MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The Fox News and Wall Street Journal debate among the five remaining candidates has just begun. Newt Gingrich gets the first question about his promise to keep the presidential contest positive.
Gingrich quickly shifts the topic to Ronald Reagan. And accuses Mitt Romney of raising taxes in Massachusetts as governor. “Giving him an opportunity” to answer questions about his work at Bain Capital is what campaigning is all about.
“I don’t think raising questions is just a prerogative of Barack Obama,” he says.
Says Romney: “Four of the companies I invested in created 120,000 jobs.” Others didn’t. As for his record as governor of Massachusetts, he says it had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate. “That sounds pretty good right now.”
Now it’s Rick Perry’s turn to defend his use of the phrase “vulture capitalism.” “We’ve got records….My income tax has been out every year. Newt, I think yours is going to be out Thursday. Mitt, we need to see yours.” It generates the first big round of applause.
Good line from Perry: We can’t fire a candidate in September.
The riposte from Romney: The steel plant in Gaffney, S.C., tanked because China dumped its steel on the market. “Every time we invested, we tried to grow jobs,” he said.
First question for Ron Paul, who’s asked about Jon Huntsman’s criticism of the tone of the debate. Says Paul: “They should be abandoned if you’re not telling the truth.” His only regret was not cramming more into a TV attack ad he made on Rick Santorum.
Within the reply from Santorum: “I regret” backing President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation.
Juan Williams poses the same question to Santorum about civility. Santorum turns it on Romney, and asks the frontrunner to defend a Super PAC ad that accuses him of supporting a felon’s right to vote. The ad slams Santorum for voting for legislation that permits Pennsylvania felons to vote. Romney says he can’t control his Super PAC.
Finally, Rick Perry jumps in to defend the 10th amendment. The issue is one best left to the states. A good point. He isn’t doing badly tonight. And we’re on a break.
Back from the first break: Bret Baier looks into Mitt Romney’s eyes and calls him a “perfectly lubricated weather vane” — quoting Jon Huntsman, who endorsed Romney today.
Romney replies by describing the Rubicon that experimentation on embryonic stem cells presented for him.
Juan Williams for Rick Perry: Do you support the right of the federal government to oversee election laws passed by states with a history of racial discrimination? Williams notes that this is Martin Luther King Day. Perry doesn’t really answer the question — but shifted to what he said was the federal government’s war on religion.
Santorum just spoke up for shorter unemployment benefits. “We’re not doing them any favors,” he said. Gingrich dips into the same topic — and says all benefits should be tied to job re-training courses. “Ninety-nine weeks is an associate degree,” he said — and gets a nice round of applause.
The first question on the European financial crisis goes to Romney. “The right course for us isn’t that we need to go run over and save the banking system,” he said. He quickly refocuses the question on federal involvement in the U.S. financial system. Sorry, Europe.
Question to Ron Paul: Will a cut in defense spending hurt South Carolina? “To say we would be weaker is entirely wrong.” He cites the strong support he gets from military personnel. But he quotes Eisenhower’s warning about the military-industrial complex.
Flat tax question: Perry, 10 percent. Santorum, 10 and 28. Romney, not more than 25 percent. I missed what Gingrich said. Paul doesn’t want an income tax at all.
To Romney: Will you release your income tax records? He hadn’t planned on it, but “if that’s been the tradition,” he’ll think about it in April.
Juan Williams to Romney: You still have family in Mexico, but you have the hardest line on illegal immigration. Are you driving the Latino vote away from the GOP?
Romney says he “absolutely” believes that it would be wrong to support the DREAM Act or show illegal immigrants any other kind of favoritism. Gets a round of applause for his answer.
Another Juan Williams question, this time to Ron Santorum: Given the economic plight of African-Americans, would it be right to do something special to address this specific demographic. Santorum admits it is an opportunity, then wanders into another area and accuses the Obama administration of blocking young teenage women from being advised to stay in school and get married.
Ron Paul on Martin Luther King Jr.: He’d agree with me on Afghanistan and Iraq, becasue “he was against the Vietnam War.”
Juan Williams to Newt Gingrich: Can’t you see that your statements declaring that black people don’t have a worth ethic are just a little insulting? “No,” Gingrich says simply. The press room erupts. “Only the elites despise earning money,” says Gingrich.
Williams presses. Crowd boos. Use of “food stamp president” line sounds as if you’re trying to belittle people, he said. Gingrich doesn’t back off. So far, it’s the toughest exchange of the night. And we’re on a short break.
The second half starts: We move to foreign policy and Ron Paul: Explain your opposition to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Paul says “it was proper” to go after him, but invading Pakistan troubled him. “I’m just suggesting respect for other nations’ sovereignty,” Paul said. “Rather than digging bigger holes for ourselves.”
You’d be running far to the left of Obama, Baier said. “What’s wrong with capturing people?” Paul asks.
Gingrich says Paul is being “utterly irrational.” Bin Laden was “not a Chinese dissident,” he notes.
Replies Paul: “If another country does to us what we do to others” — a Golden Rule for internationalism, he suggests. Boos erupt.
Romney agrees with Gingrich: “We go anywhere they are and we kill them. The right thing for bin Laden was the bullet in the head that he received.” Then he condemns Obama for negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Baier asks Rick Perry whether Turkey, which he says is listing toward Islamism, should be allowed to remain in NATO. Perry says yes, but it’s not really clear that he’s up on the topic. And he shifts the topic. “There should be no space between America and Israel. Period.”
Perry on Marines urinating on corpses in Afghanistan: It was wrong, but secretary of defense shouldn’t have called the act “despicable.”
Question to Romney: Would you have signed national defense act that allows the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens who attack the country. Romney says yes — and is booed. Paulistas are strong tonight. “There are a lot of things this president has done wrong, but I don’t think this is something he would abuse,” Romney said. More boos.
Same question to Santorum: Would you have signed the national defense authorization act? If you’re a citizen, you should have recourse to the courts, he said. Paul jumps in on Santorum’s side. “I think we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said. “This is major…..Don’t give up on our American judicial system so easily.”
Question to Perry: Should the federal government do anything to address the housing crisis. “We don’t need the federal government in the housing market any more,” Perry said.
Romney is asked a question about Social Security. He outlines in detail. A good chance for a non-Romney to come after him. Newt Gingrich is asked if — under a private/public system — whether the government should guarantee the private returns if they run short. Gingrich says the historic model indicates that this wouldn’t happen. “You’d be relatively stupid not to do it,” he says.
Five people in a debate makes a difference. We’re getting into more detail.
Santorum picks on Gingrich’s Social Security plan: “There’d be hundreds of billions of dollars of more debt.” Santorum’s phrase: “Fiscal insanity.” Romney’s plan: Not bold enough.
Romney is asked whether he wants to dip in on Social Security. “Rick is right,” Romney said. About what he said about Newt’s plan. Not his lack of boldness.
We’ve gone to a final break, and a convention staffer has announced that the spin room is already open.
In the final segment, the first question to Romney is about guns. In Massachusetts, he signed the nation’s first ban on assault weapons. Juan Williams asked if he still hunts “varmints.” Romney bobbles — says he’s been moose hunting. No, make that elk. Something with four legs. “I’m not the great hunter,” Romney admits.
Santorum hits Paul for voting against a federal bill protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits by people who have been harmed by firearms. “Hardly would that have done away with the Second Amendment,” Paul said. It was a state issue. “You don’t have national tort law,” he said.
Question to Gingrich about the Romney Super PAC, which accused him of supporting China’s one-child policy. Gingrich denies, and points to Romney distancing himself. “It makes you wonder what kind of influence he’d have as president,” Gingrich said. Wow.
Romney to Gingrich: Your Super PAC ad on Bain Capital is the “biggest hoax since Bigfoot.” But he doesn’t call Gingrich’s attack an assault on capitalism. Instead, he adds: “We’d all like to see Super PACs disappear.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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