Republicans Debate, And McCain Will Follow Bin Laden To The Gates Of Hell

The ten Republican candidates met for an hour and a half for their first debate tonite. They talked about abortions, and the Iraq war. Just like the Democratic debate it was a bit subdued with very few attacks on each other. They did evoked the legacy of Ronald Reagan just as expected. Reagan’s name was mentioned 19 times. They all agreed that abortions are bad. Only Giuliani said it would be OK to accept Roe V Wade as precedent. “It would be OK to repeal it,” Giuliani said. “It would be OK if a strict constructionist viewed it as precedent.” All the others are all down with repealing Roe V Wade. They all agreed the war in Iraq was a good idea except for Ron Paul. According to Ron Paul, “We should have a foreign policy of non-intervention”…”Throughout the 21st century, the Republican has benefited” from a “humble foreign policy.” On the other side was, “It’s on the right track,” McCain said of the war, while at the same time saying it was “terribly mismanaged . … We now have to fix a lot of the mistakes that were made.” “I want to get our troops home as soon as I possibly can, … but if we leave in the wrong way, … you could have a regional conflict develop,” said Romney. Giuliani said, “We should never retreat in the face of terrorism. Terrible mistake.” For the most part the candidates veered away from President Bush and his policies except for Giuliani who said, “I believe we had a president who made the right decision at the right time on September 20th, 2001, to put us on offense against terrorists,”….. “I think history will remember him for that. And I think we as Republicans should remind people of that.” McCain showed his toughness when asked about immigration. He ignored the question and instead used the opportunity to talk about bin Laden, “We will bring him to justice,” McCain said. “I will follow him to the gates of hell.” The candidates talked about varies tax cuts. McCain called for the repeal of the alternative minimum tax, saying it was hurting middle-class families. Giuliani endorsed altering that tax. Ron Paul said, “Poor people pay more” in taxes. “We need to get rid of the inflation tax with sound money.” It was hard for any candidate tonite to break from the pack. There where no winners or losers in this debate. With this mundane bunch it might be possible for the ones that didn’t show up to break into the lead early this summer. Watch out for Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich, and Chuck Hagel all standing on the sidelines watching. One winner was Hillary Clinton, who was mentioned more than all the other Democratic candidates put together. I also liked Chris Matthews putting on the pressure with the stem cell question, “With Nancy Reagan sitting right here…” Only Giuliani and and McCain said they would support stem cell research, even with Nancy watching them.
Alan Cosgrove