Posted on 01/30/2008 4:16:12 PM PST by khnyny
Reagan Library Republican Presidential Debate: January 30, 2008
SIMI VALLEY, California (CNN) -- Republican presidential hopefuls will face off Wednesday night without a familiar face as ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is expected to drop out and endorse front-runner Sen. John McCain.
The remaining candidates will take the stage in a debate -- sponsored by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Politico -- beginning at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday.
The event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, follows McCain's Tuesday night win in the Florida primary.
McCain topped former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 36 percent to 31 percent in the hotly contested race.
Giuliani placed third with 15 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 14 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was fifth with 3 percent.
Giuliani is expected to end his White House bid and endorse McCain at a campaign event in California later Wednesday, Republican Party sources said.
Minus Giuliani, the debate will be a four-candidate affair -- McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Paul -- with CNN's Anderson Cooper moderating.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Yeah, that was pretty rude of Anderson to cut him off.
Those facial expressions are killin’ me! And one of ‘em is SLEEPIN!
Quote from Reagan Diaries regarding Reagan’s choice of O’Conner (which I have read)... was she the right choice for the USSC?
My opinion: time has proven her to be a wrong choice.
Huckabee dodges Q. Emphasises his pro-life credentials.
Paul wouldn’t have appointed her. (he gets cut off again by mod)
McCain would have nominated her and is proud of her *puke*
Well he finally mentioned CFR, which has been no where in the debates. But, Romney basically said he would not have appointed O’Connor.
AGREE!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/30/ST2007123002933.html
Excerpt:
It is common for politicians to court big money during a campaign. But private schmooze sessions such as the gathering in Utah pose a particular dilemma for McCain, who has spent a long career decrying “special interests” and politicians who offer special access to them in order to raise money.
As a presidential candidate this year, McCain has found himself assiduously courting both lobbyists and their wealthy clients, offering them private audiences as part of his fundraising.
He also counts more than 30 lobbyists among his chief fundraisers, more than any other presidential contender.
McCain aides bridle at the notion that the senator, who has consistently fought in the Senate against so-called pork-barrel spending from such interests and championed laws to restrict their lobbying and political donations, might favor his big contributors.
“There’s never been anybody who’s done more to rein in special interests and lobbyists than John McCain,” Davis said. “If you give to him, you know there’s no quid pro quo.
People give to him because they want him to be president of the United States. They can’t be motivated by any other reason.”
McCain began his anti-special-interest drive two decades ago after he and four other senators were accused of trying to influence bank regulators on behalf of donor Charles Keating, a savings and loan financier later convicted of securities fraud.
The Senate Ethics Committee said McCain had used “poor judgment” but also said his actions “were not improper” and did not merit punishment.
Ever since, McCain has made high ethical standards a hallmark of his public persona. In his 2002 memoir he wrote that “money does buy access in Washington, and access increases influence that often results in benefiting the few at the expense of the many.”
Just this month in Detroit he told reporters that he had “never done any favors for anybody — lobbyist or special interest group — that’s a clear, 24-year record.”
Nonetheless, a recent study by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute and the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen found that
***McCain has more lobbyists raising funds for his presidential bid than do any of his rivals. He has 32 “bundlers” of donations who are lobbyists.***
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) is the closest to him with 29 lobbyist bundlers, followed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) with 18.
More meat at link.
~~~~
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/31/an_old_earmark_of_mccains_surf.html
An Old Earmark of McCain’s Surfaces
As part of a story published today on the McCain campaign’s efforts to woo lobbyists and their big money client The Washington Post reviewed years of the senator’s official correspondence to agencies that have been released over the years under the Freedom of Information Act.
That review located this 1992 letter in which McCain privately pressed the Republican administration of President Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, to secure such a $5 million earmark for a wastewater project in Arizona after Congress had rejected the request in its own spending bill. Spurned by his colleagues, McCain took his case to the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“I would like to request that EPA either re-program $5 million out of existing funds or earmark the amount from an appropriate account,” McCain wrote in his Oct. 9, 1992 letter to then-EPA Administrator William K. Reilly, calling the earmark “crucial to protecting the public health and the environment.”
Reilly wrote back a few months later — in the final days of the first Bush administration — saying his agency had “no options with which to fund this project.”
That was rude the way that AC cut him off. Seems like they will let him talk as long as he talks about ‘Empire’. When it comes to core conservative/libertarian values they don’t want to hear from him.
Never mind, just another one of McCain's well concealed flip flops.
Now he's changing the subject on right-to-life, dropping a bunch of names dripping with compassion.
No he would not even commit to that...he evaded the question by saying it won't come up again.
I thought alito was not appropriate for wearing his conservatism on his sleeve
Shut up poop-head! (heeheeheehee)
A short break:
Lucky for McCain. He looks to be down a quart!
i loved how huck said “i wouldn’t be smart enough to be president, duh...... he stounded right dumb to me.
I agree.
I would have cracked up if an Obama commercial came up
And we should trust him on judges? LOL! McCain is a disaster for the GOP and a gift for the DNC
Talk about an overnight flip-flop!
Oh geeze, that would take big brass ones. I’d love to hear it, though!
Another McWhopper from McShameless... “I would’ve nominated justices like Alito and Roberts!”..............Just last week he complained that “Alito wore his conservatism too much on his sleeve”
McCain never said he would send illegals home; he would not say that because he doesn’t intend to do it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.