Hey folks,Happy Thursday to you. Well, last night the CNN YouTube Debate went Rated R. R for Republicans. Not really to much to add, if you watched it. One thing of note though. More on that in a second.
Basically, many are going to make noise about Romney and Rudy exchanging heated blows. The first votes are about a month away. The Election is growing closer. OF COURSE they are going to get more serious. The crunch is on. Look at Hillary and Barrack. Now to the point of note, that NO ONE is talking about
Remember what I said back in July? About the Dem version? The YouTube Democratic Debate
Even though it was a show. It was interesting. I have to give CNN credit for this. The editor, and those that CHOSE the questions did a pretty good job. It was entertaining. But remember, the questions were HIGHLY and INTENTLY screened and only those chosen out of a countless number submitted made it.
One point, the war. Out of all those submitted, there were really NO questions about Iraq. This even stunned CNN. But of course they had to use the ones they got. But think about this folks. The common talking points and the catalyst for all the daily investigations and attempts to “get Bush” by the LWL always goes back to the war. The people hate Bush. They people want us out of Iraq. The people want Bush impeached. Yet when the people were given the opportunity to ask questions, Iraq was one of the last things asked about. Back to the article.
Same thing here. The War had little to nothing to do with it. Amazing huh? If you listen to some of the Die Hard LWL members, you see that they are STILL repeating the War is lost, we can't win, and most Americans want us out. So I ask you again Yet when the people were given the opportunity to ask questions, Iraq was one of the last things asked about. Some takes on the debate?
Here is AP's take on it. GOP rivals clash on immigration, torture
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
Republican presidential rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney scornfully debated immigration in a provocative, no-holds-barred CNN/YouTube debate just over a month before the first votes are cast.
Giuliani, the front-runner in national polls, accused Romney Wednesday of employing illegal immigrants at his home and running a "sanctuary mansion." The testy personal exchange came after Romney said Giuliani had retained New York's status as a sanctuary city while he was mayor.
Romney said it would "not be American" to check the papers of workers employed by a contractor simply because they have a "funny accent." He had landscapers at his Belmont, Mass., home who turned out to be in the country illegally.
Giuliani shot back, calling Romney's attitude "holier than thou."
"Mitt usually criticizes people when he usually has the far worse record," Giuliani said.
The audience, however, booed Giuliani as he tried to persist in his criticism of Romney.
The confrontation came at the start of an innovative CNN/YouTube debate that forced the candidates to confront immigration immediately, signaling the volatility of the issue among Republican voters. The eight Republican candidates encountered a range of questions, including abortion, gun control from a gun wielding NRA member, and farm subsidies from a man eating an ear of corn.
They were even asked if they believed every word in the Bible by a man holding the holy book, and a question on the powers of the vice president from a gun-toting cartoon-version of Dick Cheney.
No one was exempt in the free-for-all as the candidates squabbled over interrogation techniques, the Iraq war, crime and who wields the most conservative record. The candidates tried to position themselves to the right of each other, knowing full well that conservatives hold sway in selecting the GOP nominee.
At the outset, immigration dominated the questions submitted online and swept in the remainder of the Republican field.
Fred Thompson took the opportunity to distinguish himself from both Romney and Giuliani, arguing that Romney had supported President Bush's plan to provide a path to citizenship for some immigrants in the United States illegally now. He took Giuliani to task for attacking Romney's employment of illegal immigrants.
"I think we've all had people who we've hired who in retrospect was a bad decision," he said, alluding to Bernard Kerik, Giuliani's disgraced former police commissioner who is under federal indictment on multiple charges.
Sen. John McCain, for whom the immigration issue has proved particularly vexing, defended his support for an unsuccessful overhaul of immigration laws that included a temporary worker program and a path to citizenship.
"We must recognize these are God's children as well," McCain said. "They need our love and compassion, and I want to ensure that I will enforce the borders first. But we won't demagogue it."
Mike Huckabee, who has also come under GOP criticism for some of his immigration policies while governor of Arkansas, defended benefits he supported for children of illegal immigrants, including allowing children to be eligible to apply for college scholarships.
"Are we going to say kids who are here illegally are going to get a special deal?" Romney asked.
Huckabee objected, saying the benefit was based on merit. "We are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did," he said.
The most fierce exchanges were among the candidates with the most at stake with only five weeks left before the first voting in the presidential contest begins. Giuliani leads in national polls but trails Romney in early-voting Iowa and New Hampshire. Romney faces challenges from Huckabee in Iowa and from Giuliani and McCain in New Hampshire.
Thompson, in what amounted to one of the first video attacks of the campaign, questioned the conservative credentials of two of his rivals in a YouTube clip. The video challenged Romney on abortion and Huckabee on taxes.
"I wanted to give my buddies here a little extra air time," Thompson said to laughter as he defended the video.
For Thompson, Romney and Huckabee are his biggest obstacles toward establishing himself as the candidate of conservatives.
"I was wrong, I was effectively pro-choice," said Romney, who has said he changed his stance in 2004 during debates on stem cell research. "On abortion, I was wrong."
"If people are looking for somebody in this country who has never made a mistake ... then they ought to find somebody else," he said.
As the front-runner, Giuliani faced questions about gun control, abortion and whether New York taxpayers foot the bill for security he received while the married mayor visited his then-girlfriend, Judith Nathan, now his wife.
Giuliani said he had 24-hour protection as mayor because of threats against him and said all costs incurred were proper.
"I had nothing to do with the handling of their records," he said of how his security detail reported the expenses. "And they were handled, as far as I know, perfectly appropriately."
McCain, who has shown no love for Romney during the campaign, seized on Romney's response to a question about the legality of waterboarding as an interrogation technique. Romney said that as a candidate he would not publicly discuss what techniques he would rule out. That prompted McCain, a former Vietnam POW, to assert that waterboarding is indeed torture and should not be tolerated.
"Governor, let me tell you, if we're going to gain the high ground in this world ... we're not going to torture people," McCain said. "How in the world someone could think that that kind of thing could be inflicted on people who are in our custody is absolutely beyond me."
McCain also engaged Ron Paul, a Texas congressman whose libertarian views and opposition to the war have attracted thousands of donors, millions of dollars and a devoted online following.
McCain said Paul is promoting isolationism in calling for the United States to disengage from the war. "We allowed (Adolf) Hitler to come to power with that attitude of isolation," he said.
Paul objected, saying McCain had misunderstood his support for nonintervention with isolationism.
"I want to trade with people, talk with people, travel," Paul replied. "But I don't want to send troops overseas using force to tell them how to live." Later he made clear he would not run as an independent, despite demands from many of his supporters.
One questioner, Keith Kerr of Santa Rosa, Calif., a retired Army colonel who served as a brigadier general in the reserves, asked the candidates about their views on gays in the military and revealed himself to be gay. Not mentioned was his membership on a steering committee of gays and lesbians for Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Huckabee, Romney, McCain and Rep. Duncan Hunter all said they supported the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
The debate ended as it began, with Romney and Giuliani in a deeply personal dispute — over the New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox.
"When I was mayor of New York City, the Yankees won four world championships," Giuliani said. "Since I've left being mayor of New York City, the Yankees have won none."
Romney, who was off by one year — 87 instead of 86 — on the length of the Red Sox World Series drought, replied: "Like most Americans, we love our sports teams and hate the Yankees."
How about this from Reuters. Fireworks erupt at Republican debate
By Steve Holland
Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney angrily accused each other on Wednesday of failing to be tough enough on illegal immigration as fireworks erupted at a debate.
The CNN/YouTube debate was as close to a free-for-all as can be expected at such events. The candidates did not shy away from open confrontations with each other and the questions were submitted by the public on videotape.
At a tense time in the Republican field with little more than a month until Iowa starts the state-by-state U.S. election contests, Arizona Sen. John McCain accused Romney of supporting torture methods for terrorism suspects and ripped Texas Rep. Ron Paul for his demand to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, close on Romney's heels in the polls in Iowa, might have gotten off the line of the night with a wry attack on the Republicans' favorite enemy, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, when he said he would not support sending astronauts to Mars.
"Whether we need to send somebody to Mars, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, if we do, I've got a few suggestions, and maybe Hillary could be on the first rocket," he said to laughter.
As the leader in national polls in the Republican race to be the party's nominee in the November 2008 election, Giuliani was in the crossfire early and often.
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who is leading in the two early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, scoffed at Giuliani's insistence he did not turn a blind eye to illegal immigration when he was mayor of New York.
Illegal immigration is a key concern for Republican voters, with many wanting stronger enforcement of immigration laws and better control of the U.S. border with Mexico.
Giuliani shot back that Romney had employed illegal immigrants at the governor's mansion in Massachusetts and accused him of having a "holier than thou" attitude on the issue.
"You did, you did have illegal immigrants working at your mansion, didn't you?" Giuliani asked in a tense, personal exchange with Romney standing at the next podium.
"No, I did not," Romney responded, calling Giuliani's charge "offensive," and saying any illegals would have been working for a company hired for upkeep at the mansion.
"If you hear someone with a funny accent, you as a homeowner are supposed to go out there and say, 'Let me see your papers?' Is that what you're asking?" he replied.
When Giuliani pressed the issue, some boos were heard in the crowd at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
Giuliani, held in deep suspicion by the U.S. gun lobby, heard more boos from the crowd when he answered a videotaped question on why he required people in New York to pass an exam to possess guns.
IRAQ, WATERBOARDING
Paul, who has shown surprising fundraising strength on the Internet, including $4.3 million in one day last month, drew the ire of McCain by saying the United States could save $1 trillion by bringing home U.S. troops from Iraq.
McCain said he just returned from a Thanksgiving visit to soldiers in Iraq and their message to Americans was "let us finish" the job.
"I want to tell you that that kind of isolationism, sir, is what caused World War Two," McCain told Paul.
Paul fired back, "The real question you have to ask is why do I get the most (campaign) money from active-duty officers and military personnel?"
On a question about whether he supported "waterboarding," an interrogation method that involves simulated drowning, Romney said he would not specify what measures might be necessary to gain useful information from terrorism suspects.
McCain accused Romney of waffling and said he should be able to take a definite stance that "we will never allow torture to take place" by U.S. personnel.
Giuliani was forced to respond to a story by Politico.com that as mayor he billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons.
Giuliani said the money spent was handled "as far as I know, perfectly appropriately," by his security personnel at a time when he had received a lot of threats.
Even the New York Times could not find much. but they did asked THIS interesting question. Debate Wrap-Up: Tough Talk
CNN generally did a good job of stepping in and following up on the pointed questions from the videos. But why did they let Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr, who came out as gay after his retirement, to rule the floor for an extensive speech? And why did they not tell the audience that he is a national co-chair of a veterans’ committee for Senator Hillary Clinton?
Good question. Notice? Other than Waterboarding, Iraq was not an issue. Notice also, one of the BIGGEST issues WAS Immigration, Rights, and National Policies. Just like the Democrat version. So WHAT are most Americans concerned with?
Peter
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