from the transcript:
(APPLAUSE)
... for a long time to everybody else talk about their positions on issues.
And every single person on this stage, certainly everyone of my colleagues, I believe, bring something very unique, very special, and certainly enormous capabilities to this whole debate and to the office that they are seeking.
TANCREDO: But I must tell you, they also bring differences. And those -- it is not, I think, a sin to discuss them. I don't believe it should be something that we hold back on when we talk to the American people about what it is that actually distinguishes us.
And, yes, I do think that there are organizations that should be looked at that actually rate people for their conservative history.
And the American Taxpayers Union, for one, gives me the highest rating; the American Conservative Union, highest rating of anybody running for president of the United States; an A rating from the National Right to Life; an A rating from every organization -- every conservative organization that gives ratings to those of us who are here on this stage.
Now, those are objective. You know, there's somebody else that looks at us and says: How conservative are these people really? And what we do notice is that in a primary everybody in the Republican Party, everybody runs to the right.
TANCREDO: But, as time goes on, they all move to the left. And that's why people are so cynical about this process.
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GOLER: Congressman Tancredo, your health care plans seems intended to show how tough you would be on illegal immigration.
Your concerns involve the illegal immigrants using our hospital emergency rooms. The RAND Corporation says that illegal immigrants account for about 1.5 percent of the nation's health care costs.
You also want to import cheaper drugs, prescription drugs from Canada, though the president says there would be no way to regulate them.
Where is your help for the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have health insurance?
TANCREDO: One of the most interesting parts of this debate about health care is the fact that we continually talk about the federal government's role in it.
We should actually be debating that specific point, not what kind of government program. You know, Michael Moore went to Cuba not too long ago, and wrote this documentary about the greatness of the system, how wonderful it was to be in Cuba and have a socialized medical system.
You notice, however, that Michael Moore came back to the United States.
(LAUGHTER)
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Now, there's a reason that he did that, of course. It's because we have the best system in the world. And why? It's because we do rely more on individuals than not.
TANCREDO: Really and truly, it's a fascinating thing to think about this, that we have moved all the way to the point of simply debating what kind of federal plan we might have rather than debating what's the constitutional right of the federal government to get involved in this particular issue. That's a challenge I think we all have to accept.
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Now, if there's a federal role, I completely accept the idea of giving people the greater opportunity -- individual opportunity to use health savings accounts. Why? Because that takes individuals. They become the consumer in the marketplace dealing directly with the provider.
That's called a marketplace. That will drive down the costs. Get the federal government -- don't even talk about our responsibilities, because they always -- gives people the option to think that there is -- naturally the federal government should be involved. It shouldn't.
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HUME: Congressman Tancredo, you haven't been heard from on this issue. Please, sir?
TANCREDO: Well, I certainly agree with everything that's been said, especially with regard to the issue of structurally changing both Social Security and Medicare. We have to.
When we talked earlier, in the other debates, about what problems we face as a nation in terms of trying to reduce our deficits and the rest, all the stuff that we talk about in terms of discretionary spending that we can cut, ridiculous.
TANCREDO: I mean, not ridiculous, but on the other hand it won't matter in the total scheme of things.
You've got to go after those and structurally change them. I agree entirely with the idea of doing it by giving people the ability to control their own money, moving it from -- just exactly like they would in their 401(k).
But let me add one more thing, and Mr. Mayor quipped something to me during the break, and here's my chance, Mr. Mayor, to do what you were saying.
(LAUGHTER)
The fact is that we haven't talked about this aspect of it. In reality, of course, there is a plan to give Social Security benefits to illegal aliens who have worked in this country. That is ridiculous. And we should never ever, ever, do anything that would harm not just the Social Security plan, but also you go back and talk to me about health care.
TANCREDO: Let me tell you what health care means, with illegal immigrants: $1 billion a year in California, 86 or more hospitals closed, maybe up to hundreds of hospitals closed, throughout this country, because they've had to provide care for illegal immigrants and cannot be reimbursed.
So there's a health care plan -- I mean, problem -- and a Social Security problem that also deals with illegal immigration.
HUME: Congressman Tancredo, thank you very much.
CAMERON: Congressman Tancredo, I saw that you had your hand up.
TANCREDO: That was it. I just wanted to say that we have to remember why this is happening in Turkey.
TANCREDO: And that is exactly right. It is because the present leadership of the House of Representatives brought up this bill, agreed to bring up a bill, a resolution, that we knew would in fact, if they did that, would cause Turkey to do exactly what they did.
Now, that goes to show you that pandering for votes, which was what this was partly based upon, and a complete ignorance of the foreign policy implications of doing such a thing, are the reasons why we are here now.
And we should take away from this some very important lessons, not the least of which is that Nancy Pelosi is not a very good speaker of the House, and she is an even lousier secretary of state.
(LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)