Posted on 05/03/2007 8:30:56 PM PDT by jdm
SAM BROWNBACK
He said his approach in Iraq would differ from President Bush's. "I'd push more a political solution along with a military solution in Iraq, and here I would push a three-state, one-country solution in Iraq, with a Kurdish state, a Sunni state, a Shiite state, with Baghdad as the federal city. I think we've got to push a political solution, along with the military, to get to a stable situation in Iraq, which is our key political issue of the day."
He said Congress was right to intervene in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case. "Yes, it should have. And it gave her the right, and the family the right to take that appeal to the court. That's what the Congress did. And her life is sacred. Even if it's in that difficult moment that she's in at that point in time, that life is sacred, and we should stand for life in all its circumstances."
JIM GILMORE
"I see this Iraq problem as part of an entire Middle East issue, and it's sort of a fundamental problem that we're going to have an honest conversation with the American people about. We're going to have to engage in the Middle East, and we're going to have to do it for an extended and a long period of time."
RUDY GIULIANI
He said it would be acceptable if the Supreme Court upheld Roe v. Wade. He also said, "It would be OK to repeal. It would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision. ... I think the court has to make that decision and then the country can deal with it. We're a federalist system of government and states can make their own decisions."
"The use of military force against Iran would be very dangerous. It would be very provocative. The only thing worse would be Iran being a nuclear power. It's the worst nightmare of the Cold War, isn't it? The nuclear weapons in the hands of an irrational person, an irrational force. (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad is clearly irrational. He has to understand it's not an option; he cannot have nuclear weapons."
MIKE HUCKABEE
He said he would have asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign earlier than Bush did. "I think I would've done that before the election. I certainly wouldn't have said that we are not going to do it and then, right after the election, done so. But that's the president's call. Clearly there was a real error in judgment, and that primarily had to do with listening to a lot of folks who were civilians in suits and silk ties and not listening enough to the generals with mud and blood on their boots and medals on their chest."
"The most important thing a president needs to do is to make it clear that we're not going to continue to see jobs shipped overseas, jobs that are lost by American workers, many in their 50s who, for 20 and 30 years, have worked to make a company rich, and then watch as a CEO takes a $100 million bonus to jettison those American jobs somewhere else. And the worker not only loses his job, but he loses his pension. That's criminal. It's wrong. And if Republicans don't stop it, we don't deserve to win in 2008."
DUNCAN HUNTER
"You know, right now, right now, Iran is moving equipment into Iraq that is being used to kill Americans. Iran has crossed the line, and the United States has absolute license at this point to take whatever actions are necessary to stop those deadly instruments from being moved across the line, being used in explosives, roadside bombs, inside Iraq."
"Right now, the border is 2,000 miles of a very porous area where hundreds of thousands of people come across on an annual basis and where last year we had 155,000 folks who came across from Mexico who were from other countries in the world. Some from communist China, some from Iran, some from Korea. We have to secure the border. That's the biggest failure of the federal government."
JOHN McCAIN
"When the majority leader of the United States Senate says we've lost the war, the men and women that are serving in Iraq reject that notion. And, if we lost, then who wins? Did al-Qaida win? When on the floor of the House of Representatives they cheer _ they cheer _ when they pass a withdrawal motion that is a certain date for surrender, what were they cheering? Surrender? Defeat? We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos; there will be genocide; and they will follow us home."
He said he supports a guest worker program to help deal with illegal immigration. "The status quo is not acceptable. We have to secure our borders. But we also need a temporary worker program, and we have to dispose of the issue of 12 million people who are in this country illegally. This issue is an important and compelling one, and it begins with national security. But we also need to address it comprehensively."
RON PAUL
"The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government. We don't need a national ID card."
MITT ROMNEY
"This is a nation, after all, that wants a leader that's a person of faith, but we don't choose our leader based on which church they go to. This is a nation which also comes together _ we unite over faith and over the right of people to worship as they choose. The people we're fighting, they're the ones who divide over faith and decide matters of this nature in the public forum. This is a place where we celebrate different religions and different faiths."
"You can fight, for instance, to make sure that partial-birth abortion is made illegal. You can fight to have information given to women who are thinking about having an abortion. You can fight to make sure that there's opportunities for people to express their views on this topic openly and near abortion clinics. You can fight for the opportunity to go out and campaign for the rights of those who care about this issue to be heard before Election Day, and the McCain-Feingold law prevents that from happening."
TOM TANCREDO
"There are issues that I believe have not been addressed tonight, not in full, and I believe that they do separate us. And I certainly believe the issue of immigration and immigration reform and what's going to happen to this country unless we deal with this forthrightly _ no more platitudes, no more obfuscating with using words like, 'Well, I am not for amnesty, but I am for letting them stay.' That kind of stuff has got to be taken away from the political debate, as far as I'm concerned, so people can understand exactly who is where on this incredibly important issue."
TOMMY THOMPSON
"I think the biggest problem we've got in America is the alternative minimum tax that's bringing more middle-income people in. Let's put it in _ let's have the people have a flat tax and have the option of paying whichever is least."
ping
Based on these little soundbites... it’s McCain (and he’s nuts). Seriously... McCain rocked.
You have got to get a life!
Congressman Paul, Pete from Rochester Hills, Michigan wants to ask you this. If you were president, would you work to phase out the IRS? (Laughter.)
REP. PAUL: Immediately. (Laughter.)
MR. VANDEHEI: That's what they call a softball.
REP. PAUL: And you can only do that if you change our ideas about what the role of government ought to be. If you think the government has to take care of us from cradle to grave, and if you think our government should police the world and spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a foreign policy that we cannot manage, you can't get rid of the IRS. But if you want to lower taxes, and if you want the government to quit printing the money to come up with shortfall and cause all the inflation, you have to change policy.
(Question on what tax the candidates would get rid of)
REP. PAUL: Well, in my first week, I already got rid of the income tax. In my second week -- (laughter) -- I would get rid of the inflation tax, the tax that nobody talks about. We live way beyond our means with a foreign policy we can't afford and an entitlement system that we have encouraged. We print money for it, the value of the money goes down, and poor people pay higher prices. That is a tax. It's the transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to Wall Street. Wall Street's doing quite well, but the inflation tax is eating away at the middle class of this country. We need to get rid of the inflation tax with sound money.
(Question on attacking Iran)
I believe that when we overdo our military aggressiveness, what it does it actually weakens our national defense. I mean, we stood up to the Soviets. They had 40,000 nuclear weapons. Now we're fretting day in and day -- night about third-world countries that have no army, navy or air force, and we're getting ready to go to war.
(Question on having Bill Clinton back in the White House)
REP. PAUL: I am known for sticking to principle and not flip- flopping. I voted to impeach him. So (why do we want him?) in the White House? (Laughter.)
Don’t forget Fred Thompson was a strong backer of McCain-Feingold.
Don’t forget that Mitt was right there with ‘em.
Last night he said that he would support amending the Constitution to allow people like Arnold (non-native born) to run for the Presidency. With a comment like that, I guess that he most certainly WILL have to appoint ‘strict constructionists’ (as he has promised)—JUST TO PROTECT US FROM LIBERALS LIKE HIMSELF!!!
No thanks, Rudy. With no disrespect to Arnold,,,,,the Constitution is just FINE as it is.
WHO IS THE CANDIDATE YOU SUPPORT?
Are they in the Constitution Party? WHO?
If you can’t list actual candidates that you will support, you should be IGNORED.
You are just a force of negativity. If no candidate is good enough to vote for, you’re basically charging that our system of government is no good. I may not disagree with you, but at least admit that you are extreme fringe.
I’m not required to support any given candidate in order to critique Romney’s very, very liberal record as Governor of Massachusetts.
Seems like of all of them, THIS guy "gets it" regarding what's important in the coming election, and the appropriate use of military power. His comments remind me of Benjamin Netanyahu (sp?) of Israel.
Um... who was the candidate that said this, again????
- John
I had to look. I could have sworn that was posted by narses.
not even an artful dodge.
What presidential candidate do you support, so we all can compare and contrast that candidate with Romney?
Tough luck. I don't have a candidate that I support currently.
But, I assure you, if and when I do have one, I'll be more than happy to "compare and contrast" him or her with the liberal Mitt Romney. Because, unlike yourself, any candidate I support will be a conservative.
I hope you understand that not having a candidate you support really discredits you.
If you don’t have one, what you should be doing is looking for one, going out and supporting/starting one, or just researching all of the current candidates with an open mind. You shouldn’t be specifically focusing on particular candidates, spending your time trying to tear them down.
People suspect you of foul play, because a true ‘undecided’ wouldn’t be so adament against certain candidates. It takes a 10 minute Google search to find out which one of the Republican candidates is most conservative - probably Ron Paul.
Why don’t you support Paul? You probably do, but you’re afraid it will discredit you even further to say so. Or, you’ll support the Constitution Party candidate, but are just too afraid to say so. No reason to be ashamed of that, but you’re making a political calculation that if you named your candidate it would put your ridiculous attack machine in context, and people would start to blow you off.
ROFL...
But you supporting a guy who was the most liberal Governor in America from 2002-2006, but who now disowns his own entire record, brings great credit to your views. Okey-dokey...
If you can show me a FReeper who has done so more consistently than myself, I'd like you to show them to me.
You shouldn’t be specifically focusing on particular candidates, spending your time trying to tear them down.
We always tear down liberals here on FR. That's what we do. Get with the program.
People suspect you of foul play, because a true ‘undecided’ wouldn’t be so adament against certain candidates.
I'm not undecided about Mitt Romney. His record is clearly that of a radical liberal, who now is trying to change his stripes to fool conservatives.
It takes a 10 minute Google search to find out which one of the Republican candidates is most conservative - probably Ron Paul.
You should devote more than ten minutes to learning. It would do you good.
Why don’t you support Paul?
Because, like your "new" Mitt, he wrongheadedly thinks the unalienable right to life is a states' rights issue. And, his nonsupport of the war against Islamic terrorists disqualifies him as well.
You probably do, but you’re afraid it will discredit you even further to say so.
My credit on FR is in fine shape. Your dishonest characterizations don't help yours.
Or, you’ll support the Constitution Party candidate, but are just too afraid to say so.
The only way I'll depart the GOP over this presidential election is if it abandons its principles and becomes the Dem Party Lite.
No reason to be ashamed of that, but you’re making a political calculation that if you named your candidate it would put your ridiculous attack machine in context, and people would start to blow you off.
I find it more than mildly amusing that you would characterize my posts in such a way, considering your inability to deal with the simple facts of Romney's record.
Still dodging.
What candidate do you support?
You are a nihilist dressed up as an idealist.
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