Contraception question booed at Republican debate
A question about contraception caused a flareup in the culture wars during the last Republican presidential debate before next week’s Arizona and Michigan primaries and “Super Tuesday.”
The question drew boos from the audience and impassioned statements from the four candidates on the stage in Mesa, Arizona, last night.
“Since birth control is the latest hot topic, which candidate believes in birth control, and if not, why?” was the question posed via cnnpolitics.com.
It sparked a lengthy discourse by the candidates on religious freedom, contraception, and family structure. None of the White House hopefuls directly responded to the question.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has taken on the media in previous debates, said it was legitimate to question “the power of the government to impose on religion activities which any religion opposes,” before questioning CNN moderator John King and zeroing in on Democrat Barack Obama.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney provided backup, saying Obama had launched “the worst attack on religious conscience in the history of the United States.”
Gingrich rejects “open marriage” question, blames media
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich got the Republican candidates debate in Charleston off to a lively start Thursday night with an angry denial of charges a former wife made in an interview that came two days before the South Carolina primary.
Here’s an excerpt from the debate on CNN:
Ex-wife Marianne Gingrich accused the former House Speaker of week of asking her for an “open marriage” when he was having an affair.
Here’s an excerpt from her interview with ABC’s “Nightline.”
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Front Photo Credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed (Gingrich with wife Callista after the debate in Charleston)
As I recall, in one of the earlier debates, ALL the candidates agreed (even Newt) that adulterous affairs and the way you treat your spouse IS ‘fair game’ and an indicator of your moral character.
The question regarding his behavior during his marriage was FAIR, and certainly would be of interest and importance to people — at least those who believe being able to keep promises, honor your commitments, and not DECEIVE a loved one says something about the person’s general honesty, morality and character.
The MAIN thing this issue says about Newt, though, is that he is a great big hypocrite. He was having his 6-year, covert affair with Callista; and, at the same time, giving speeches about family values and the sanctity of marriage; as well as pushing for articles of Impeachment against Clinton for actions he took to cover up HIS adulterous affair.
Marianne had the chance, during the interview, to hang Newt on the questions the interviewer asked about ETHICS charges. BUT SHE DID NOT. She DEFENDED HIM on those.
Biased people will evidently shut their eyes and ears — giving credence ONLY to news networks/organizations that confirm their own views. Biased people will always find a way to disbelieve anything negative about their own ‘chosen one’.
How are conservatives who do that any different than the ones referred to as “Obama Kool Aid Drinkers”?
from Political Theater:
Five must-see moments from the GOP foreign policy debate
The Republican presidential candidates assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina, last night for a primary debate, the first to focus entirely on foreign policy and national security. In a dialogue that spanned assorted geopolitical challenges -- including Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, America's strategic relationship with Pakistan, and trade with China -- the eight Republicans outlined the approaches they would take to diplomacy if elected head of state. Here are five of the most notable exchanges:
1. Is torture acceptable under any circumstances? And is water boarding torture?
"I served on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War," wrote a veteran in a question submitted via email that was posed to the candidates. "I believe that torture is always wrong in all cases. What is your stance on torture?"
The question was directed first to Herman Cain, who said he opposed torture but would "trust the judgement of our military leaders" to determine what constitutes it, although in his view water boarding was not torture but rather an "enhanced interrogation technique."
Michele Bachmann said that she too "would be willing to use water boarding," which she called "very effective," adding that she believes Obama is "allowing the ACLU to run the CIA."
Ron Paul disavowed water boarding and torture, which he called "illegal," "immoral," and "un-American," as did Jon Huntsman, who argued that torture lowers America's "standing in the world and the values that we project, which include liberty, democracy, human rights and open markets."
Bachmann certainly doesn’t think the ACLU is running the CIA (even though she said as much) I think she meant the CIA is less effective when held to constitutional limits.
Romney is scary (like gunslinger Bush) with his ideas on Pakistan. We do not have an England in that part of the world so we have to buy our allies and Pakistan is to strategic to be reckless with.
Gingrich played politics (big time) with the Christian reference. As president his responsibility is to the USA not Christendom.
Perry freezes – normal guy or doomed presidential candidate?
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry drew a blank at the Michigan debate while trying to make a point about cutting government waste.
Afterwards, his campaign spokesman said it was an error of style not substance. Tony Fratto, former President George W. Bush’s spokesman, tweeted: “Perry can end his campaign right now.”
The affable Texas governor said he would eliminate three government agencies if elected president — but he could only name two.
“It is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: Commerce, Education and the, what is the third one there, let’s see,” Perry said during the debate.
Prompted by a moderator, Perry tried again. “The third agency of government I would do away with — the Education, the Commerce and let’s see. … I can’t, the third one, I can’t, sorry. Oops,” Perry said.
After the debate Perry told reporters: “It was embarrassing, of course it was, but people understand our conservative principles are what matter.”
“people understand our conservative principles are what matter.”
It doesn’t matter that I’m an idiot. Just remember I hate gays and abortions.
I wonder if conservatives would support abortions of gay babies?
Cain’s ’9-9-9′ plan in focus at Republican debate
The buzz word was definitely “9-9-9″ in Tuesday’s Republican debate at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire that focused on economic issues.
During the debate, the catchphrase 9-9-9 was mentioned 25 times (including 16 times by the man who conceived it — Herman Cain).
“I think it’s a catchy phrase. In fact, I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard about it,” said Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and former ambassador to China.
9-9-9 has nothing to do with pizza, even though Cain is best known on the campaign trail as the former CEO of the Godfather’s Pizza chain.
It’s a tax proposal Cain is promoting as his remedy for what’s ailing the U.S. economy. It would replace the current tax code with a 9 percent corporate tax, a 9 percent income tax and a 9 percent national sales tax.
“9-9-9 will pass, and it is not the price of a pizza, because it has been well-studied and well-developed… And it will pass, Senator, because the American people want it to pass,” Cain said defending his plan after Huntsman criticized it as not feasible.
Texas Governor Rick Perry was fixated on his own plan for restoring America’s economic health.
Herman Cain’s 9 9 9 plan contains two phases with two “enhancement” phases. Everyone is whining about the Fox News claim that 47% of Americans pay no taxes and that is unfair. Well, they don’t pay taxes because they earn too little and with standard deductions (like everyone else gets the advantage of) they owe nothing. Cain’s plan would do this to them immediately;
9% federal income tax plus 9% tax on everything you buy including food with no deductions of any kind (except charitable donations) for ANYONE. Therefore the bottom tax rate for the poor would effectively be somewhere between 12-18%.
The majority of persons worth 100 million or more AND the majority of individuals earning 10 million a year or more pay rate a of … 18% according to the I.R.S. Those people and companies under Cain’s plan would immediately owe- NOTHING ANYMORE. Yes, the rich and super rich would pay no taxes anymore under 9 9 9. Under the plan companies that pay compensation in shares of stock will be able to expense 100% of that. Companies that then divide profits into a dividend(also expensible) would pay zero taxes. Individuals being paid by dividends from their shares would pay nothing. Remember, these people now account for 40% of the tax base with individuals earning 100% of their annual income from dividends (396 of the 400 richest Americans) paying 25% of all federal income tax.
The “enhancements” would include no more taxing overseas profits at all. Inspiring a wave of off-shoring American jobs as companies eliminate (are rewarded) for doing business overseas. Eventually (as in 1 to 2 years) all corporate income taxes would be eliminated as well as personal income tax but deductions would also be gone (spousal, mortgage interest, dependents etc.). The lost revenue will be replaced with an expansion (read increase) in the new National Sales Tax. The National Sales Tax if figured as a match to total annual government budget now would need to be 30% if applied to G.D.P. There is one major problem with this, the G.D.P. includes business to business transactions which will be non-taxable under 9 9 9. It also includes 1.3 trillion in discretionary spending by government, take out both of those figures and you get roughly 5 to 7 trillion of taxable revenue.
The National Sales Tax would need to increase to 60-80%.
Amazingly that is what the projected inflationary increase Americans would pay for goods under a VAT tax, National Sales Tax plan as put forward under Republicans in the past. So the poor AND the middle class would see their tax burden doubled so that the wealthy and large corporations could stop paying ANY taxes.
“PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE POOR PEOPLE, PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE MIDDLE CLASS.”
..so screams the lemmings who listen to Fox New’s lobbying campaign for the rich.
Tea Party flavors Republican debate in Tampa
Maybe it was the Tea Party Express influence or maybe it was just being in Tampa where Republicans hold their presidential nominating convention next year.
But the atmosphere at Monday’s Republican debate had the festive feel of a major sporting event and the stars of the game were the eight candidates vying for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination.
The pregame show began with a video introduction of “tonight’s players”…
- Michele Bachmann: The Firebrand
- Mitt Romney: The Early Front-Runner
- Rick Perry: The Newcomer
- Jon M. Huntsman Jr.: The Diplomat
- Ron Paul: The Libertarian
- Herman Cain: The Businessman
- Newt Gingrich: The Big Thinker
- Rick Santorum: The Fighter
The audience was packed with Tea Party conservatives cheering them on and the action began on stage after singer Diana Nagy sang the national anthem.
Here are a few observations tweeted about the scene:
I’m not sure which depresses me more. Is it the fact that this group is representing the republican party or the people who are hooting and hollering in the audience. Ron Paul was trying to make an argument that our past in the middle east contributed to the raise of terrorism terrorism. To anyone that knows our history there, it is a true statement. It was met with boos. Of course none of the folks that the right courts now would know anything about history. These gatherings remind me of a audience at a rock concert where the lead singer shouts ‘Glad to be in my Favorite town of TEABAG’ and the crowd roars.
Perry says stimulus didn’t create jobs; CBO says it did
Texas Governor Rick Perry, front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Monday President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program created “zero” jobs.
Not so, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan budget arbiter for lawmakers.
Congress in 2009 passed the $830 billion economic stimulus, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included both spending measures and tax cuts.
According to the CBO:
- As of June, between 1 million and 2.9 million Americans owed their jobs to the recovery act.
- In the second quarter of 2011 the recovery act added or preserved 550,000 full-time jobs.
- The recovery act brought down the unemployment rate by between 0.5 and 1.6 percentage points in the second quarter of 2011.
The Texas governor, who has touted his jobs creation record, gave his assessment of the U.S. economic stimulus program during Monday’s CNN/Tea Party sponsored Republican candidates debate in Tampa, Florida.
Perry shared the stage with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, business executive Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Txhman, you are incorrect. Texas and Parry gave back zero.
Perry vs. rivals in Republican debate
There were eight candidates in the first big Republican debate of the 2012 campaign season.
Two of them dominated the stage from the start in a contest over who has created more jobs.
And the winner is….. Mitt Romney, according to his campaign.
“Mitt Romney won tonight’s debate because he demonstrated that he is the only candidate in the race who can return the country to economic prosperity. Career politicians got us into the mess and it will take someone with experience in the real economy to get us out,” the campaign’s communication director Gail Gitcho said in a statement released after Wednesday’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
While the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign claimed victory, Rick Perry was the man in the spotlight.
All eyes were on the Texas governor as he made his debut on the national stage — and when it was over Perry said in a post-debate statement he was pleased to have been able to introduce his “conservative philosophy and pro-jobs record to the American people.”
Perry’s campaign said it was a “strong performance.” The new front-runner in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Perry came out swinging, writes Reuters’ Steve Holland.
What the article calls “over confidence” is in fact simple arrogance. Perry has proven time after time that he will not be deterred from pursuing his personal goals by the needs of Texas or Texans. He lies, he takes bribes, and he games the system. He repeatedly says one thing and does another.
A case in point is the tough new immigration bill he signed. It imposes sanctions against employers for hiring illegal aliens. Specifically exempted from that bill are, gardeners, grounds keepers, nannies, and domestic servants. As CNN notes:
It is a tough immigration bill with a soft side that protects those who hire unauthorized immigrants “for the purpose of obtaining labor or other work to be performed exclusively or primarily at a single-family residence.”
Another case in point, Rick and his buddy Phil Gramm tried to convince the Teacher Retirement System to allow UBS bank to buy “dead peasant” life insurance on retirees. The plan was for UBS to purchase the policies, then bundle them up into securities and sell them to investors (sound familiar?). The state was to receive a commission on the sales. Fortunately, TRS didn’t allow this to happen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25 /rick-perry-texas-life-insurance-scheme _n_935666.html
Then there is the Gardasil debacle. After accepting a reported $6000.00 “campaign contribution” (aka bribe) from Merck, Perry issued an executive order that required every Texas girl entering the sixth grade to receive Gardasil as a condition of attending school. Fortunately, this outraged conservative Texans and the legislature met to undue the executive order. Perry claimed he did it because he “hates cancer”. Of course the “campaign contribution” had nothing to do with his decision.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noelle-cig arroa-perese/our-new-tv-ad-against-gov_b _653306.html
However, there’s more to the story,
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/55466 51.html
What I’ve given here is just the tip of the Perry corruption iceberg. Read up on the “Trans-Texas Corridor” and Perry’s raping of the public schools.
If after doing your due diligence as a citizen and voter you can still support Rick Perry for POTUS, then we are surely doomed.
Republicans warm up in Iowa debate
Things got a little heated between Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty during the Republican debate in Ames, Iowa.
Early on in the two-hour debate, the former Minnesota governor tried to knock the Minnesota congresswoman down a peg, saying her record of accomplishment and results “is nonexistent.”
Bachmann took aim at his record as governor, blasting his support for a cap and trade environmental plan and individual mandates in healthcare. “That sounds more like Barack Obama if you ask me,” she said.
Pawlenty came back with: “She led the effort against ObamaCare, we got ObamaCare. She led the effort against TARP, we got TARP. She said she’s got a titanium spine. It’s not her spine we’re worried about, it’s her record of results.”
At one point during an exchange between the two Minnesota rivals former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who spent a lot of time campaigning in Iowa ahead of the debate, jokingly demanded some attention.
“I told you when I traveled around Iowa, you would see me in your city, in your hometown, but you probably wouldn’t see much of me on television. So it’s totally true tonight,” Santorum said when he finally got a chance to be heard.
Five other Republicans chasing the party’s 2012 presidential nomination were on stage Thursday night hoping to show they’re up to the challenge of battling Democrat Barack Obama in the general election.
@CCCHUCK3 — Can you name one issue — ONE — on which Ron Paul has done a Romney-flip? In the past thirty years? I’ll give you a hint: there’s only one. He used to favor the death penalty, but after learning that the rate of false convictions is about 90% (based on a study analyzing DNA evidence for long-convicted murderers) he now opposes it. This is called “integrity.” It’s rare in politicians, but to be treasured.
Acetracy – your example simply proves the point – even to the detriment of young Catholic girls. the family needs to be protected – the family is the basic unit of our culture which instills values to our children – hmmmm, what happened approx 30 years ago? right! Roe vs. Wade, who’s primary defendant has since regretted having been manipulated like a pawn into allowing abortion in this country. Traditional family values are important. What kind of value will a husband and husband transfer to their non-blood related child who has to grow up like a social chemistry experiment in this country? May God have mercy on this country.