Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #4 - Des Moines, IA 08/05/07 - Official Discussion Thread

ABC

[CounterCounterCulture]

Republican Presidential Candidate Debate #4 – Des Moines, Iowa 08/05/07 - Official Discussion Thread

ABC News will be conducting a debate to be aired on This Week. The nine announced GOP presidential candidates meet in a campaign debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. George Stephanopoulos is the moderator; Des Moines Register political writer David Yepsen poses additional questions. Debate starts at 8 am CT (9 am ET/ 6 am PT) * check local stations for broadcast time in your area *

Candidates participating

• Sam Brownback
• Rudy Giuliani
• Mike Huckabee
• Duncan Hunter
• John McCain
• Mitt Romney
• Ron Paul
• Tom Tancredo
• Tommy Thompson

[Principled]

Which post has a question in it...?

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

If the base chooses someone like Fred, who believes in silencing the base through Campaign Finance Reform,

which was written in retaliation for the conservative base speaking up in the 2000 primaries,

then, the party will implode.

That would pave the way for Hillary to walk right in.

[1035rep]

Thanks, but I wanted the DU link where they are voting for RP. I can find it myself if you don’t have it handy.

[codercpc]

I agree. Mitt is not my guy, but I thought he was the most impressive of them all. I also liked McCain (God help me), and his pork barrel spending answer was the closest to the truth. That bridge was not fixed because politicians had other "special" projects they wanted funded first. In the case of MN, I believe it was a light rail project. And although I know that the bridge was an interstate, I would have like someone to point out that transportation budgets are the biggest boondoggles in most State budgets. At least in Wisconsin, the road builders and the teachers unions practically control our budgets, and spending enough has never been an issue. The issue is where it is spent. Who owes the biggest favors, and who gives the most pork.

Besides Paul (who is a loon), I think Tancredo came off the worst. He hemmed and hawed through every question. He did not come off smooth. I liked Mitt the best, with Rudy and McCain coming in seconds. I just wish I could shake the feeling of a smooth politician whenever I listen to Mitt.

I loved Tommy Thompsons sneak in to Steffie about the headlines reading "GOP against Children" or something like that, and I chuckled at Steffies blatant pandering to the liberals by asking Ron Paul his opinion to every single foreign policy question. He couldn't have been more obvious that he wanted Pauls word to be the last word, even if he was in the extreme minority.

[Beagle8U]

Yes, that one worked.

Thank you very much!

[mnehring]

It’s in the DUngeon (where they put posts they don’t want the general public to see).. do you have a login there?

[The Pack Knight]

I've been pretty disappointed by a lot of the candidates on that. Empty, feel-good platitudes about easy, cost-free ways to magically transform Iraq are not what we need from a leader.

Victory is going to require more work and more sacrifice. A few of our candidates seem to understand that, at least.

[ClarenceThomasfan]

I don’t agree that Fred is the “GOP’s saviour”. He is not the “end all and be all”.

We could still win the election. We have some good conservative candidates running. Are you saying you couldn’t support a Huckabee, Hunter or Tancredo ticket?

[MNJohnnie]

Truth hurts huh BB? It is the only rational explanation for your continually fragging your own side while never being quite able to find a reason to attack the Democrats on anything.

[mnehring]

The problem is pretty much every candidate is guilty of supporting at least some part of CFR.. For Fred, it was raising the donation limits, for Hunter, it is supporting the 527 provision.. Unless you want Paul, who is a complete nutter, you are out of luck if this is your defining issue..

[rodguy911]

Bump your post well done.

[texasgil]

Glad it worked. You are welcome.

[lfrancis]

I agree with you on the DU talking points.

Ron Paul’s problem is that at these debates they ask him the foreign policy questions. Why wouldn’t you ask a MD about the state of the health care system?

I would like to hear him talk about taxes and his “Austrian School” ideas.

[billbears]

Not truth at all. Just more partisan rhetoric from someone who can't stand that there are major differences within the Republican party. And it's time to deal with them. No reason to attack the Democrats because I already know I disagree with them on everything. Clean your own house first and then clean your neighbor's house.

Course you don't want that. You see this as some sort of team sports game. And it's not.

[1035rep]

:) Yes, I just need to find the password. If I can get logged in I’ll post the link.

[Chuck54]

He(Ron Paul) is an Libertarian, not a Republican. IDIOT.

Check out a screenshot or two. Ron has the look of Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

I love Brownback on his consistency and relaibilty on moral issues, but...

On national security, foreign policy, military experience, and integrity and consistency on moral/social/domestic issues

DUNCAN HUNTER is the best candidate.

We need to get to work-at the grassroots level. The RINOS and MSM do all they can to ignore him.

We need conservative leadership now, before it’s too late, and Hunter leads.

www.gohunter08.com

[rineaux]

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals– Ronald Reagan

[rodguy911]

Yeah we can just win National elections all by ourselves... that’l work!!
Without teamwork we loose every time!! Look at how the Dems work, they support their guys no matter what—we could learn just a little from that.

[who knows what evil?]

I just voted for Hunter but someone is really skewing it bad for Paul.

This is an OPEN poll...people can vote for whatever candidate they wish. Is it Paul's fault that his supporters are more enthused than supporters of the other candidates? There is NOTHING to stop ANYONE from voting...nothing at all.