Republican Debate Live Blog Transcript: Des Moines Iowa ABC Yahoo Debate Saturday December 10th, 2011
NOTE: This is a live blog transcript of the Republican Debate taking place in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday December 10th, 2011 and covered by ABC News and Yahoo. In my opinion, that’s as professional a level of coverage as allowing Al’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning Supply and Burger King to host a debate (with no offense intended towards either Al or “The King”). They’re bringing Diane Sawyer out of the malfunctioning cryo-chamber she sleeps in and they’re borrowing a booster seat to prop little Georgie Snuffleupaguss high enough over the table to participate in questioning as well, like a big boy and everything. I fully expect this to be a severely amateur hour performance by the “journalists” playing “moderators”, with ample “Gotcha!” moments where these people beclown themselves in their attempts to harm the Republicans running for president against Barack Obama. Since Newt Gingrich is the latest frontrunner to emerge, the goal tonight for the “moderators” will be to tear him down so that Willard “Mittens” Romneycare becomes the ultimate (and, according to them, “inevitable”) nominee. Let’s see how much these fools get away with tonight, and how aggressively Gingrich serves whatever they’re dishing right back at them.
The debate starts at 9pm EST and 8pm CST.
If you know of a good feed to watch the debate online for those who don’t have televisions, please chime in with that in comments below.
It looks like I’ll be using this feed from Yahoo.com — but I like to have backup ones in case that primary feed fails midway through (which usually seems to happen).
In the few minutes I have before the debate starts, I think it’s a good time to run through my thoughts on each of the candidates and what I expect from them tonight:
Newt Gingrich: I still marvel at the fact that the man I actually hated once upon a time in the 90s is now someone I can actually see becoming the 45th President of the United States. The reality is that voters do not unseat an incumbent president unless a challenger emerges who forms a clear remedy for the current president’s failings: and Gingrich is clearly a remedy to Barack Obama (unlike Willard “Mittens” Romneycare, who is essentially Obama-lite, or Obama-white, as the case may be). Gingrich is fast on his feet and intelligent where Obama fumbles and bumbles with TelePrompTers. Gingrich speaks in cold hard facts while Obama waxes in nebulous platitudes. Gingrich clobbers his opponents in debates while Obama relies on the memories of his soaring orations from 2008. There are a lot of very foolish people out there who keep harping that Gingrich’s three marriages will keep voters from embracing him, but that’s just nonsense. I surely hope that if the Obama campaign attacks Gingrich on a marital front in 2012 that Republicans are smart enough to call Barack Obama’s own marriage into question, and start openly talking about the fact that Obama is a closeted gay man in a sham marriage that includes frequent cheating on his wife with male staffers. I don’t think Democrats are going to want to go there, so the “Gingrich has been married three times” bit really gets trumped by “Barack Obama used to frequent bathhouses in Chicago and still sleeps with men in the White House” reality. The GOP is indeed the Party of Stupid and is meek beyond comprehension most of the time, but something tells me that Newt Gingrich will see to it that all of Obama’s own dirty, bathhouse-scented laundry sees the light of day if the White House decides to try to make 2012 a referendum against heterosexuals marrying and divorcing multiple times.
Willard “Mittens” Romneycare: Romneycare is the least electable Republican in this race because he does not provide any contrast at all with Barack Obama in a general election. If Republicans run Romneycare, they take Obamacare off the table for criticism — which will be a disaster down ticket since this election will really be about jobs, the economy, and repealing Obamacare before it does any more damage to jobs and the economy. If Romneycare is the nominee, the conservatives will lose the ability to criticize Obamacare. They’ll also lose the ability to criticize any of the myriad other things that Romneycare has supported over the years, before deciding to no longer support so long as the polls tell him that’s the best position for him to have today. Barack Obama is vague, nebulous, and manufactured in all that he does; the same can be said for Romneycare. Voters do not replace one president with a man who is so similar to him; voters want a remedy for the current president and will only side with a challenger against an incumbent if they feel the new guy makes up for the key failings of the current Oval Office occupant. Romneycare just doesn’t cut it. Hopefully, enough Republican voters will see that so this can be the last time we have to deal with Willard “Mittens” “But, It’s My Turn!” Romneycare in a presidential election.
Michele Bachmann: I have lost all respect for Michele Bachmann. That’s one of the most disappointing casualties for me of this primary season. I don’t like the way she conducts herself, and don’t like how clearly she has been cozying up to Romneycare in some deluded effort to be his VP pick (mark my words, if Romneycare WERE to become the nominee, his VP pick would be Tim “Droopy Dog” Pawlenty, as those two have a weird bromance going on that Bachmann can never compete with). I used to have a lot of respect for Bachmann, but she’s been behaving foolishly lately and doesn’t seem to stand for anything anymore besides being as negative as possible whenever a microphone is in front of her. I wish she would suspend her campaign and focus on something productive at this point.
Rick Perry: The “Strong” ad was a breaking point for me with Perry, but not in the way you might first think. I don’t care if Perry doesn’t want gays serving in the military — there have been gays in the military since the military was founded, and the matter is now settled so it’s truly beyond foolish for a Republican candidate to keep bringing it up. It’s also incredibly foolish for Perry to make an anti-gay TV ad while dressed up like one of the guys from Brokeback Mountain. That jacket he wore in the “Strong” ad is a dead-ringer for the one Heath Ledger wore as gay cowboy Ennis in Brokeback. I now conclude that Rick Perry is an irredeemable doofus for setting himself up for the merciless parodies the Gaystapo is churning out against him on YouTube and Facebook. A Republican candidate for president just cannot be this oblivious, ill-informed, and downright STUPID. A serious Republican presidential candidate should not need to be told that dressing up as an iconic character from a gay movie is not the best way to wardrobe himself in an anti-gay ad his campaign filmed out of sheer desperation to gin up a little hatred and get himself a new round of attention before the Iowa Caucuses. You know what else is a pretty popular gay movie? To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar. Which of those characters will Perry be dressing up as for his next Iowa ad? I bet if he picks the Patrick Swayze one, maybe he’ll score some points from still-mourning fans the way Jennifer Grey did when she was on Dancing with the Stars last year. Perry supporters keep saying that “this is the last dumb thing he’ll do” or “just give him a chance and he’ll prove he’s not a complete doofus”. Well, he’s had more chances than most people, and he keeps proving how truly stupid he is on all sorts of levels. This guy is Texas toast with scrambled eggs for brains.
Ron Paul: I am horrified by Ron Paul’s assertion that the United States government was gleeful after 9/11 or that our government knew the attacks were going to happen and let them happen anyway. A good friend of mine died when the Towers collapsed, so I take these flights of fantasy from someone like Paul deadly serious. I’m sure my friend Kathleen, a Paul supporter, will have some thoughts on his remarks but I have to note going into this debate that I am furious with this man. For two presidential elections now, Paul has played the role of Mr. Mxyzptlk, saying outrageous things up on the stage and encouraging people who like to run around in V for Vendetta masks to champion him. After these 9/11 remarks, I’ve had enough of this garbage and no longer feel like indulging Fifth-Dimensional craziness in serious debate proceedings. I really hope Paul has to answer a question about his 9/11 remarks; I am sure my friend Jane will be looking down from Heaven with great interest to hear what he has to say.
Rick Santorum: It’s time for him to get off the stage so that the field can be paired down to five or less contenders. Anyone polling with less than 10% needs to join Jon Huntsman off in the ether somewhere. This is the homestretch, and the time to perpetually indulge the vanity campaigns is over.
What are you thinking about as we wait for the debate to start?
What do you think each of the candidates above needs to do tonight?
Transcript starts after the jump below:
751pm CST: Waiting for the debate to start, hoping the debate stream works tonight (why is it in 2011 that these things have all been so hit or miss for every one of these debates?).
800pm: Debate’s starting, stream is working (an early Christmas miracle?)
805pm: Diane Sawyer repeats the lie that “the people of Iowa take this all very seriously”. I’ve been there for a Caucus, folks, and they don’t. Instead, Iowans feel very entitled to all of this attention. They do not seriously research anything. Votes are largely cast for whomever they met the most at the supermarket, or for whichever candidate came to their houses one day. Iowa has only gone first in voting since 1976; that tradition needs to stop, because Iowans do not deserve all this disproportionate attention. They are spoiled babies, mostly. Go there and see for yourself on the ground.
GINGRICH: Lower taxes, have less regulation, be positive about job creation. Obama’s plan is to attack job creators with class warfare. We need zero capital gains and a 12% tax rate for corporations. We need an abolishment of the death tax. This will create jobs.
ROMNEYCARE: (My goodness, his voice is so feminine and meek) Talks about 7 things he would do to improve economy. Trade policies and energy policies need to be better, Rule of Law, Institutions to Create Capital, and Government not Spending too much money. Whenever Romney talks, he tries to cram too much in while doing it in a way that’s totally forgettable. Who can remember these 7 things? There is no mnemonic device to tie them together. Romneycare is a bad campaigner that would result in an Obama win in 2012.
RON PAUL: Says we are doing the same things we did in the Depression. Wants to liquidate debt and lower taxes and cut spending and government.
RICK PERRY: Wants a flat tax. On a map, I can diagram problems. There is a direct line between Washington and Wall Street that has made people upset. It will take an outsider to be able to balance the budget by 2020. Let’s see if Perry is going to be serious and adult tonight, or if he is going to act like a jackass for part of the night. So far, he is being professional and adult.
BACHMANN: Invoked Herman Cain and said that she wants to have a WIN WIN WIN plan. I am so disappointed that Bachmann has run such a poor campaign; she has so much potential; she speaks so well and is so smart; but as soon as she gets off the debate stage she acts like a petty, mean-spirited fool by going so negative and nasty on her opponents. It’s a crying shame.
SANTORUM: Wants to revitalize manufacturing: zero out taxes for manufacturers. President can’t pass a law but can repeal regulations. Obama has a lot of energy regulations that must be appealed. Lower electric rates and engage in oil and gas drilling. Take care of an area of the country that has suffered.
DIANE SAWYER: She actually said, “Governor Romney was the only one who answered my questions correctly”. She really did that. Let’s watch other instances in these debates where the two “moderators” praise Romneycare or otherwise try to put him in a good light. It’s so deliberate.
SAWYER: Asks about tax cuts expiring on New Year’s Eve.
BACHMANN: There should not have been a payroll tax extension. This is Obama’s plan of temporary gimmicks and not permanent solutions. This blew a hole, and took away 11 billion from the social security trust fund. I am completely different from Barack Obama on this issue. This year alone it will cost the social security trust fund another $112 Billion and we have to go to the general treasury for this money but there are only moths and feathers in there. Obama is all about temporary gimmicks and not permanent solutions.
ROMNEYCARE: Well, I don’t want to raise taxes on people. This is a temporary tax cut and will help people like a band-aid. We have a president who has been in office for three years with a crisis. These are young people who can’t start their lives and there are people in their 50s who can’t have the futures they thought they would have. Obama is throwing gasoline on embers and I have spoken to business people and have been a business person for 25 years. It’s a shame that this president is working on his golf grip. He should have a plan to get this economy going.
SANTORUM: It’s absurd. You either care about social security and want to fund it or you don’t.
PAUL: I want to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from overseas. We have to quit the spending and quit being the police man of the world. We need to abandon the embassy in Baghdad. Let’s bring everyone home and we don’t have to worry about paying for social security anymore.
ROMNEYCARE: (Starts laughing that creepy, Mark Hamil-as-the-Joker-in-cartoons-laugh) Obama believes in the total transformation of America into an entitlement society. We were founded on being a merit society. That’s what’s going on today. I believe I can take a message to the president and the American economy because I have lived in it and I have performed in a merit based society. We need to have a lunar colony that will mine minerals from the moon. We need to eliminate child labor laws, I don’t agree with that. I don’t want to do many things that Newt Gingrich wants to do. My background is that I spent my life in the private sector (NOTE: Romneycare keeps lying about this…he keeps running for political office, but he loses his elections all the time).
GINGRICH: Be honest. The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is that you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994. (Pro-Romney crowd Booos). You would have been a 17 year politician by now if you had won and that’s true. I grew up in a generation where the space program was real and it’s tragic that students today aren’t focused on the future. I am happy to defend the idea that we should be in space and should be dreaming of doing things on the moon. If you take one half of the union janitors who are unionized and paid more than teachers you could give lots of poor kids a work experience in a lot of different things; young people ought to learn how to work and pursue happiness. I am astonished by you Mitt. A 200,000 limit on capital gains is worse than Obama. You need to encourage people with capital to invest.
ROMNEYCARE: (getting testy and unbalanced) We need to spend our precious tax dollars on the middle class. With the idea that if I had beaten Ted Kennedy I’d be a career politician that would be true but if I could have gotten to the NFL I would have been a football player. Losing to Teddy Kennedy was the best thing that happened to me because I went back to the private sector. We need people from outside Washington, outside K Street, and one more thing we could have kids cleaning the blackboards and working in the library and we don’t need to change labor laws.
Snuffleupaguss invites Ron Paul to attack Newt Gingrich, and Paul gladly agrees.
PAUL: You were a spokesman for lobbyists and you are a cereal (sic) hypocrite. You can’t compete with anyone on consistency (or Lucky Charms).
GINGRICH: The housing bubble came from the Federal Reserve and the housing supply. I offered strategic advice in the private sector and I was doing things in the private sector. When you are in the private sector offering advice you charge money for it, it is free enterprise. I am not for bailing these people out. I am for breaking them up.
Snuffleupagus now invites Bachmann to attack Gingrich. Seriously. The moderators are actually inviting the other candidates, DIRECTLY, to attack Gingrich.
BACHMAN: Takes a weak hit at Gingrich by calling K Street “the Beverly Hills of Washington”. Regular people will not get any of these references and have no idea what K Street is. Whenever a candidate talks about K Street, they make a stupid mistake since this goes right over people’s heads. Another boner move from Bachmann.
GINGRICH: A lot of what Michele says is just not true. I voted against Cap and Trade. I fought against Obamacare at every step of the way. I think it’s important for you to be accurate when you say things. Most of the money I have made was in ways unlike what you describe. My speech money and book income is a lot more income. That was not people running around wanting influence buying my books.
BACHMANN: You need to get back to 1993 when Newt was advocating for a healthcare mandate. Romney’s people went to the White House to teach Obama how to use Romneycare as the basis for Obamacare. President Obama knows me in Washington DC and I have taken him on on issue after issue. I am 180 degrees opposite of him and will take him on in the debate and will defeat him.
ROMNEYCARE: I know Newt Gingrich and he is not my clone. We need to get this Newt-Gingrich, I mean Newt-Romney thing out of the way. I would have told Obama not to go down his path and use Romneycare as Obamacare. I would remind Obama that the plan we put in place in Massachusetts dealt with the 8% of the people who did not have insurance. I would think about getting rid of Obamacare and go back to the decisions of the states.
PERRY: I am stunned. Michele hit the nail on the head with the individual mandate. I am stunned that Mitt would have talked to Obama because that is the path that Romneycare took Massachusetts. There have been over $8 billion in additional costs. You are for individual mandates and you can say you are against it now. You and Newt were for these mandates and the question is who can stand on the stage and can say to Obama that Obamacare is an abomination.
ROMNEYCARE: Gingrich was for a federal individual mandate and I was only for the Massachusetts mandate. By the way, the problem with Obama’s plan is that it raises taxes by $500 billion and cuts Medicare by $500 billion and is a 2000 page bill that takes over healthcare from the American people. I will return to the states and the people under the Constitution for them to craft the mandates that are better for their states. You did this in your state when you mandated things for little girls.
GINGRICH: In 1993 in fighting Hillarycare every conservative saw the mandate as less dangerous than what Hillary was trying to do. After Hillarycare went away, people looked for other ways to do this. It’s clear that the mandate is unconstitutional but it started as a conservative effort to stop Hillarycare in the 90s.
PERRY: You say a lot of things Mitt, but in your first book you were for individual mandates, my friend, then you took that out of the reprint of your book.
ROMNEYCARE: A $10,000 bet? I have the book and I wrote the book and in Chapter 7 I say in the Massachusetts Model chapter that I will give the states the chance to be the laboratories of democracy. I never said in any edition of the book that the mandate should work for every state. Don’t put Obamacare on us by the federal government.
BACHMANN: We have only one shot to get rid of Obamacare. There are two men on this stage that defend Romneycare and are they honestly going to get rid of it in 2012? It is going to be a very heavy lift.
SANTORUM: This is not about what you say in a debate or in a campaign. When I ran for the Senate I supported medical savings accounts. I believe in bottom up not top down solutions. You can’t tell if someone is consistent unless you look at their record. Michele has been fighting but losing. I fought and won. I was the principle author of a bill before the US Senate. I led on pro life and pro family issues. I put sanctions on people like Iran. I can be there for you in good times and in bad. I don’t flip flop. I am consistent and can lead the fight and win the issues in important states like Pennsylvania.
Snuffleupaguss: It is time for a commercial break
BACHMANN: I fight and I lead. We used to be the minority and Nancy Pelosi was not interested. I did not let her sit on my hands. I did everything I could to stop Obamacare. I brought 40,000 people to the Congress. I will take on every special interest. I will take on K Street. I will get 60 Senators and will not rest until we repeal Obamacare.
SANTORUM: I was once in the minority too with Jim Nussel. We formed the Gang of Seven and we sent Dan Rostankowski to jail. We fought and won in the minority.
DIANE SAWYER: You all need to be more like Governor Romney and stick to the rules that we have established, because the rules matter and he is the only person here who behaves himself. You all need to be like him.
[ Commercial Break ]
During the commercial, ABC has talking heads on Yahoo’s feed. They are all praising Romneycare and saying that Newt Gingrich is “sour”. They say Gingrich had his “dander up”. It is so shameless.
The push for Willard Mittens Romneycare from these people is so, so SHAMELESS.
Who makes a $10,000 bet? Most people would offer a bet on what they had in their wallets at the time. $20. $10. Maybe $50, max. But a $10,000 bet?
This is who Willard Mittens Romneycare really is. His true, entitled, out of touch with reality nature comes through in little moments like this. This is why the whole Occupy Wall Street “movement” is being ginned up with the expectation that Romneycare will be the nominee.
[ End Commercial ]
Snuffleupaguss brings up marital fidelity…the latest line of attack on Gingrich. He baits Perry to attack Gingrich.
Do you think a candidate who breaks marital vows should be acceptable to voters?
PERRY: Does not make the hit on Gingrich. He says that character means a lot to him. Individuals who have been in fidelity with spouse sends a message, why wouldn’t you cheat on your business partner or your voters?
SANTORUM: Character issues do count. All of your record is there for the public to look at. People make mistakes and are held accountable for them. You are electing a leader, someone whose trust is everything. I hear this all the time: who can we trust? I talk about being married for 21 years and having seven children. I think this is important.
PAUL: Character is important but it should just show through in the way we live. I have been married for 54 years and am a family person. What about the oath of office? I think a lot of people come up real short because there are many times when people are not even paying attention and I am voting by myself because no one is in Congress. We would have sound money and prosperity and we would not be invading the privacy of everyone like in the Patriot Act and we would have a free society and a prosperous society.
ROMNEYCARE: President Obama’s PAC said I don’t have a core, so I made an ad about my family and my kids. Who can lead America so we don’t become a Greece or an Italy. Who can make sure that it is good to be middle class in America again? Who can make sure there are kids in school who have jobs after school? I love this country and the values of this country. I have 16 grandkids.
BACHMANN: Well the founders spoke about this and they wrote in the federalist papers that they didn’t look at wealth or position and just the measure of the man: will they keep their word and be a man or woman of integrity. Here in Iowa that is what I have seen. Who are you really? What is your center or core or world view. I am a Christian and I am unashamed and unapologetic about that. I don’t mind if people ask me things about my husband. They need to measure me.
GINGRICH: I think it is a real issue. People need to look at whom they are loaning the presidency. They have to look and see this is a person who can be trusted. I have said upfront openly that I made mistakes and had to go to God for forgiveness. I am a 68 year old grandfather. I am delighted by the number of people who are supporting my candidacy of real change.
DIANE SAWYER: Let’s talk about immigration. We stipulate that all of you want to secure the borders.
GINGRICH: Asked about his plan for citizen review boards for immigration. We rely on local citizens for the Draft Review Boards in WWII. I would start with cases that are hard to argue about, people who are here for 20+ years and are good members of the community and have children and grandchildren here. Most of the workers here that are undocmented could go home immediately. We should have English as the official language in government and should have severe penalties for people who hire illegals.
DIANE SAWYER: Tries trapping Gingrich in a GOTCHA! question over deporting illegals.
GINGRICH: People would pay a penalty in order to get residency but would not become citizens and there would be severe penalties for overstaying the guest work program.
ROMNEYCARE: We should not talk about amnesty. We should not create magnets that draw people in illegally. We need to secure the border and then we can talk about the 11 million illegals. They should register they are here and then they should have a time to settle their affairs and then they should go home and get back in line and see about coming back. I want to bring people to this country who have skills and family here and contribute. There should be no favoritism for anyone coming here illegally.
SAWYER: There have been people who have been in the military and are undocumented. What happens to them?
PERRY: We need to secure the border. All other conversations are theoretical until we secure the border. There are plenty of laws out there already; if this country would simply enforce the laws that are on the books, well my Justice Department would not be suing states that are trying to enforce the laws. We would not have a catch and release program. We would not be releasing people who are caught in violence. We need a substantially smaller number of people that we would be making decisions about.
Snuffleupaguss changes subject asks about Gingrich saying Palestinians are an invented people.
PAUL: That’s just stirring up trouble. Technically and historically Palestinians aren’t real, but this is how we get involved in so many messages. We should not mention things that are not necessary. Technically under the Ottoman Empire that is correct. This idea that we can be the police man of the world and settle all these disputes is ridiculous and we are getting into more trouble.
GINGRICH: What I said is factually correct and historically true. Every day, rockets are fired at Israel and Hamas says that Israel should not exist and no Jews should remain. Someone ought to have the courage to say these people are terrorists and that they teach this hate in schools and someone needs to have enough courage to stand up and say STOP LYING ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST.
ROMNEYCARE: I think it was a mistake to say that Palestinians are an invented people. I think we need to stand with our friends. Israel does not want us to make it more difficult to stand with the Palestinians. The United States should not jump in front and make it more difficult for them. If we disagree with Israel, we must do it in private. Stand with our friends and make it very clear. Don’t throw incendiary words when there’s a pot already boiling.
GINGRICH: Israelis are getting rocketed every day. The Palestinian “right of return” is based on historic inaccuracies. “Palestianian” was not a word until the 1970s. You have to stand firm and stand for the truth.
ROMNEYCARE: You should not speak for Israel.
GINGRICH: I didn’t speak for Israel, I spoke as a historian. I think Israelis want someone to tell the truth about what is happening to him.
ROMNEYCARE: Well, I know Bibi Netanyahu too and I think he doesn’t want someone creating tumult in his neighborhood like you do. Anything I say would not create any harm to a place where rockets are firing. Before I say anything I get on the phone and I ask people what I should say before I say it.
GINGRICH: A president needs the courage to tell the truth like when Reagan called the Soviets an Evil Empire and Reagan believed the power of truth changed the world and I will tell the truth no matter what the timid think.
BACHMANN: In 1974 I worked on a kibbutz in Israel, they are a first world nation. I have returned as a member of Congress. When I was in Israel I asked how the Palestinians teach their children that Jews are pigs and I pulled out a textbook out of current books being used and the Palestinians just kept lying about what they were doing. That’s what needs to change.
SANTORUM: I think you have to speak the truth but do so with prudence. I listened to both of them but we are in a real life situation and not an academic exercise. We have an ally here. We didn’t have an ally in the Soviet Union. We have an ally here that we have to work closely with. I think Mitt’s point is the correct one. Is this a wise thing for us to do? My guess is that it’s not. It’s their fight. We need to be their ally and support them. The Israelis have the right to decide what’s right on their land.
PERRY: I think this is a minor issue that the media is blowing out of proportion. We have a president that has put a muddled foreign policy in place that is causing problems in the Middle East. This president leads from the rear. Iran has a predator drone in its possession. He had two choices. Well, three. And he had the choice of returning the drone or destroy it and the Russians and Chinese will have our technical equipment and that is a problem and not something that Newt Gingrich has said.
[ Commercial Break ]
Personal Note: the above section really paints a clear picture of why Willard Mittens Romneycare disgusts me so much.
A President of the United States should not get on the telephone and call various people before he gets the okay on what verbiage to use. This flip-flopping meekness is the sort of man that Obama is….and voters do NOT want the next president to be like this as well.
Willard is a wimp, always has been and always will be, and it’s disgusting.
Newt Gingrich is correct: there is no such thing as a “Palestinian”. The “Palestinian State” already exists…it is called JORDAN. Jordan is inhabited by the same people that also call themselves “Palestinians” in the effort to keep forcing more territory from Israel. This would be like people living in Cincinnati calling themselves “Cincinattians” and demanding large portions of Kentucky’s land, when these people are really Ohioans with a whole entire state called Ohio where they should live.
That’s the same thing with the “Palestinians” and Jordan.
I am thrilled that Newt Gingrich is the first politician I have ever seen who has said this aloud. Notice how Michele Bachmann wouldn’t attack Gingrich on this; she wouldn’t agree with him because her strategy was to attack him tonight, but Bachmann is a friend of Israel and knows what Gingrich says is true.
Remember how she then just rambled into a personal story of her own that didn’t address the question? That’s as good as an agreement from her with Gingrich on this.
[ Return from Break ]
SAWYER: Asking about the last time a candidate felt financial strain.
PERRY: Growing up where I grew up, there are some people who say things, like on a radio station, and growing up with a house with no running water and my mother sewing my own clothes until I went to college. I went off to the Air Force and as a 27 year old boy I didn’t have any social security in 1978 and I gave up things that were luxuries but I never gave up anything and I never felt I didn’t have all I needed and that’s why we need to get people back working with policies I have laid out and how I clearly give the record to the people of this country. (His answer made no sense at all).
ROMNEYCARE: I did not grow up poor. My mom and dad made sure I understand the principles of hard work. We had little jobs growing up. I served my church overseas in France instead of going to the Vietnam War. I saw marriages under great stress. I have met people who are depressed. I understand what it takes to get America working again. I am in this race.
PAUL: I am fortunate because although I was raised poor I didn’t know it. It was the Depression and WWII and that’s just what you were supposed to do. I had my wife work our way through my medical school. There is a characteristic about monetary policy where when a country destroys its currency it’s the elimination of the middle class. We need to understand the business cycle.
SANTORUM: I grew up in a modest home with all my basic needs met. The most important gift was having a mother and a father who made me feel safe. They made little things feel like luxuries. The economic status of families are breaking down and approaching 40% poverty. The most important luxury is a stable family.
BACHMANN: I oppose the $700 Billion bailout for Wall Street because Wall Street rolled the dice and when things got sour they wanted to socialize their losses. There are people who supported that bailout. I took on Hank Paulsen. I was born in Iowa to a middle class family. My folks got divorced and my mom was a single mom with four kids and we went to below poverty overnight. At 13 I had to get a job to start helping the family. We are still coupon clippers and still go to consignment stores today. We need to be in touch with what real people struggle with across the country.
GINGRICH: When I was young we lived above a gas station in Pennsylvania. Today I have had several relatives out of work and my wife Callista runs Gingrich productions as a small company. We have to meet payroll, find markets, and do things that small businesses do.
Snuffleupaguss: I want to talk about Yahoo, because more than 72% people say they want to hear more from you about your past support about healthcare mandates.
ROMNEYCARE: States can do whatever the heck they want to do. There is a good deal that we did with Romneycare so that people can try what they like best. We had this idea of exchanges and no government insurance. It is all private pay. My plan was designed for our state. The idea of a federal mandate flies in face of Constitution. I think SCOTUS will strike it down and if not then I will.
GINGRICH: For the federal government to do this then Congress could compel you to purchase any item, and it’s unconstitutional because there’s danger there in future Congresses making people do anything. The whole third party payment model has grown more expensive and difficult to maintain. We need to fundamentally rethink the health system back to a doctor patient relationship where people get more individually involved in their own healthcare.
PAUL: If you embark on a society where government protects you from yourself then you are in big trouble. I think the Obamacare using force is a government using force. There is not a whole lot of difference from being forced to pay Medicare taxes. This violates the whole concept of our revolution and our constitution.
Snuffleupaguss: Does anyone disagree with Paul?
PERRY: I think this is the states’ call. There are probably programs here in Iowa that make it the healthiest state in the union. This is their call. The real issues is that people are sick of Washington DC and the money spent there. They are sick of Washington DC being so out of touch with the country. We need a part time Congress; cut their pay in half and make them have a job and work under the laws that they pass. This will go a long way towards stopping this nonsense that goes on here.
[ Commercial Break ]
Great Mercifulz Zeus, Yahoo has that damn fool Donna Brazile commenting on the live feed. This is the woman who is responsible for Obama becoming president.
She lavished praise on Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum: the clear goal is to keep the anti-Romney votes from coalescing. Democrats want Bachmann, Santorum, Perry and Paul in as long as possible and will try to prevent this from becoming a Gingrich vs. Romneycare battle.
Some annoying-voiced talking head just said that “Mitt Romney is always reasonable in these exchanges”. These fools keep trying to push Willard Mittens Romneycare onto people. You have to see this — you have to see that the agenda-driven media desperately want Romneycare to be the nominee.
The talking heads do admit that the Romneycare “$10,000 bet comment” is going to be the memorable takeaway from this debate.
[ End Commercial Break ]
SAWYER: Why can’t people who disagree show respect for one another, the way Governor Romney is always so respectful?
SANTORUM: When I was first running for office, I used to listen to tapes of Newt Gingrich that I recorded and would play to myself late at night in suburban Pittsburgh. The Wall Street Journal didn’t even know my name and the RNC didn’t know my name either, but I had those tapes and I came out of the blue as a conservative. I won in 70% Democrat districts, so I know how to win elections even if no one still knows my name. (Don’t ever Google him though)
PERRY: Congressman Paul got me interested in reading books. I thank him for that. I find outside of these people is that people in this country really want to get America on a track. I think that there are Congressmen and kings in this country who want to get things back and headed on a track, jack, and Michele this is the most important election we have to get right.
ROMNEYCARE: I find the principle of leadership most interesting. Each person here has different leadership. I always see the Ron Paul people freezing outside with their signs. He excites enthusiasm in these people. Our positions on issues are different and I think that I am the best leader and have the right positions. The qualities of leadership and getting things back on track this is a time of real leadership and dangerous directions and we need to stay a shining city on a hill and I will help restore it with my own leadership.
GINGRICH: Two people here are role models: Governor Terry Brownfeld of Iowa and Rick Perry got me engaged three years ago and has helped to light a fire that will change America…also Rick Santorum’s courage in telling the truth about Iranians.
PAUL: Never give up on your opposition because eventually they will come your way. I work from the assumption that freedom comes to people. You should base that on tolerance. You should not be fighting in Washignton. Someone is messing up somewhere. With persistence we can all prevail and come up with the right answers.
BACHMANN: I will add that Herman Cain I think, with his 9 9 9 plan, you just can’t have a debate without saying 9 9 9. There is a power to being plain spoken. People were very excited by that plan. There is a challenge for everyone of us with this. (NOTE: Do you see what Bachmann is doing….she is aggressively trying to get Cain supporters to now support her so she can get a second rise in the polls….it’s very smart of her, since no other candidate gave any acknowledgement of Cain tonight…VERY smart strategic move, but it’s not going to work).
— END OF DEBATE —
Talking Heads on Who Won?
Newt Gingrich, because he didn’t make any mistakes. In the last question he gave credit to others on the stage, but Romneycare kept coming across as someone without a pulse who is full of himself (note: Romney was the only one who did not say anything nice about his opponents at the end).
Talking heads say there is something very real, very warts-and-all about Gingrich. Gingrich did not harm to himself, but in fact enhanced his position.
This is fun: at the end, ABC fact-checked the whole “$10,000 debate” book thing. Perry was right, that important part WAS changed in Romneycare’s book…but the bigger thing is that everyone is scolding Romneycare for making a $10,000 bet. People in Iowa are mystified by this…they would never bet $10,000 on anything when the median income in the state is $50,000. This was a disastrous move for Romneycare.
NOTE: Check back tomorrow morning for my write-up on the Top 5 Things People Need to Know About this Debate
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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That work jacket you're dumping on Perry about- it's been worn by real cowboys, ranch hands and oil patch workers for over 100 years.
i wear one when I'm doing heavy chores and don't want to sweat in the cold.
That’s a fine jacket.
But don’t wear it when making an anti-gay ad, since it’s a jacket from a gay iconic movie.
I tried to post on the Yahoo about watching Liberal Democrats moderating a Conservative / Republican primary, telling us who we should want.
My comment never saw the light of the scroll.
did i just hear what I thought i heard?
Diane: "only Mittens has given us the answer we wanted…… a zillion jobs…. "
Oh my g*d, he's the teacher's pet!!
Diane Sawyer interrupted Santorum and ignored her open question to get it back to Romneycare.
Newt just scored bingo: "only reason you're not career politician – you lost to Ted Kennedy in '94"
Inviting RP to attack Newt from the wing ding angle….
Michele calling ABC out on their hap hazard debate format. She is scoring mucho points right now extolling her conservative cred.
Now they're gonna help Mittens dig out from under his Romneycare mess…
Your next president is on this stage…. Diane and George realize it too…. they are going to try and influence who it is.
I am glad they are going after Obamacare as hard as they are.
Santorum, desperate, is using a machine gun approach to attack the other 5 at once.
I like the guy, but its not his time.
It's a good debate, Sawyer and Steppingoutofit have no control.
Bachmann is steering the discussions, she may not be winning, but she is forcing the others to try and act more conservative.
ABC trying to regain control – going for gotcha's with questions about marriage and infidelity.
Sawyer is doing an excellent job at carrying the water for the Obama admin. She will keep the focus off the failures of Obama by not allowing the candidates to attack him.
If they had any guts, they would walk off the stage en mass and leave ABC hanging out to dry.
How to fill an entire hour with an empty stage?
Camera goes to Calista, while Newt is answering about marriage and infidelity….. (the only reason for the question, was to zero in on Newt)
I don't think it worked. Calista looked good, and Newt took it like a man, he said judge me for who I am today.
I think Newt is doing good despite attacks from all fronts, Di, Steph, Mittens, et al.
And watch, he will not whine about it tomorrow.
What a b—s–t "Yahoo" question! "Please tell us your best 'poor me' story, so we know you're one of us and love the poor people."
Yeah, like America wants to be led by a failure who was bankrupt and all that. Let's put the Welfare Queen Obama on the Republican ticket. Wait, Obama was born with a Grandma who was an Banking Executive VP, whose mom was a liberal hippy college dropout, et cetera.
Stephy and Diane are consistent in their tricksterism.
Any one of these people outshine Barack Obama by a thousand suns.
Kevin, thanks so much for doing this. I much prefer to read your insightful, pithy comments rather than listen to the smarmy moderators.
I'd like to hear Obama asked that question about what has he done without recently, living high on the hog with tax money.
How many times has Obama's name been mentioned tonight? You could count it on one hand. These candidates fell right into the web of ABC and have succeded in taking the focus off of Obama while they bloody each other up.
I can't believe they fell for this circus.
I hope and pray a certain Governor in Alaska is watching this and reconsidering.
Gold: Newt
Silver: Perry
Bronze: Bachmann
Gingrich showed why he isn't cut out to be president. If he were to become president, he would stick his foot in his mouth with a comment, while it may be debating true, insights hatred with other people. This would cause more people to hate our country and wish to take us out.
You don't want a president who is ignorant to the repercussions of his statements, especially when our country is running out of money to defend ourselves from attackers.
It’s high time people stopped going along with this “the poor Palestinians” myth.
In reality, these people are all Jordanians who just won’t move across the border into Jordan because Muslims don’t want Israelis to have an ounce of land. The “Palestinians” were invented in the 1970s as an Alinsky-grade tool to attack Israel and the propaganda Leftist media in this country has been hammering this lie home for decades now.
There’s a good post on Redstate right now about this, with a great quote:
In 1977, during an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw, PLO Executive Committee member Zuheir Mohsen described the stratagem as this:
“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism.”
See: http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/12/10/new…
Highly recommend reading "The Haj" by Leon Uris. Historical fiction account of the founding of Isreal from the perspective of a muslim from the area. Very enlightening and couldn't put it down.
Why on earth do the Republicans allow leftist to moderate their forums? Just say no – heck they could all pool their money and buy air time to televise a real debate. Or they could ask all Republican voters to chip in $3 to $10 to host a real Republican debate,
Kevin – bless you for taking the bullet for me tonight. I deeply appreciate it. I did NOT watch the debate and therefore your transcript and commentary is desperately needed. Thanks.
One more thing – if Sawyer sucked up to Romney any harder, she'd have to use toilet paper to wipe her mouth.
HI Kevin, you're right, I definitely had something to say about your Ron Paul comments.
An Open Letter to Kevin DuJan about Ron Paul and September 11th
See my notes on the bottom of your letter in that post.
Kevin your notes were quite entertaining.
Here is a rider: I cannot stand Diane Sawyer. I cannot stand her voice and especially the way that she speaks. On top of that I think that she is just stupid.
Now I want to comment on something stated by Perry, that you seemed to not understand. First, I think he made a real hash out of what he was trying to say. To me, it looked like he was trying to say that he grew up in a poor family where his mother made his clothing. I do think that 27 is a little old to be calling oneself a boy. At that age he is a man.
Now here's the thing, I identify with the background of Rick Perry, not because I grew up in a poor family but because when I was little my mother used to make our clothes, and she used to make the items that became our Christmas presents. I actually think that my family was enriched because of that… On the other hand, my husband was the oldest of 7 children, and his father did not earn much as a grocery manager. He started his Air Force career at about 17 years of age. See what I mean about identifying with Perry?
I did not like the responses given by Bachmann, Mittens and RP. The response from RP sounded like he was talking down to everyone else, and he avoided responding about his family background. In other words, he only referred to a point in his life when he was a student and married, but he gave nothing away about his family life when he was young. A lot of people have faced the same scenario of one partner working to put the other one through college, but that does not mean deprivation etc.
Bachmann did not answer the question either.
I thought that Mittens was gloating about his privileged background.
Sending Mittens to battle the donk machine this election would be like taking a butter knife to gun fight.
Send Newt: he knows what to do. He might be a SOB but he is OUR SOB.
Excellent job Kevin, I appreciate the time you take to do this for us. I agree with you, I'm fed up with Iowa and NH first. If you don't live in an early state like I do, often the decision is already made before we get a chance to vote. And Iowa, the state that continues to re-elect Tom Harkin, extreme progressive…argh that's just wrong. I would like to see a system where the early primaries rotate, so that others get the chance to weigh in early.
On the issue of Palestine which Newt brought in the spotlight, here's an interesting video, I learned a few things that I did not know such as the separate UN committees for refugees. http://www.therightscoop.com/the-truth-about-pale…
All the questions from the commies for the repubs weren't even close to the hard core destruction of the middle class. I can't believe the wimpy repubs don't set some ground rules for these set up questions from the extortionist pig libs. It's not even worth watching. Obviously none of the candidates have the legal means or a plan to make amerikah work again. All the corporations are in on the slave labor thus our middle class is almost bankrupt beyond repair. Everything including sporting equipment is made from slaves. Our pigs at trough leaders have made tariffs so low that amerikah can't make up for the lost tax revenue so the gangsterment comes at us with high taxes and taxes hidden in utility bills. Remember BO said our utility bills would sky rocket to pay for crap and scam (cap n trade). We need to vote out all of our pig krats and rhino repubs and tell the Federal Reserve and Council on Foreign Relations to go to hell. I would love to see a repub candidate list the last 100 earmarks which enriched Pelosi off the earnings of tax payers. Why don't these pig libs ever get the roach light shined on them?????