Live blogging the debate from my couch

Rough notes after the jump!

The Guiliani campaign had invited me (along with the McCain folks (again!!)) to be with them during the debate, and TMEW (The Most Esteemed Wife) and I had planned on going down to Manchester’s St. Anselm’s college, but I had to work with customers until quite late (hey, karma – went down to McCain’s Town Hall here in Gilford early and missed some work then).

So, I am home blogging from the couch…I’m undecided, but TMEW has just come out for Rudy. And has popped out some insights that have startled me….for a self-stated apolitical person, she is quite wise.

Doug, please persuade her to start blogging here!

The ‘Grok Cream of Crop (in alphabetical order):

Rudy Guiliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Mitt Romney

Winnowing time – IMHO, these are the best that may be elected in the primary and in the general election – so far.

Note: I will go back and clean this up, and pull "winner" stuff out and up before the jump in a bit.

Funny Line: I liked Huckabee’s opener

"I’m from Hope…please give us one more chance!"

Most sobering and true line/thought when asked if it is announced that the surge failed:

McCain – we aren’t even up to strength on the surge….if we give up, they [the Islamofascists] will follow us home Iraq will become a base for terrorism.

Politicians and parties don’t lose wars, nations lose wars

Religion – best answer:

Huckabee reducing the specious question from Wolf Blitzer of creationism / evolution to what it really was – do you believe in God or not?

Worst ideas:

Tancredo – leave Iraq – it’s yours – keep it if you can
Brownback- partitioning of Iraq into three parts:

Best take down of a moderator: Tom Fahey – illegals doing work Americans won’t do…

Hunter – disagreed with the question as being false and used the raid of ICE on the Swift plant raids of illegals as an example. Americans lined up the next day and filled all the jobs that illegals were filling.

Best display of empathy: McCain when an audience member, Erin Flanagan, asked her question: her brother was killed in service – he answered the call and was the best of the best. What will you do, as CoC, in the halls of Washington and the sands, to bring our boys home?

McCain strode forward to the edge of the stage (he had been seated for the second part of the debate) to look her in the eye. "The War has been mismanaged badly. The new general should be able to make this work, so that your brother has not died in vain."

Erin had tears in her eyes when McCain was done….he spoke not to the crowd, not to the TV, but to her alone. I was impressed.

Best answer on healthcare reform:

Guiliani – change the model – it is employee / government dominated. It should be like home insurance. More with HSAs – make it consumer oriented. I LOVE HIS ANSWER!

Best answer on Immigration a conservative could agree with – what does it mean to be an American?

Huckabee – disagrees with Tancredo about a timeout and stopping all immigration. We need doctors, scientist, engineers. We need to seal the border, like entering a stadium – one person at a time with a ticket. Treat immigrants like other countries treat would treat them.

========================================

Notes taken during the debate:

I liked Huckabee’s opener "I’m from Hope…please give us one more chance!"

Invade Iraq given what know now?

Mitt – correct on the info we had…had problems once we won the war militarily…now we have to stablize Iraq…not to do so. Mitt tears apart the question as being a non sequitur.

Rudy – Good decision….cannot isolate Iraq …it is all interconnected and the Dems are delusional for thinking it is.

Wolf to McCain – did you read the classified intelligence estimate?

McCain – no, too many

Brownback – no. He wants to cut Iraq into three (like we have that power)

To Gilmore – should they have read it before sending our troops to war?

Gilmore – should have. Now is what has to happen…

=======================
Scott Spradling – more troops are dying. What if the new General says we are failing? What then?

McCain – we aren’t even up to strength….if we give up, they will follow us home Iraq will become a base.

Politicians and parties don’t lose wars, nations loose wars

Redirect back to question – Disagrees with Gilmore on partitioning.

Thompson – put pressure on Iraq to vote to keep or not…. Should have local states do their voting…oil share

Hunter – need reliable Iraqi battalions. Rotate them in and let the US troops home once they are battle hardened

Ron Paul – if not working, come home now.

Wolf – can Maliki do the job?

Huckabee – not sure…..remember, Taliban thinks that they kicked out Soviets out not Reagan.

Tancredo – did not support surge…if not, we need to tell Iraqis it is up to you to keep the Republic we’ve given you.

Tom Fahey – Bush said states that support terrorism are no better than the terrorists . Right to talk to Iran?

Brownback – yes…but confront them as lead sponsor of terrorism.

Hunter – should talk. Conditions – we should use anything we want to stop their equipment coming across. 1000 centrifuges – we reserve the right to pre-empt them.

Wolf – would use tactical nukes to get them?

Hunter – yes, if we had to (but don’t think we need nukes)

Rudy – emphasis we talk, last resort, use conventionals, but will not rule nukes. Dems are living back int eh 90s by ignoring the risk

Gilmore – Iran wants to take over the Middle east – that’s why we are there. Work with Europeans for sanctions, talk to Iran, but all options on table

Mitt – don’t take options off the table….look at the big picture….people are testing America….we have to move the world of Islam to moderate. NO ANSWER

Scott – to Tancredo opposed to immigration – you’d fight reelection of those that support it, including Gregg. Consequence of America if passes

Tancredo – will we survive as a nation…..a test – our will to see if we will hang together instead of being Balkanized. He will go after any Republican that votes for it.

Rudy – it is a typical Washington mess…compromises screw it up….tamper proof ID, DB, throw out those not in DB.

Mitt – McCain accuses you of flip flop….? We should enforce our laws….problem is the Z visa. Not fair.

McCain – He agrees with Gregg. It does account for those who are here illegally
and can throw them out. To do nothing is de facto amnesty. Is a national security problem…if you have a better idea (all hands went up!!!). "This is not the bill I would have written…"

Rudy – has 4 or 5 ways of id….no exit strategy, no DB explicitly there.

Mitt – enforce the law as it exists in 86. Not done. Get rid of Z visa or make it temp.

Tom Fahey – illegals doing work Americans won’t do

Hunter – disagree with the question. Swift plant example. Hunter bill was to be 854 miles was mandated. DHS has a billion bucks, 11 miles only built – Administration has a case of the slows – timing of this bill to keep it from happening.

Brownback – do not use any new paths to citizenship…don’t need any new ones. use the ones we have and make the illegals go to the back of the line. Border enforcement, interior enforcement, and that will work. Agrees with McCain

Tommy – secure the border first. It is not right to give illegals rights before that. Calls it an amnesty bill. We have to secure the border. Then move on.

Ron Paul – he supported the 750 mile….Wolf – need one in Canada? Paul – no. If you subsidize something, you get more of it….we force our people to pay for subsidies. Illegals have become the scapegoats

Wolf – Dems only 1 said that English should be the official language. Only wants to hear from those that DON’T want it.

McCain – Indians use their own. english has to be spoken to get ahead…our bill mandates it….he’s spinning on this back to his bill.

Scott – to Gilmore – lumped them as Rudy McRomney. Is Fred conservative enough? Or is it Rudy McRomneyson.

Gilmore – we don’t know enough about his stances

Thompson – sure, he’s got the right name. Boosting himself.

Wolf – to Rudy – Catholic bishop talked about Mitt.

Mitt – did change his mind.

Tom to Huckabee – do not believe in evolution. You are a minister

Huckabee – didn’t like that the unfair question is being asked of is really is a question of "Do you believe in God or not"? He believes in God, and in the words , God created the heavens and the earth.

I don’t know the timing…I wasn’t there. What’s important is that God created it and we are the creation of a loving God.

Brownback – St. Anselm "Faith seeking Reason". Believes we are created in God’s image. There is a God that loves us and was involved int he process. Society puts science and religion at odds; and it should not be

Wolf – should creationism be taught –

McCain – up to the local boards. The Hand of God is in this.

Mitt – fair question is what do you believe?

Wolf – church and statement to Ron Paul – let people at the local level decide. not DC. Roe vs Wade ruined it at the

Tom = global warming IPCC. man-made?

Rudy – is global warming, man contributes to it. Needs a "Apollo" style project to make alt. energy.

Mitt (Wolf – Repubs too close to big oil) – big oil is making big money, they should be reinvesting into refineries. The countries are really the ones making money from us buying too much oil.

McCain – (Wolf – problem with them making huge profits) they should be reinvesting, like nukes. We have to diversify

Ron Paul – tax breaks to oil companies to boost domestic production….we should not give R&D monies.

Gilmore – profits are ok in the free market…they should be reinvested….alt energies. Kyoto is failed policy….every nation has to be included India and China

Scott – time to end don’t ask and don’t tell?

Ron Paul – current policy is fine…..we see people deriving rights from being in a group…..and that is wrong.

Huckabee – covered by UCMJ. Punish if their behavior goes against the rules.

Rudy (Wolf – translators dismissed as gays is that appropriate) Not the time to go thru this devisive issue. In time of war, let the commanders settle it, they know what is best.

Mitt (Wolf – you did advocate that policy) He thought it would not have worked at the time and he was wrong….agrees with Rudy…bigger issues to discuss

McCain – we have the best and is proud of every one of them. Relies on our military leaders. Big mistake to change it now. Don’t tamper

Any one believe that they should serve (NO HANDS UP)

Scott – to Thompson how would you use GWB

Tommy – not to UN. Send him on a lecture tour on service, courage, honor, to get young people realize that public service is good.

Brownback – thinks that GWB would be like his Dad – call me when you need me. Does not think that Clinton has done it right and has interjected himself when he should not have.

Tancredo – Rove told him not to darken the WH because he criticized me.

Wolf to Huckabee – what’s the problem – why did Republicans lose so badly?

Huckabee – Repubs failed on the job and the people fired us….we lost credibility, did not manage the war was run, illegal immigration is a lottery. Why should do citizens have to show ID and illegals do not.

Wolf – pardon Libby to Hunter?

Hunter – look at the transcript (talked about the border guards). Have to bring the Reagan Dems back on board.

Others answered read the transcript

McCain – being appealed

Rudy…leans to it as punishment didn’t fit the crime.

Mitt – bad prosecutor as he knew that Armitage did the leak

Tancredo – Yes

[snip]

Erin Flanagan – brother was killed – he answered the call and was the best of the best. What will you do, as CoC, in the halls of Washington and the sands, to bring our boys home?

Hunter – my son quit his job, joined the Marines. If we can get Iraq to be a stable democracy and not a hotbed of terrorism (like a Japan), that will be the time we can come home.

Brownback – introducing a bill to section out a Sunni, Shiite, and Kurd state loose federalizations

McCain – left his seat to come to the forward part of the stage to say thank you. War has been mismanaged badly. Patrius should be able to make this work, so that your brother has not died in vain. I

Cynthia K – my husband served in Iraq. Given that they lived under a dictator for 30 years, what are we doing to make sure the government will work

Ron Paul – we just have to leave to force it. We should immediately not patrol the streets so that Americans should no longer die. We don’t do this at the end of a gun. (TMEW – what an idiot!)

Rudy – thank you
….your husband helps to keep us safe, as the Islamofacists have attacked us over and over. We overthrew Sadaam wonderfully, but we have to get better at nation building, the nitty gritty parts (like how many people are working at the factory). If things go well, will the media report it as well as the opposite? (lots of applause).

Can a conservative agenda can also have a conservation agenda?

Gilmore – yes. Going off question…..

Medicine Refills – over in Spain, a friend saved $600 on his refills. He will go back and do the trip on the savings.

Rudy – change the model – it is employee / government dominated. It should be like home insurance.

I LOVE HIS ANSWER!

Dems want universal coverage. Rudy wants the free market to decide – socialized medicine will ruin our system.

Hunter – 80% of the inventions come from the US. We have to be allowed to buy insurance across state lines

Blogger – implement a single payer system? (this Josh guy must be a lefty).

Tommy – 93% goes into when you are sick, need to swap to a prevention system. We have to educate our people to keep the Chronics down. If we manage the few that actually cost (the diseases, not the people), and IT, will save

Mitt – (wolf asked about RomneyCare – conservatives critical making it more big government) If I lose my job I lose my health insurance. Employers – cannot afford policies. It relies on personal responsibility to supply their own and the state helps those that cannot.

In your opinion, what is the most pressing moral issue in the US, and how would you deal with it.

Huckabee – our understanding and respect for each and every individual. It has to go beyond the unborn in the womb and that it goes past kids in poverty or elders in a home. Contrast us with Islamists who strap a bomb to kids and send them into a house. We should never drift away from this single principle of valuing life.

Rudy – Are we able to share the gift of our right to determine our votes, our ideals with the rest of the world, we will have peace. Look what we did with Japan and Germany – it works. It is our moral obligation to share it with the world

Ron – We cannot use pre-emptive war principle. HE BLATHERS ON ABOUT ATTACKING A COUNTRY (IRAN) THAT HAS NOT HARMED US.

Brownback – the life issue

In your opinion, what is the most pressing moral issue in the US, and how would you deal with it.

Huckabee – our understanding and respect for each and every individual. It has to go beyond the unborn in the womb and that it goes past kids in poverty or elders in a home. Contrast us with Islamists who strap a bomb to kids and send them into a house. We should never drift away from this single principle of valueing life.

Rudy – Are we able to share the gift of our right to determine our votes, our ideals with the rest of the world, we will have peace. Look what we did with Japan and Germany – it works. It is our moral obligation to share it with the world

Ron – We cannot use pre-emptive war principle. HE BLATHERS ON ABOUT ATTACKING A COUNTRY (IRAN) THAT HAS NOT HARMED US.

Brownback – the life issue.

To Romney – you’ve been accused of flip flopping on immigration? Why are you doing ads in Spanish and why do you have a site in Spanish?

Mitt – He loves immigrants. We have to enforce our borders and that those that come illegally do not give a special privilege. He’s blithering and dithering…and is not answering the question…. and this goes way past the normal "not answering the question".

Tancredo – will not advertise in Spanish…English is the language of this country and we should not be ashamed of the no matter our backgrounds.

McCain – have to enforce [snip] Spanish is ok (TMEW opinion, as I was answering an email)

How does your position differ from the present Administration so that the huge losses we faced as Repubs will not happen again.

McCain – spending, spending, spending that leads to corruption. Huge increase in gov’t size. Stop earmarking – he will veto any bill that has it and make the authors famous.

Missed Rudy’

Mitt – need a vision and take people forward.
Brownback – spending – hope and vision….try this – cancer! beat it!
Tommy – we have to transform healthcare, wind down war, stop spending.
Tancredo – President ran as a conservative and governed as a liberal
Ron Paul – Bush ran against nation building
Gilmore – principle – when we deviate from it, we suffer. Rule of law on immigration, pass it, we fail.
Hunter – Repubs have to reunite with families and lift them up.
Huckabee – excessive taxation and makes it hard to compete, illegal immigration, Bush – did not communicate well

Immigration – what does it mean to be an American?

Tancredo – cut from your past country – are we ready for a timeout? We have to assimulation people first, as it is not going on. When? When we no longer have to press 1 for English.

Huckabee – disagrees with Tancredo. Need doctors, scientist, engineers – seal the border, like entering a stadium – one at a time with a ticket. Treat others like other countries treat us.