Rep. Debates on CNN 4

Many of these will be repeats from earlier posts, but I have a chance to actually watch the debates right now.

are americans better now than 8yrs ago

Romney: no, although Bush did get us out of one recession already;
McCain: overall yes; low unemploy.; uncertainly is problem now; What's trying to be done to fix econ. is important; bush tax cuts need to be permanent; (Anderson was trying to put words in McCain's mouth-McCain straightened him out very nicely)
Huckabee: No; not all bush's fault, congress did most of it; new homes down 40%, this hurts everyone involved from truckers to builders; unemploy up 5% this yr. (the question was 8 yrs)
Paul: no, partially pres/congress; mostl monetary system & foreign policy; middle--class is wiped out ("we used to have one"....so what are we?)

McCain too liberal? Or is he more main stream?

Romney: mostly mainstream but several areas he falls out of the norm. Drilling in alaska, bush tax cuts, Mccain/finegold, mccain/kennedy, mccain/liberman (adds 50cent/gall of gas to pay for global warming)
Mc Cain: Conservative record, but reaching across the aisle. Proud of his record; romney raised taxes he just called them 'fees'; job creation was 3rd worst in country; 245 million debt for mandated health care system; 14% of business left Mass under Romney.
romney: study that said 3rd in nation for job creation incl wrong data; raised fees 240million to cover budget shortfall (well that's always a good reason to do it--how about cutting the f-ing budget); healthcare--only one that got it done for everyone in state, claims it didn't cost anything more.

If Huckabee were nominated (or MccainI it would destroy the rep party.

Huckabee: balance budget every yr f his 10 1/2 yrs in office; important to
streamline...like getting a car tab (oh yeah that will work for america).
created tax-me-more-fund for those that wanted to pay more taxes than what the
state was already charging.

How do you reconsile the raise of fees/taxes in your state with the claim to being conservative?

Romney: blah blah blah. found out 1/2 people without health ins. could afford to buy it but chose not to because they could go to the hospital and get their care for free....so they made the people get insurance. Feels socialized health is one step away from Socialism.

hey, swartzy is in the audience~~~
Should CA be able to decide to stre

Mccain: (this makes sense about the physical danger) people of CA don't want drilling off thier cost, LA has decided it does...let the state decide for itself--better to err on the side of caution. Pro-nuclear power.
romney: sides with states; greenhouse gases/global warming....unilateral actin to get us off foriegn oil makes sense, but if you put in place a cap/mandate you will impose a huge effective tax 20%on utlilities/50cents on each gallon of gas. But businesses would go to countries like china so the polution would still be there because they would still be operating just polluting over there where they can't be monitored.
Huckabee: if hes right, everyonther state will copy him, if hes wrong then other states will get the jobs. supports swartzy
Paul: yes, CA should do what they want; when dealing with the enviroment must pay attention with property rights (nasty look from swartz). (anderson cut off paul)

Would spending money to widen I95 from Bangor to Miami...

Huckabee: tax rebate would only help other countries; wants to use
inferstructure to build jobs (didn't one of the roosevelts do something like
this with the CCC?); compared all of america
Romney: investment in inferstructure makes sense, but a road project won't stimulate the economy in time...it takes to long to do research/bids/designs/eminate domain (yes he used the words)
Paul: where will you get the money to build the highway? loan from china. money needs to be spent here from home, cut spending, lower taxes, less regulations, not borrow.

housing:

McCain: stop lending money to people who can't pay it back. City in norway was somehow effected by the mortgage problems in america (?how?) what we have done so far is good, but other steps need to be taken; rebates--part of it is psychological, need perm tax cuts, give business 1 yr depressiation, stop spending,

why did you oppose the bush tax cuts to begin with?

Mccain: lower middle income americans need more help; reagan economic supporter. disagreed when spending went out of control, reps lost in 2002 because of spending not war in Iraq
Romney: we needed the bush tax cut. most opposition was because of misinfo that it was tax cut for rich. 60% of budget is for entitlements (welfare, medicare, medicaid)...(see other figures in previous post).

Immigration: make changes in law to allow citiz

Huckabee: supreme court already answered the question; need secured fence along border. People in country are greatful that we live in a land were people want in and not out. Make sure fence in built in 18months, people who are here need to go back and start over and come back in thru legal means.
Romney: for those that come here illegally, no amnesty; send ones who came recently send them home. Fo those with kids in school, let them finish school year then send them home. No special pathways. Z-visa in mccain/kennedy said #3000 will buy you a life time visa unless you are a criminal.

Border security; original bill incl pathway to citizenship but you are down palying it, would you vote for it if it came to the floor?

Mccain: it won't...never said yes/never said no....comes from border state so knows about securing borders, tamperproof biometric documents--will punish employer if they have workers without the bio.papers. (Anderson asked if he would vote on it, and Mccain said it will not be voted on---never gave straight answer)

Judge oconnor question, should she have been appointed:

Huckabee: history will determine that. admitted he was not going to answer the question as answered. (boy did ron paul look uncomfortable there)
paul: he wouldn't have appointed her. (cut off by Anderson)
Mccain: proud of her. justice alleto is a judge he woudl
Romeny: robertson, alleto, scalia, thomas are the type of justices he would have appointed.

(Ron Paul got to run ad during debates, so did Obama)

Bush distroyed rep party by fractioning party, is rep party better off from 8 yrs ago?

Romney: no not better off; war took us off course, but did show that if someone attacks america we will take action. Democratic cand all had compition to say getting out was more important. but nation has overspent, tried to deal with entitlement, fought for school. reps need to stay in the house reagan built

phased withdrwl from iraq

Romney: no. offensive that some one suggested that he had. Cnn's own analyst said it was a lie (welll they also said mccain answered the question about his immigration bill when he didnt). will not pull troops out until we have success in iraq, our troops have secured the public from safe-havens from terrorist groups. raising before FL primary smells of dirty trick that reagan would have disliked
Mccain: of course he did say that. in dec 2006 romney said he won't weigh in because he was a governor. Apr 2007 romney used the buzz word timetables, that the pres and malacee should work out a timetable.
Romney:wants mccain to be fair and let him explain his position. felt the quote abut being gov. was a seperate issue. (romney feels that it is off the table because it hasn't been brought up in other debates---BS!)
mccain: claims he has raised this question/quote several times before FL.

why were you not willing to take position 2 mo. before running for pres.?

romney: not unusual for gov not to take position. revistied the stupid withdraw
question yet again. '
mccain: after the election, bush fired romsfeld,
timetables was thebuzz word. romney has spent millions of dollars on attack ads,
which has set the tone.

Us nimght need to have troop in 100yrs

Paul: shouldnever have gone!No will not stay 100yrs, wants to withdraw because
of price.
Huckabee: if we withdraw Al Quida will fill void if the country
isn't ready to support/defend themselves. get it right so we don't have to go
back.
mccain: false argument, american casualities not presence (what the
hell does that mean?)