Tonight’s Debate

I intended to live-blog tonight’s Republican debate, but I’m watching it online via dial-up connection, so I’ll keep a running commentary going, unfortunately starting at 8:30.

I regret the absences of Alan Keyes and Sam Brownback from the panel tonight. While these might seem like the rivals of my chosen candidate, I really think that they are our allies. I’d like to hear more, not less, from those who are my natural teammates.

At 8:30, Tancredo ID’s himself as the most conservative candidate, citing several ratings from agencies. Okay … not a bad point.

Duncan Hunter cites the Democratic failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Health Care - first question to John McCain. How would he deal with it?

McCain - This will be an identifying issue, cites “Hillary Care” and tax cuts … refers to existing socialized systems. Wants to preserve what we have.

$2500 tax credit, $5000 for families.

To Rep. Paul - He refused Medicaid as a doctor, and cites that gov’t programs are a failure.

Paul - Managed care is only good for HMO’s. The only way to afford to take care of people is … to save money by not running a world empire? Kind of wandered off-topic, I suppose.

Only in medicine has technology raised prices rather than lowering them. Good point.

To Romney - MA program is like Hillary Care. If the Congress passes such a plan, would he sign it.

Romney - No, his plan isn’t like the Dem plan. He doesn’t want gov’t running it. His plan doesn’t require any more money, he says he just wants to do it more efficiently.

To Romney - Indiv’s were required to get health care. Allowed Hunter to ask …

Hunter to Romney- 1000 or so mandates do drive up costs, including fertility coverage.

Romney - We took out as many mandates as we could. The legislature forced them on him. Premium was cut in half by reducing regulations.

8:35 Turn to Gov. Huckabee:

We have a health crisis, not a health care crisis. Focus on prevention. Don’t turn the solutions over to corporations or gov’t — turn it to people.

“When all the old hippies find out they get free drugs, just think of what that’s going to cost.”

8:37 turns to Tancredo –

To Tancredo: You want to import cheaper drugs from Canada, and make sure that illegal aliens don’t use emergency rooms.

Tancredo: Why are we even discussing this? Michael Moore went to these other countries, but he came back. We’re discussing what kind of federal plan to have, rather than what the Constitutional role for the gov’t is. He’s for health savings accounts, if anything.

Don’t talk about the federal role, it shouldn’t be involved.

To Thompson: You voted for No Child Left Behind. Now you say it’s bad. Was your vote a mistake?

Thompson: He’s sort of saying that he was wrong, but he’s still pushing for nationalized testing. Focus on helping states spend their money wisely. He’s now talking about competition and vouchers, charter schools, etc..

“We need more fathers to stay and raise their kids.”

To Giuliani: Most people agree that you helped with crime and economy, but you met your match with the schools. You were hated by teachers. NCLB has alienated teachers. Why are you the guy?

Giuliani: We need choice. (That’s going to bring them back?) I love teachers, but I love kids more. In 1996 there was a program that offered 2500 scholarships to send kids to private schools, there were 168,000 applicants.

What’s wrong with NCLB is that standards should not be enforced by gov’t, but by parents.

8:43

“The single biggest civil rights issue of our time” - Giuliani on school choice.

Now they’re taking a break.

8:47 - they’re back. Everyone is losing to Clinton in polls.

The audience agrees that Clinton is not a good choice.

Romney - she’s never run a corner store. I have experience. She thinks Private Sector is a recruit in the military.

Follow up question: Is she fit to be Commander in Chief?

Romney - No

To Giuliani - You’re behind by 4 points. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between you two on social issues.

Giuliani - There are two things we agree on. We’re both Yankees fans. She recently said, “I have a million ideas, America can’t afford them.”

Follow Up - You say you know how to beat Clinton. But you’re behind.

Giuliani - Polls are wrong.

(Note: You’re also pro-choice and support “gay rights” and such. That’s not just being a Yankees fan.)

TO McCain - You’re closer. What can you do?

McCain - I don’t know and I don’t care because there are people at war I need to help. I know and respect her. But we’ll run a respectful campaign. Saved $2 billion in pork. Clinton tried to blow (some number I didn’t catch) on some “pharmaceutical event.” Good laugh line, sorry I missed it.

No one should be President who supports this kind of thing. She’s a liberal Democrat, I’m a consistent Rep.

To Huckabee - You said that she’ll win if we don’t do a better job of reaching out to minorities.

Huckabee - It was a mistake for the others not to go to a recent debate. There’s nothing funny about Clinton as President.

To Thompson - You trail by 12 points. Don’t worry about her, worry about ourselves.

Thompson - Everything everyone’s saying has been accurate. Cut taxes, Social Security …

8:58 - Back from changing the baby’s diaper …

Paul saying that we have to get back to the Constitution.

To Thompson - You oppose expansions in health programs, right?

Thompson - Yes, there’s no reason to run for President if you can’t tell the truth. Lots of mention about spending our kids’ money. Wants to index benefits so that folks in the future can have anything.

Giuliani - Medicare and Medicaid will go bankrupt if changes aren’t made. It all has to be done by markets.

9:03

To Gov. Romney - Will you be as bold as Thompson about making challenging statements?

Romney - I’ll be bold, but we’re not talking about cutting benefits. Choices:

- Raise taxes, savings accounts, indexing, raise retirement age

Get everyone together.

(He’s putting up the MA plan. Has anyone looked at what happened in MA? )

To Romney - Bush came to office saying that he’d bring everyone together. How can you do better.

Romney - Quiting Reagan. As if that makes him Reagan-esque.

Huckabee: Use personalization, not privatization. Keep the gov’t from robbing trust funds. We have to be bold. If people don’t need SS, let them have the opportunity to have a one-time buyout. We have to make benefits work better.

9:07

To Paul: Your thoughts?

Paul - It’s a mess. Money was taken with good intentions, but let young people get out of the program. It won’t work. How can you protect the dollar? COLA’s will never keep up if dollar keeps losing value. No retirement for anyone if we don’t save the dollar. Foreign policy again.

To McCain - You’ve dealt with this. Thoughts?

McCain - What we need is straight talk. Admit that funds are going broke. Tip O’Neill and Reagan were able to get together, we need to do that again.

9:10

Hunter - We need to stop exporting jobs. We’ve lost 3 million high-paying jobs to other countries b/c we don’t play fair in trade. “Mirror trade” - impose the same tariffs that other nations do.

Brit - Do you think that trade policy will fix SS?

Hunter - Yes.

Tancredo - I agree that structures have to change. Discretionary spending needs to stop. Let people control their own money. Make it work like a 401(k).

There is a plan to give SS benefits to illegal aliens. That’s ridiculous (agreed).

9:12 - another break

I think that giving this much time to Hillary Clinton is a mistake. We’re treating her as if she’s a valid primary issue … which means that we’re telling the Democrats that we fear her and that we think she’s that important.

9:16 - Back

To McCain - Putin is threatening to expand nuclear programs in response to US anti-missile programs.

McCain - I’m not sure we’re going to reutn to the Cold War b/c Russia isn’t the USSR. But Putin is consolidating power and securing energy supply. Putin is dangerous. We need to make a cost.

Will put missile defense in Europe, and set up league of democracies. Prevent China from blocking actions such as Darfur.

Hunter - We need to put Aegis cruisers in the Black Sea to defend allies in case of missile launch from Iran.

To Giuliani - Do you think we should work with Russia?

Giuliani - Make it clear to Russia that we carry a big stick. Expand NATO. Shore up relationships with Eastern Europe (Ukraine). We can engage a country commercially but still stand up to it.

Cites Reagan. That was actually sort of valid. Wants to increase the military.

To Thompson - Violence on Turkish border. Shouldn’t Turkey be allowed to attack PKK?

Thompson - Turkey is important to us. But the Kurds are our friends. We’ve got to get these people together. Better use diplomacy. (No kidding! This is where the neocon plan of beating up everyone we don’t like is a problem …) Cites the error of Armenia resolution.

Tancredo - The House leadership is responsible for this. Don’t pander for votes. Pelosi is a bad Speaker, and worse Sec. of State.

Huckabee - Send Sec. of State to Turkey. We need to train Kurds to fight terrorists in their midst. Also, keep Turkey from invading.

Paul - This is why interventionism is wrong. It’s another unintended consequence. We’re just looking for trouble, and it’s unnecessary. We need to talk to and trade with people.

(As usual, he’s not dealing with reality as it exists, but rather what should have been done.)

Romney - Clinton’s “peace dividend” was a lie. Build up the military.

9:26

To Paul - You’re getting strong reaction. Given your diff’s, has the GOP left you, or have they left the GOP?

Paul - Reps are big gov’t people now. We’re not following the Constitution. We have lost our way, we’ve accepted the Democrats’ positions.

(Here, he has a point.)

To Giuliani - Does nuke-armed Iran fear you more than war with Iran?

Giuliani - Nuclear-armed Iran is more dangerous, we must prevent it. Again, he cites Ronald Reagan.

To Thompson - Do you do your homework? It seems like you’re lazy.

Thompson - I’ve had to work hard before.

(But you still seem to be phoning in the campaign.)

Anyway … As usual with this format, we’re not hearing a lot of specifics.

Nor are we really getting a good picture of all of the differences. No one bothered to mention to Giuliani that he’s pro-choice when asked about his similarities with Clinton. That seems like it should matter.

The question was asked about showing up at the minority-focused debate, but no one mentioned that Values Voter Debate avoided by Thompson, Giuliani, Romney, and McCain. That should have come up.

If you’re supposedly the real conservatives, why can’t you even face Phyllis Schlafly?

I haven’t heard anything particularly persuasive from the “front runners.” Romney won’t step a toe out of line, and so he’s just plain not saying much. Giuliani wants to prove that he can talk tough.

Thompson is trying to look like the elder, respectable statesman, but that’s about all he’s got going for him. His assertion that he really isn’t lazy is … well, … if the question had to come up, then that really answers itself, doesn’t it?

Not sure that anyone really knocked this one out of the park. want to say that Huckabee did, of course. But I’m not totally sure about it. He did well. Certainly, better than Thompson or Romney.

I think that what I got out of this particular debate is:

No one likes Hillary Clinton. I already got that memo, though.

Ron Paul is a Libertarian. Yep, I had that one down, too.

Thompson is still not sure he’s joining the primary race.

Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, and Tom Tancredo are taking issues more seriously than the others. That does count for a lot, in my mind. They aren’t just joking about Hillary Clinton because trashing her makes good press with conservatives. They’re talking about actual issues, actual ideas, and actual substance. Whether I completely agree with them is another question entirely. But it counts for something that they’re actually in the race to make a substantive difference, not just to ask a Fox News audience, “Does anyone here want to vote for Hillary?”