“...Romney lost major points with me on his “now is not the time” answer. He never did answer the question. I don’t have to agree with your stance, Governor - just have one!”
Romney did answer the question, Cooper keeps asking him if he has changed his mind but Romney in a rare case stuck to his guns and stayed with his goal of getting gays and lesbians fully into the military.
+One issue I want to clarify concerns [grammar in context] President Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” military policy. I believe that the Clinton compromise was a step in the right direction. I am also convinced that it is the first of a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military. That goal will only be reached when preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians is a mainstream concern, which is a goal we share.”+
CNN Transcript:
Cooper: Governor Romney, you said in 1994 that you looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve, and I quote, “openly and honestly in our nation’s military.” Do you stand by that?
Romney: This isn’t that time. This is not that time. We’re in the middle of a war. The people who have...
Cooper: Do you look forward to that time, though, one day?
Romney: I’m going to listen to the people who run the military to see what the circumstances are like. And my view is that, at this stage, this is not the time for us to make that kind of...
Cooper: Is that a change in your position...
Romney: Yes, I didn’t think it would work. I didn’t think “don’t ask/don’t tell” would work. That was my — I didn’t think that would work. I thought that was a policy, when I heard about it, I laughed. I said that doesn’t make any sense to me.
And you know what? It’s been there now for, what, 15 years? It seems to have worked.
Cooper: So, just so I’m clear, at this point, do you still look forward to a day when gays can serve openly in the military or no longer?
Romney: I look forward to hearing from the military exactly what they believe is the right way to have the right kind of cohesion and support in our troops and I listen to what they have to say.
(Audience booing)
Romney: I’m going to listen to the people who run the military to see what the circumstances are like. And my view is that, at this stage, this is not the time for us to make that kind of...
This is the kind of vague answer that I was talking about.
Thanks for posting the transcript on the gays in the military question — I caught CNN’s replay, and they apparently cut out that whole section because of the Hillary connection.
The part of the debate that really struck me was the contrast between Thompson’s and Romney’s responses on social security and spending. Thompson answered convincingly and with specifics; Romney completely dodged the question and went into meaningless platitudes. For me, a small-government conservative, that was Romney’s absolute worst, most telling answer of the night:
Adam Florzak: This is Adam Florzak of Illinois. The national debt is now growing so quickly it will have increased by over half- million dollars in just the time it takes to ask this question. Over the years, politicians have borrowed just under $2 trillion from the Social Security trust fund to cover these massive budget deficits, and now the retirements of our generation are at risk. What will you do as president to help repay this money and restore the trust?
Cooper: Senator Thompson, a lot of retirees here in Florida. Ninety seconds.
Thompson: One of the things I would do for his generation is protect him from our generation.
(Applause)
He’s absolutely right, we’re spending his money, we’re spending his children’s money, and we’re spending the money of kids yet to be born.
In 2017, Social Security will be in the red. Pretty soon it’ll be out of money, it’ll go bankrupt. In fact, our entitlement programs put together will take over the entire budget by about 2040.
So that’s why I get back to the point I made earlier. All these programs that we talk about in the news every day are a thimbleful in ocean compared to the entitlement tsunami that’s coming to hit us.
Now, we can do some things now, as I’ve proposed about Social Security, without having to really hurt anybody, and give people to invest for their future while they’re still working. Or we can wait and let our grandkids or children, depending on how old they are, solve this problem that we have left them. It’s not only a fiscal issue; it’s a moral issue, as far as I’m concerned.
Cooper: Governor McCain?
(Applause)
I’m sorry — Governor Romney, 30 seconds.
Romney: Thank you.
That’s one of the problems we face, and a big one, which is the over-spending in Washington and the debt and the obligations we have.
We also face tough new competition coming from Asia. We face global jihad, which we just talked about very briefly. We face a whole series of extraordinary problems — over-use of oil, entitlement is out of control.
It’s time for us to recognize we’re going to have to take a new course in this country — not follow Hillary Clinton off to the left; instead, to follow the pathway Ronald Reagan blazed, which is to say we’re going to have a stronger America with a stronger economy and have somebody who understands how jobs come and go, who understands what propels our economy, will strengthen our economy, strengthen our military and strengthen our families.