Huckabee and McCain talk about how Romney can’t tell the truth.
ROMNEYCARE: I had a great record in New Hampshire. They overwhelmingly support me there. I can be President of New Hampshire if I want. Let’s go back to what the Speaker mentions. Don’t take my word as facts. The Members of the Speaker’s own team moved to replace him and 88% of Republicans wanted to reprimand him. This is the first time that a Speaker has resigned. At the end of his term he was at 18%. We suffered historic losses. And his contract with Freddie Mac was provided by Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac paid Gingrich millions of dollars and cost people of Florida millions.
– Brian says that Romney is being negative and has said that he didn’t want to be negative, so why is he doing this tonight?
ROMNEYCARE: There are two ads run by Gingrich that are false, and he can’t control those ads, so I am going to point out things that he needs to know because there are Republicans who replaced the Speaker while Floridians were suffering.
GINGRICH: Wait a second, he just went on and on and on. He is a terrible historian. The vote on the ethics committee was in January 1997 and I asked the Republicans to vote YES to get it behind us. We took control of the House in 40 years and the Democrats were bitter. The only thing we did wrong was that I didn’t pay one fine but then I paid it and I wanted it behind us. We had four balanced budgets after that vote. You ought to do is stop and look at those facts. We won the House for the third time in 1998 but the margin was not big enough. In 2006 when you chaired the Governor’s association we lost governorship so as a party builder I have the record and you don’t.
SANTORUM: Well, I think, uh, that any type of prediction in this election is wrong. It is not a two person race. We want a positive vision for this country. We need to present a very clear contrast and make Obama the issue in this race. Someone who has a bold vision and reach out to voters and like how I ran in Pennsylvania. We have not won that state once since 1988 and I won it twice. I like to talk about manufacturing and touch stones and faith and family and jobs and limited government. That message connected in a state like Florida. That sets me apart from anyone else on the stage.
Well, I lost an election in 2006 but other people lost too and it was a historic loss. It was a meltdown year. I ran against a headwind. A lot of folks crouch down. I stood tall and for what I believe in. I talked about Iran and social security and medicare and no one wanted to talk about that. I ran against a president who was 35% favorable. I wanted to fight and win the war in Iraq. One thing worse than losing is not standing for principles that you hold.
Luap noR!: (Asked about third party) I don’t daydream about being in the White House. Let’s talk about electability and I am doing well for 30-years and younger. I do better than Obama in that group. There has been three races and I think it’s a stretch to say I am not electable. We have a pretty good chance of getting Iowa delegates. It was a straw vote and the delegates are what counts. About 1997, I was out of Congress, and then I was out and back in and it was a mess for 12 years and Newt had a tough job and he did it boldly. He didn’t not run for Speaker two years later he just didn’t have the votes, so he didn’t reneg and didn’t leave it was not how it was.
Well, I have done a lot of going my own way in my lifetime. I have no plans or intention and do not want to run third party but I am not an absolutist and no I don’t have any plans to run third party. You know, Gingrich keeps hinting at hitting the Fed and going for gold, but we need to talk foreign policy.
GINGRICH: I like endorsements from Texas, I got one from Perry on Friday. I issued a Gold Commission call and have people in high caliber to chair a commission. There are areas we can work on, though we disagree on others. Frankly we can work together more than anyone can work with Barack Obama.
– Romneycare asked about only releasing last two years of tax returns but hiding 2008 and 2009 –
ROMNEYCARE: No surprises, Brian. I have financial disclosures. I am laying out what my assets are. Income tax will show I have profits and rewards. Real question is who is going to help American people on taxes. I want to eliminate the tax on savings, interest, dividends, and capital gains. And I will lower corporate tax and reshape the complex and intrusive tax code. Akin to Bowle-Simpson plan. We need to get the rates down and a pro-growth tax policy in this country. I am sure people will talk about my taxes. I pay my legal requirement and not a dollar more. Will there be discussion? Yes. I am proud of the fact that I pay a lot of taxes. i would like to focus on growing the country and getting people back to work. Let’s get people in jobs again.
GINGRICH: It is right to release taxes, as it’s a tradition his father started in 1968. He pays a 15% marginal rate. I have a Hong Kong model that includes 15% flat tax — I’d like to bring everyone else down to Mitt’s rate and have 0% capital gains. If you create enough jobs for capital gains, create a maximum number of jobs to put Americans back to work.
– asked about 12 years worth of returns —
ROMNEYCARE: That’s not something I am going to do, 12 years. No, I will put out 2 years. That’s the right number. I will not release all 12 years, no.
NOTE: He’s hiding 2008 and 2009 because he made money off of the financial collapse.
ROMNEYCARE: I will not apologize for being successful. I built it the old fashioned way. I helped businesses that grew. I started Staples. I am proud of that. Sports Authority. Steel Dyamics. Nature of America is to pursue dreams while making other people better off. I believe Free Enterprise is something to reinvigorate in this country.
– Romney says it’s not fair to attack in primaries because Democrats will do that in the general election –
SANTORUM: I believe in capitalism and free markets. I believe Romney can go out and earn everything he can. But to be a great defender of capitalism and free markets, there’s constructive and destructive capitalism. If you believe in capitalism so much then why support the bailout of Wall Street? You pay a price in capitalism. You should have allowed them to go through the bankruptcy process. We would not have seen the lengthy recession and depression of the housing market. Companies that make mistakes and are not competitive should fail and not have the American people prop them up.
GINGRICH: If you read the contract of my Center for Health Transformation for consulting work, it is not lobbying. There is no lobbying and I was never paid for lobbying. The fact is that Rick Lazio and JC Watts have confirmed I was never a lobbyist. People need to vote no and not give Freddie Mac any money. There is a point in this process where things get unncecessarily nasty and that’s sad. I have never ever gone and done any lobbying. We brought in an expert on lobbying law and he will testify that we never crossed the line into lobbying because I do not want this defamatory charge to be made.
ROMNEYCARE: You were paid $300,000 as a historian. That adds up to $1.6 million over 6 years. They don’t pay historians for that. You were hired by the CEO. You also spoke publicly in favor of these GSE– government sponsored entities — you could have spoken out aggressively but insetad you were being paid by Freddi Mac, you made a million when Florida lost millions.
GINGRICH: Your income from Bain was not Bain’s income. You can’t cite my company’s income as mine. That’s what my company was paid, not me. In the early years, before Jim Johnson and others at Freddie Mac changed the model some good was done.
ROMNEYCARE: I don’t know things but I presume it was 100% owned by you.
GINGRICH: What’s the gross revenue of Bain while you worked there? Did Bain do any work with the government?
ROMNEYCARE: We have Congressmen who came and said that you lobbied them.
GINGRICH: Hold on friend, you just jumped a long area here. No, let me be very clear. I understand your technique because you use this consistently. It’s not going to work because the American public sees through you. The US government was not prepared to give people anything like insulin, but they would pay for kidney dialysis. I am proud to have advocated for Medicare Part D because it gives people choices. It is not correct Mitt to describe public advocay and citizenship as lobbying — that is my right as a citizen.
ROMNEYCARE: If your entities are getting paid by health companies and you then meet with Republican Congressmen you have a conflict. You spent now 15 years in Washington on K Street and this is a problem and you had a record of great disgrace as the speaker.
– Commercial Break –
NOTE: Romneycare is hiding something from 2008 and 2009. He is deliberately fighting the release of those years of taxes. Listen to what he says: he says that in 2008 he released “20 years of tax returns”…so that would be 1987-2007 returns. Now he says he will release 2010 and 2011 returns. But he WON”T release the last 12 years of returns which would include the years 2008 and 2009. Do you see this? Do you see how he is trying to hide 2008 and 2009. You need to ask WHY those years are being hidden.
836pm CST — back from break
SANTORUM: Several of us in the Senate saw the problems with Freddie and Fannie. We wanted to constrain them and Harry Reid fought that. I signed a letter saying that we needed to stop this filibuster of the reform of Fannie and Freddie. We needed to constrain these behemoths. Problem now is what to do about it. Let capitalism work. Allow these banks to realize their losses. I have five areas where I allow tax deductions. You should deduct losses from the sale of your home. You need to give people the freedom to get out from under their houses.
LUAP NOR: Well, the government owes people a free market and a sound monetary system. Things compound credit lines to the federal reserve. In addition to that there was insult to injury. Interest rates are too low. I introduced legislation before the bubble burst but the bubble was easily seen and consequences anticipated. What do you do when you come upon a mess that the government created. Our policies in Washington have been to stimulate houses and keep prices up. Almost everyone in Washington and all in the sphere do not believe in price controls but they want to get into a room with a bunch of guys and create a mess. The debt has to be liquidated because there are monsters in that and the Federal Reserve and the TARP funds and the bad debt and the dumping on the tax payers and the debt on the books and Japan not recxovering and who is creating the business cycle and not get under it.
ROMNEYCARE: Get government out of the mess. Help people get more flexibility. Get rid of Dodd Frank. Get economy going again. Get unemployment under control.
GINGRICH: Repeal Dodd Frank tomorrow. The fact is, Dodd Frank has led the biggest banks to get bigger. Federal regulators are crippling small business lending. Repeal Dodd Frank tomorrow. When you put that much power in the Treasury under Geithner it leads to corruption, big banks getting bigger, it’s a bad idea.
ROMNEYCARE: Poorly regulated before the collapse. You need regulation. There are different classes of assets. Derivatives were not up to date. Dodd-Frank makes it almost impossible for community banks. There are hundreds of lawyers working on this. It is killing the residential home market.
– 3am phone call question…what if Castro will die –
ROMNEYCARE: First off, you thank Heavens that Castro is returned to his maker in another land. Then you work aggressively with the the new Cuba. We just had Wilmer Someone who died for democracy. Obama is wrong. We want to stand with the people of CUBA. We will fight for democracy.
– asked wet foot, dry foot –
GINGRICH: I don’t think Fidel will meet his maker…he will go to another place. Our policy should be to overthrow the regime. Obama is infatuated with an Arab Spring but not a Cuban Spring. Reach out to every Cuban who wants to be free and tell the younger generation that a Gingrich presidency will not tolerate four more years of a dictatorship. Use covert operations and the things that Reagan, Thatcher, and Pope John Paul did to the Soviet Empire.
LUAP NOR!: I would do the opposite. I don’t like isolationism. The Cold War is over. We propped up Castro for 40 years. Castro used us as a scapegoat. Quit isolationism. We talked to the Soviets and the Chinese and Vietnamese. Why don’t we talk to Cuba? I would think Cubans want to have freedom there. Maybe we can send them packages and visit them. We should talk to the Cuban people. We don’t have to use force and intimidation and try to overthrow governments.
SANTORUM: Cuba is 90 miles off our shore. There are no Chinese people there. Sanctions should continue until Castro is there and then we will give them mountains of aid once they get rid of the Castro Brothers. We need to have a solid offer to come forward and help the Cuban people. There are Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraugauns who want to work with Iran and have platforms 90 miles off our coast. This is a serious threat that will not go away until we confront the threat and convince the Cuban people to change their government.
– Abe Lincoln carrier in Strait of Hormuz –
ROMNEYCARE: That’s an act of war. We can control the air and the seas. Our Navy has been shrunk. Obama is building only 9 ships a year when we need 15. We want to show people we have lots of air craft carriers. We want to show people we will keep the sea lanes open.
GINGRICH: The American people never have an interest in wanting to go to war. We want peace and stability but we have a historic commitment to freedom of the sea. The IRanians are practicing and taunting us and Obama cancels the military exercise with Israel; dictatorships respond to strength and not weakness. Obama makes them think we are weak.
ROMNEYCARE: We need to beat the Taliban. We need to turn Afghanistan and sovereignty and do things that we can accomplish in the next few years. This president has made it difficult, he announced a withdrawal date and he eliminated troops and he did not supervise the election. He failed in all ways in Afghanistan.
LUAP NOR: I think the question is whether you would go to war and Mitt would go to war, but the preliminary act for war would be a blockade. Can you imagine if someone was blockading the Gulf of Mexico. Iran needs Hormuz as much as we do. You have to have perspective. It is an act of war to blockade a country and we are doing that. I think that people are wrong about WWII and that we won it quickly and had a declaration of war. No one wants a hot war in Iran right now.
– Break at 854pm CST –
If you are reading this, your help is needed. There is something up with Romney’s 2008 and 2009 tax returns. Why won’t he show THOSE. My gut tells me he made a lot of money in September and October in 2008 when George Soros and others bet against the US economy. ANYONE who knows about finance can you chime in and help me figure out how he could have done this? What about 2009…why won’t he show that year? What happened there? Did he make a lot of money off firms that got stimulus money? HELP RESEARCH THIS!
858pm CST – Back from break
A man named Adam Smith is there — but not the author of Wealth of Nations.This A.S. works for Tampa Bay Times or something.
SANTORUM: What happens if Iran gets a nuclear weapon? World changes. Iran is not a small country. Obama thinks it’s just a tiny place. Obama is a colossal failure and Iran poses a big threat to the world. The theocracy that runs Iran is the equivalent of having Al Queda run a country. Look at Iran’s acts of war: hostage taking, missiles, IEDs sent to Iraq to kill Americans, attacking ships and embassies, plot to kill Saudi ambassador here in the US. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon they will be reckless and it would be reckless not to stop them.
– asked about offshore Florida oil drilling versus risk to tourism –
SANTORUM: Bad economy threatens the tourist industry. Energy is key to keeping people coming to Florida. Florida relies upon people being able to afford to travel. I went to some manufacturing place today and I was talking to them and — feed cut out on MSNBC –
….and the price of energy for them to be competitive. We need as much domestic supply of oil and the Keystone Pipeline and we need to provide domestic sources. Pipelines are the safe way to transport oil. Tankers cause problems.
– English as official language in US –
GINGRICH: First of all, there are 86 languages in Miami Dade college. There are 200 languages in Chicago. What is the common bond for all citizens? Campaigning you are willing to go to people on their terms in their cultures and I am happy to do that. But as a country to unify ourselves in the future where there are 300 or 400 languages here we need a central language and you need ballots in English and programs where people would learn to read those.
ROMNEYCARE: In Mass. we had people teaching in the language of their birth in our own schools, and the schools produced kids who could not speak English well. Kids have a transition period and then they need to learn English to be successful and get great jobs. Encouraging people through all means possible is a good idea. We want people coming from other cultures but they must learn English for them and their kids.
LUAP NOR: We need one language for legal reasons but our system gives us a way of being more generous. Florida can accommodate ballots in Spanish if they want. The federal government should not prohibit that but nationally we should have one language.
– Dream Act –
GINGRICH: I would work to get the military component. Any child should be able to join the military and earn citizenship. If you can join the military you serve the US and take risks and become a citizen. I would not support the idea that everyone who goes to college is allowed to break the law.
ROMNEYCARE: I would only sign the dream act if it focused on military service.
– Deporting people –
ROMNEYCARE: Self deportation. People decide to go home because they do not have legal documentation to remain here. People illegal have a transition period and when that is over they no longer have the documentation to work in this country. Then they can apply for legal residency in the United States like everyone else. We can have a card that says who is here legally through an Everify system and if people don’t get work here they can self deport. With a transition period people who leave can get in line. It is not fair to give illegal immigrants amnesty and jump the line.
SANTORUM: People are self deporting now because they can’t find jobs. People who are doing illegal acts can’t be rewarded. Some of them steal social security numbers and that’s illegal. People continually break the law in this country. My father and grandfather came to this country and there are millions of stories across America for people to do this the right way. If you want to be an American you need to respect the laws of America and then come here. You do not continue to break the laws and then come here.
– sugar industry question and subsidies –
GINGRICH: Can sugar hides behind beet sugar. In an ideal world you would have an open market. It is hard to imagine how to get there. Reforming agriculture is hard, the capacity of the AgriLobby to defend itself is amazing.
ROMNEYCARE: Get rid of subsidies. I spent time with 8 people in Florida today whose homes were underwater. It is hard for the people of FLorida here. There are 18% of the people unemployed or underwater. Obama has no plans for NASA or Space Ghost. Obama plays 90 rounds of golf with 25 million people out of work. Gasoline doubled and he won’t build a pipeline. We are heading for a Greek collapse and Obama just wants to spend more.
– Floridians are drinking the Everglades…should they? –
LUAP NOR: Yes, they should if they want. Let’s talk about the wars and unemployment though. I see no reason to complicate things. I have no idea to interfere with everglades drinking if that is what Floridians want to do.
– Break at 913pm CST –
– Santorum, 2005 had a national debate about Terri Shiavo and her vegetative state…you tried to keep her alive and went to her bedside…why? –
SANTORUM: I was not at her bedside, so that’s not true. I did not call for Congressional intervention I just asked some judge to look at the case and decide if the parents or the spouse should decide. The parents lived in Pennsylvania and they were my constituents. I believe we should respect all human life. I wanted to make sure that people had a right to say what was best. It is not immoral to make a decision here.
GINGRICH: Well, we go to extraorindary lengths and rights of appeal for those on murderer’s row. On one hand the husband wanted her to die and parents wanted her to live. A criminal would have automatically had a hearing. There should at least be a judicial review as to whether someone should be allowed to die. We should have an end of life prescription in consultation with a doctor.
LUAP NOR: This is an unusual situation. We need to have a living will. I don’t like going up a ladder to federal courts and Congress and everything. I would have preferred the decision at the state level. Let’s defer to the family. This issue was way out of proportion. We should all plan for this and make sure that someone close to you makes the decision.
– question about space program being abandoned by Obama while China is ramping up program –
ROMNEYCARE: Obama has no vision or mission for NASA> Florida suffers as a result. The space program is important and the right mission for NASA should be determined by the president and officials. Have NASA funded by government, universities, military, education, and commercial avenues…excite people about space and get commercial interests going. Space Ghost has passion that can save the country if applied coorectly.
GINGRICH: Most of great breakthroughs of the 20s and 30s was about prizes. We need more private sector encouragement to experiment. We need a leaner and meaner NASA with a series of goals with prizes to win. We can make the space coast hum with activity. Go to the moon permanently. Go to Mars. Build a series of leapfrogging space stations. We need the private sector to invest in romantic and exciting futures.
– job creation and tax cuts –
GINGRICH: Bush tax cuts stopped us from going into a post-911 slump that would have been much worse. I call for repealing Dodd Frank and Obamacare and Sawbanes Oxley. This is crippling the American system. In North Dakota, we have a boom in oil development. The oil is on private land. If it had been on public land, the Church of Green would have stopped this development and North Dakota would be mired in stagnation not development.
– Break at 926pm CST, back for just one final goodbye segment –
– Back at 930pm CST –
Battle for soul of Republican Party.
ROMNEYCARE: Well, number one, I raised a family. We have 5 sons and 16 grandkids and I worked in the private sector. I worked in one business in trouble and then we started another business and then I was the Governor of Democrat State. We did stuff with the budget and we had English immersion in schools and we had a model for things in Massachusetts of how conservative states should work. I wrote a book too.
GINGRICH: I don’t want to spend my time commenting on Mitt. I went to a Goldwater function in 64. I helped Governor Reagan become President Reagan. I helped collapse the Soviet Empire. I worked hard to build a conservative majority for the first time in 40 years. I helped develop a conservative movement in this country. I am in a genuine position to debate Obama and show how wide a gap there is — Obama will spend a billion to smear us and I wil be prepared to take him on in the debates.
SANTORUM: There are many fundamental issues and gaps and problems. On the biggest issue that is crushing the economy and crushing freedom — it’s Obamacare. Romneycare is the basis of Obamacare. Speaker Gingrich supported individual mandate for 20 years. Romney put a cap on CO1 emissions and Speaker Gingrich sat on the couch with Nancy Pelosi and was for cap & trade rubrics. I was against the Wall Street bailouts and when push comes to shove they got pushed and I was for conservative principles. Government is injected into things more than before. It’s going to be tough and it will be hard to bailout principles. We got the Tea Party started and now there is no difference between these two and Obama.
LUAP NOR: No one has defined being conservative. It is smaller government and more liberty. When Republicans get in charge they expand government. We need to ask the question, what role should government have. The role should be to protect liberty, not run a welfare state or become a policeman of the world. No one will cut a penny overseas and they want to start more wars. Conservatives want small government but we want them out of our lives. We have a good guide in the Constitution and we must follow it.
– Romneycare and Obamacare –
ROMNEYCARE: I have a record. I ran against Ted Kennedy but I didn’t beat him. I believe his policies hurt America and created an underclass. I chose a plan that works for our state and I was asked time and again if I would want a federal mandate. I believe in the Constitution. You can’t impose Obamacare on the states. I will repeal Obamacare and give states ROmneycare instead.
– polls show Gingrich on the rise –
GINGRICH: I agree with Santorum. If we are to get America back on track we will face enormous and difficult problems. We have tremendous institutional biases against doing the right thing and getting things done. The establishment does not want to lose their positions. This will be a very hard and difficult journey. We need to get America back on track despite our elites and entrenched interests.
ROMNEYCARE: America still is great. There are people who are unemployed who should not be. I am running in part because I know how the economy works. TO get the economy working, we should not have the government play a role. We need to do seven things: no crony capitalism, finally balance the budget, have human capital, do things better, do more things, and then get America working again.
– End of debate at 941pm CST –
© 2012, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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Excellent analysis and witty to boot.
Even when he's being snarly, Mittens is boring.
Mitt is deflecting conversation off of his taxes.
Was that a good thing or a bad thing that the commercial break came when it did?
They are attacking each other and playing right into Brian Williams' hands. This is tedious. The more they do that, the less they talk about Obama. Which is exactly what NBC and Brian Williams want. They can go at it for 2 hours and never move the ball forward. Never mention Obama and his horrendous abuse of power and how he is trashing our country. What a waste. Why does the RNC continue to have debates moderated by our enemies?
agree penny—they need to attack that pest infesting the WH not each other.
I would like for you to moderate the next debate Penny. Leah can help too. Justin and I will bring the ham.
I feel like Romney is attacking me! I want to come to Newt's defense and yell at the tv. He may be winning debate points with the pundits but I am one Floridian who is not impressed!
Absolutely hilarious. Mitt put together his best one, two, three combination, and for a moment, I saw Newt take a deep breath, I thought for moment he fight falter, and he did the most amazing parrying I have seen. I almost feel sorry for Romney, because next time he gets chance, I bet Newt telegraphs a lunge at Mittens, Mitt falls for the feint, parries and Newt riposte guts him.
My guess is we saw Mitt at his best, and with his best attack, he merely made Newt blink.
BTW, Paul look physically better tonight. The tie looks good on him.
Kevin you are so right about Mitt hiding something in those years of taxes he won't release. That is one reason why he chaffed so badly when he was asked if he would do like his father did and release 12 years of taxes. Anytime the subject of taxes is brought up, he immediately changes the subject to something that sounds more like an attack on the current administration. On the surface, that sounds like a good thing, but deeper down, it shows he is trying to keep the light off his own dustpile.
I think you hit the nail on the head here. I used to think he looked uncomfortable and stiff. Now I think he looks guilty. I'm not saying that he should feel guilty, but he sure looks it!
There’s something hidden in 2008 and 2009 that Romney does not want uncovered.
WHAT IS IT?
"The Speaker is absolutely right. . ." Gingrich ought to take that quip from Romney and put it in a campaign ad!
Absolutely, Penny! Let's have a GOP debate hosted by Rush, or Mark Levin, or even better, Sarah Palin!
Did Santorum just imply he would be willing to give "mountains of aid" to Cuba once the Castros were dead?
I disagree with Newt, while Americans are a people who want peace, when we are attacked, such as in Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Centers, we want to make sure it doesn't happen again in our lifetimes.
Thank you for doing this. nobody else has posted a transcript anywhere.
Kevin, You Rock! Keep it up!
Right now, the following of HB is small, compared to Politco or FoxNews, et ctera, but in time, everyone will know your clever wit and tune in to read your analysis and opinions. Bridget, The Taminator, et al, will gain larger followings. too!
Keep on Trucking!
So I just tuned in here a few minutes ago. I'm here on the west coast and it's not on TV here. In my channel flipping, I heard someone say that Romney hired the Debate Coach that McKain had in 2008. Do you guys see any difference?
Gingrich won't take Brian Williams' bait — "I don't want to take MY time talking about Mitt". Then Santorum walks right into Brian Williams' trap. What a fool.
Mitt looked someone who had practiced boxing, but never really landed a punch before. Newt however, looked like he had not only been in the ring lots of times, but had stood over many that he had KO'd. RP looked like the kindly old trainer in the corner who has a few good words of wisdom from time to time but is clearly past his prime. Santorum looked the young guy who totes the water to the ring.
This transcript was a good service, i am without tv at the moment and the live streaming never works well on my computer for thank you. it is fascinating for me to see how you tea party folks think and i did get a laugh out of your humor. but the only one here i'd ever vote for of paul and he is not running as third party candidate and he'll never get the gop nomination. i fear Romney most because i don't want a gop win and i think newt has so much scandal in his background that when it gets to the general election he will be easy to discredit. left a wife dying of cancer, lobbied for freddie mack, ethical sanction in congress, and more that is not even been brought out yet.
i am far to the left of obama and would support paul because he will repeal the patriot act and has an anti-imperialist foreign policy, but if the gop picks newt or romney i'll vote obama, much to your, and my own disappointment.
You are so confused: Here is Newt Gingrich voting record on FREEDOM changing issues.
1. Voted for NAFTA
2. Voted for GATT
3 Voted for the PATRIOT Act
4. Voted for OBAMACARE
5. Voted for NDAA ( Detaining American citizens indefinitely)
6. Voted for PIPA & SOPA ( ( You know destroying internet freedom)
If you want an even more fascist America, Newt is your guy. Take another good look at
Ron Paul if you believe in sovereignty, free markets, limited government.
Under the power of the internet, you can't hear sarcasm. Sorry, am I just missing it?
Gingrich left Congress in 1999. Gingrich did support NAFTA and GATT. But, he was out of office and thus could not vote for Patriot Act, Obamacare, or NDAA. PIPA and SOPA have not, and hopefully will not come up for votes.
I'm so glad you beat me here, 'cause I was completely confused, too. I've seen a few other comments around the internet lately from Ron Paul supporters about things that Gingrich has supposedly voted for/against in the last five years. Are they really that misinformed or just desperate?
Are you out of your mind? Gingrich couldn't possibly have voted for Obamacare, NDAA or SOPA. He hasn't held a seat in Congress for thirteen years.
Come to think of it, that also eliminates the abominable Patriot Act, signed in 2001. And since GATT was signed in 1947 I doubt Gingrich cast a vote on that, either.
So you're one for six. That won't get you into the record books.
My summary:
The winner(s):
Newt:
He won by not losing. This was his night in the limelight, the coufs of ttcks. I am willing to bet Mittens put everything he had into his laitzkrieg aginst the Newtsters, for amoment I thought Newt woudl wobble, but he simply set himself back on his heels, took a deep brath and parried the rin of blows Mittens launched t him. IN the end Newt was standing nd Romeny had nothign left. Romeny suddenly stood there, no longer as the front runner, He dished out his best nd Newt took his nbbest shots.
Santorum:
He also won tonight by not being quite the dick he usually is, his smugness quotient was lower and he did a nice job of contrasting himself with the other candidates.
Paul:
He looked good tonight. He continued to show a marked contrast to the other cndiates, and unusually showed willingness to prioritize things and not take the 100% Constitutional route on the Everglade issue, basically saying there were other fish to fry. It was n interesting side to Rob Paul, one that has been hinted at in past debates but never pulled so much to the forefront. Tonight Ron Paul demonstrated he is not a narrow ideologue.
The Loser(s):
Mitt Romney:
He launched an attack he obviously calculated and calibrated, he appeared confident he would have Newt on the ropes. Instead his best shots did not even rock the Speaker. The Newtster came up with a rather brilliant counter regarding how businesses are structured and how profits flow. When Romney tried to regain hi some momentum Newt shut him down, exhibiting the generalship Romney has never been able to muster. In that moments the torch was passed and Newt become the front runner.
I wasn't able to watch the debate last night, but would like to comment on the Saturday night one. I could smell the flop sweat on Santorum and see the fear of losing on his face. The only way I would vote for him is if he is the last one standing.