Posted on 08/05/2007 7:21:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
DES MOINES -- Although heated at the outset, the GOP debate quickly settled into a mild-mannered Sunday morning affair that saw the Republican presidential hopefuls training their fire on would-be Democratic opponents more than on each other.
On issues ranging from the war in Iraq to health care to taxes, the top-tier contenders were mostly of a like mind during the 90-minute session held at Drake University and broadcast on ABC News.
The session did, though, get off to a contentious start when moderator George Stephanopoulos opened things up by playing a "robo-call" that Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback's campaign has been making to Iowa voters, one that casts doubt on Mitt Romney's anti-abortion stance.
"There's one word that describes that ad," Brownback said in defense, "and it's 'truthful.'"
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, retorted: "The single word I'd use would be 'desperate' or perhaps 'negative,'" later adding that the recording "is just completely wrong."
But Brownback held fast, again saying "every piece of that is truthful."
Pressed, Romney admitted that he had changed his position on an issue crucial to many Iowa caucus-goers, but he won applause when he said, "I get tired of people that are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have." Watch the Romney-Brownback feud here (courtesy of Breitbart.tv).
Yet as aggressive as he was pushing back against Brownback's charge, Romney then immediately passed up an opportunity to contrast his cultural views with those of Rudy Giuliani. Shown a video from March where he called the former New York Mayor "pro-choice and pro-gay-marriage and anti-gun," Romney said his remarks came "very early in the process."
"I think I have a better perspective on his views now -- not entirely, but a pretty good view on his positions," Romney said. "And I'd rather let him speak for him, his own positions, than me speak for them."
Asked about the exchange afterward, Giuliani's campaign manager Mike DuHaime said, "I hope that means a pretty positive campaign going forward."
Giuliani defended his positions on guns, gay rights and abortion, winning a bit of a reprieve on his moderate social views when former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and Arizona Sen. John McCain failed to contrast their own anti-abortion stances with Giuliani's views and instead changed the subject to their central issues (health care and the war against terrorism, respectively).
From then on, the discussion shifted to the war in Iraq and other foreign affairs topics, on which there is near-unanimity among Giuliani, McCain and Romney. And that's when they lashed out against their Democratic rivals.
"In four Democratic debates, not a single Democratic candidate said the word 'Islamic terrorism,'" Giuliani observed with a degree of incredulity. "Now, that is taking political correctness to extremes."
Said McCain: "It's naive to say that we will never use nuclear weapons. It's naive to say we're going to attack Pakistan without thinking it through." Both comments were in response to recent statements made by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Romney had perhaps the best line of the morning (link courtesy of Breitbart.tv) when he contrasted Obama's openness to having unconditional meetings during his first year as president with leaders of anti-American regimes with the senator's willingness to strike Al Qaeda in Pakistan without permission from the country's leaders.
"I mean, he's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week," Romney quipped.
In response, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "Before he makes more false accusations, Mitt Romney should tell us why he believes we should keep 160,000 American troops in the middle of someone else's civil war but not take out Osama bin Laden if we had him in our sights."
But the ganging up on the Democrats, something which Romney and Giuliani in particular have amplified in recent weeks, extended to domestic issues, as well.
Democrats want to take the country toward "socialized medicine," Giuliani claimed. "If we want the kind of results they have in England or France or Canada or Cuba, like Michael Moore wants us to do, then we should go in that direction."
Brownback said much the same, claiming Democrats were "doing a step-by-step march toward a socialized one government pay system."
Later, Giuliani said of the top Democratic candidates for president, "They haven't held an executive office in their lives."
"They haven't run a city, a state, a business. I think maybe they've run a club somewhere," Giuliani said.
One of his aides shared that Giuliani's last line referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who ran a "Young Republicans" group for a time while a student at Wellesley College.
Despite their effort to focus on the Democrats, however, there were less comfortable moments when the candidates had to discuss the current administration.
Asked by a viewer in a video about the role of the vice president in a would-be McCain administration, the Arizona senator, who has tangled with Vice President Cheney, said "I would be very careful that everybody understood that there is only one president." View McCain's response here (courtesy of Breitbart.tv).
Romney took the opportunity to defend the Bush administration, noting "they have kept us safe these last six years." Still, at another moment, Romney pointed out that he's "not a carbon copy of President Bush."
As unsurprising as the delicate dance over the current administration was, equally surprising to some was the fact that none of the lesser-known candidates used the forum to go after one another directly or to challenge the top-tier candidates -- especially since it took place six days before the Ames Straw Poll, an event which traditionally winnows the field.
Asked afterward why he didn’t seize the offensive and try to stand out in the final days before the straw poll by targeting Romney or Brownback, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, replied: “Because I’m not running against them; I’m running for president.”
"People want you to go after them because that's good sport, but I'm not sure it's good for the country," Huckabee added.
Still, this general lack of aggression against fellow Republicans made for a forum that will likely have little bearing on the Ames Straw Poll or the broader primary.
After a rocky beginning -- albeit one where his advisers were pleased to see his more forceful side emerge -- Romney returned to his more polished self.
McCain, though subdued in the early going, took advantage of opportunities to drive home two of his passions: pork-barrel spending and the threat of Islamic extremism. On the former, McCain noted that despite the many earmarks included in the highway bill that passed in 2005, "not one dime in those pork barrel projects was for inspection or repair of bridges."
For the top-tier contenders, it was the best kind of debate at this early stage -- one in which they committed no major gaffes and where the race wasn't appreciably changed by the time they made their exit.
The primary race, however, remains notably fluid. Nowhere was that better demonstrated than when, at the beginning of the forum, Stephanopoulos set the stage by announcing the results of an ABC News/Washington Post poll out this morning showing that former Sen. Fred Thompson was in third place in Iowa. The Tennessean, who has not formally announced his bid, didn't participate in today's forum.
Still, his shadow remained. At one point, Stephanopoulos, alluding to Tommy Thompson, accidentally called him "Sen. Thompson."
Mr. Burton seems to show the classic ineptitude of Obama's (and many Democrat's position) to profess that Al Qaeda is somehow a completely top-down organization when of course the reality is that it is designed very much like the internet where there is not a single superhighway, but many highways with detours if a main highway is shut down. In essence if Osama was found dead (Yeah!) then the threat of Islamic Terrorism would be over and done with. Silly Wabbits.
The civil war position effectively means Obama is against military action in Sudan even though he supports some American action.
I gotta go - I'm dizzy from Obama's confusing logic.
This would be a good opportunity for Steffy to play Hillary’s “for the common good” Lenin moment and ask her Dem opponents what they think about it.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
One thing I can say for sure,there definitely WASN’T an OVER-EXPOSURE of Tom Tancreado or Duncan Hunter in this debate. Hell Ron Paul got twice the tv time Tancreado and Hunter got combined !!!
I timed it, and Hunter got only 5 or 6 minutes.
I can’t say exactly, because I didn’t have a second count on my computer clock.
Don't forget, this is the Republican primary process. We're essentially deciding the direction of our party for the next four to eight years. Picking the wrong candidate could have devastating consequences upon our ability to regain and retain a majority in the house and senate, besides winning the White house.
Picking a liberal like Rudy could splinter the Republican party if he won the presidential election. The media would take sides with liberal Rudy against conservatives.
McCain has burned his bridges (pardon the pun) with conservatives twice over. First, with McCain/Feingold and second, with Kennedy/McCain Amnesty.
Romney has credibility issues due to his recent conversion to conservatism, which as a LDS, I find particularly embarrassing. Understandably, many aren't yet convinced.
McFred seems to have wide support, but has yet to demonstrate how deep that support is. Honest analysts have observed that his senate record was nothing special except for co-authoring McCain/Feingold and voting for the unconstitutional usurpation of our political speech rights.
In the 2000 election, McCain and Howard Dean exploited the internet to catapult them to political prominence. Will Ron Paul be able to do the same with google and youtube? We'll see. In the mean time, certainly the Republican party can benefit from displaying Ron Paul's devout conservatism in the primary process. Some have had a knee jerk reaction to Ron Paul's anti-globalist position on Iraq policy, but the Republican party ignores the peoples' dissatisfaction with Iraq at their own peril. "They attacked us because they hate freedom" might be sufficient to explain 9/11 to a grade schooler, but most Americans are beginning to see that globalism has a long, long list of failures, including meddling in the middle east and Ron Paul taps into that sentiment.
Tommy Thompson has an excellent conservative track record as a governor that puts even an eight year senate term to shame. This is without considering that a senator hasn't won the presidency since JFK.
Hunter certainly has conservative credentials, but unfortunately doesn't seem to have tapped into the new media and the old media is out of his price range.
Same for Tancredo and he's allowed himself to be painted as a single issue candidate. I wrote his campaign and suggested he take action on boutique fuels to give his campaign broader appeal. I guess he didn't value my free advice much.
So, as much fun as it may be to point fingers at the Democrats and laugh, it's more important we use this time to vet our candidates thoroughly and pick the best one to lead our nation by following the constitution.
I thought they all did well. I’d take anyone of them (with the exception of Ron Paul) over any of the Democrats.
I think any of these four,Tancredo, Huckabee, Hunter or Tommy Thompson, would make a great VEEP for the eventual nominee.
Tommy Thompson made the most sense on the war. Tancredo turned in his best performance yet and Huckabee is always sharp. Hunter.....poor Duncan needs a new hairstyle.
Has anyone uploaded a video of the debate? I was occupied and missed it.
McFred seems to have wide support, but has yet to demonstrate how deep that support is.
“McFred seems to have wide support, but has yet to demonstrate how deep that support is. Honest analysts have observed that his senate record was nothing special”
Fred still has a more extensive Senate record than Obama, Hillary, or Edwards.
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