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Patriot Games
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295899,00.html
Two Republican Presidential Candidacies Offered New, Revived Life
Thursday, September 06, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Republican presidential nominating contest took on a new
shape Thursday with an additional candidate in the race and new life
injected into a suffering campaign following a praiseworthy showing at a
primary debate in New Hampshire.
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson officially joined the 2008 presidential
campaign with an announcement made just after midnight on the "Tonight Show
With Jay Leno" followed by an Internet Webcast on his own campaign Web site.
"We're where we need to be right now, and that's one of the things I wanted
to talk to you about. I'm running for president of the United States,"
Thompson told Leno.
Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. John McCain won wide praise from voters
participating in an instant response meter that gauged reaction to
candidates' remarks. The nearly unanimous reaction came after a retooling of
McCain's campaign following several months of poor fundraising, a staff
shake-up and falling poll numbers.
Thompson, who several times this year delayed entering the campaign and has
been plagued by campaign staffing changes even before a campaign was in
place, said he started thinking about entering the race in March. He
rejected assertions that his late start would hurt his chances.
"I don't think people are going to say, you know, 'That guy would make a
very good president, but he just didn't get in soon enough.' Communications
being what they are nowadays, if you can't get your message out in a few
months, you're probably not ever going to get it out," Thompson said.
The former "Law & Order" star made his official entry announcement just
after the other eight candidates seeking the Republican nod wrapped up a
debate marked by both banter and bickering.
Anticipating Thompson's entry, the other candidates welcomed him into the
contest but wondered about his timing.
"I think he's done a really good job of playing my part on 'Law and Order.'
I personally prefer the real thing but I think Fred will add something to
the race," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was once a U.S.
attorney, said at the debate on FOX News held at the University of New
Hampshire's Whittemore Center.
"I was scheduled to be on Jay Leno tonight, but I gave up my slot for
somebody else because I'd rather be in New Hampshire with these fine
people," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
"Why the hurry? Why not take some more time off?" added former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney.
Thompson's campaign immediately claimed that the candidate was dominating
the Republican presidential primary process, releasing news headlines that
noted his absence from the debate. Thompson himself told Leno that he
doesn't think much of the current debate structures.
"The segments now, you know, you've got 10 guys if everybody shows up, you
know, with 30, 40 second sound bites. It's not designed to enlighten the
American people," he said.
"And I'll tell you something else. For those who talk about that New
Hampshire situation, I'm certainly not disrespecting them, but it's a lot
more difficult to get on the 'Tonight Show' than it is to get into a
presidential debate," Thompson added.
Surge in Iraq, Surge for McCain
While Thompson's absence was noted several times throughout the evening,
candidates found plenty of room to talk about several issues - and spent a
predominant amount of time arguing over the degree of success that has
occurred as a result of the troop surge in Iraq. The tone offered a far cry
from Democratic debates or even earlier Republican debates in which words
like "redeployment" and "withdrawal" dominated the discussion.
In Wednesday night's debate, McCain, a Vietnam war hero, was repeatedly
praised by the other candidates, who agreed with many of his remarks on the
prosecution of the war but didn't go as far as McCain in emphasizing the
success of the surge in Iraq.
"It is working. No, not 'apparently'; it's working," McCain said, taking
issue with Romney over his cautious optimism.
McCain said the surge has been successful in part because of a good strategy
being executed by Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Multinational Forces in
Iraq who is set to testify to Congress next week about the successes of the
Iraqi government to meet 18 military and political benchmarks. Critics of
the congressionally-mandated report say the benchmarks are worded to ensure
failure and scheduled on an impossible timeframe. The general's remarks are
sure to be used in the debate on Capitol Hill over changes in U.S. force
structure in Iraq.
"The Maliki government is not doing the things we want it to do, the police
are not functioning the way we want them to do, but we are succeeding. And
the great debate is not whether it's apparently working or not, the great
debate is going to take place on the floor of the United States Senate the
middle of this month. And it's going to be whether we set a date for
withdrawal, which will be a date for surrender, or whether we will let this
surge continue and succeed," McCain said.
McCain added that he wants the troops to return home - when it's the right
time for the United States to leave.
"I want our troops home with honor. Otherwise, we will face catastrophe and
genocide in the region," he said.
On another topic, McCain also scored well among his peers and the audience
when he said he pledged to "veto every pork barrel bill that comes across my
desk. And I will make the authors of those pork barrel projects famous, and
that's what I've been doing for a lot of years."
Several of the candidates praised McCain throughout the debate, with
Huckabee saying that "if there's anybody on this stage that understands the
word honor, I've got to say Sen. McCain understands that word.
"He has given his country a sacrifice the rest of us don't even comprehend,
and on this issue, when he says we can't leave until we've left with honor,
I 100 percent agree with him" on Iraq, he said.
"I have tremendous respect for Senator McCain. I think I've said, more than
once, if I wasn't running I'd probably be supporting him for president,"
said Giuliani, who took similar positions as McCain on Iraq and a no-new
taxes pledge that both called unnecessary.
Even Thompson on the Tonight Show called McCain a "good friend."
"John McCain and I sat side by side on the Senate floor. He's a good friend
and will be after this is over with unless, of course, he beats me," he
said.
But not all the candidates shared McCain's insistence on the rightness of
the war, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul led the criticism.
"I'm the anti-war candidate representing the Republican traditional
position," he said before getting into one of the night's liveliest sparring
matches - a back-and-forth with Huckabee over whether it's time for the
United States to leave Iraq.
"Going into Iraq and Afghanistan and threatening Iran is the worst thing we
can do for our national security. I am less safe, the American people are
less safe for this. It's the policy that is wrong," Paul said.
"The people who say there will be a bloodbath are the ones who said it will
be a cakewalk or it will be a slam dunk, and that it will be paid for by
oil. Why believe them?" he asked.
In response, Huckabee said that it was agreed before the war started that if
the U.S. breaks Iraq, it must buy it.
"Congressman, whether or not we should have gone to Iraq is a discussion the
historians can have, but we're there. We bought it because we broke it.
We've got a responsibility to the honor of this country and to the honor of
every man and woman who has served in Iraq and ever served in our military
to not leave them with anything less than the honor that they deserve,"
Huckabee said.
Paul then responded: "The American people didn't go in. A few people
advising this administration, a small number of people called the
neoconservatives hijacked our foreign policy. They're responsible, not the
American people."
Huckabee retorted that the United States is one nation. "We can't be
divided. We have to be one nation, under God. That means if we make a
mistake, we make it as a single country: the United States of America, not
the divided states of America," he said.
"No, when we make a mistake - when we make a mistake, it is the obligation
of the people, through their representatives, to correct the mistake, not to
continue the mistake," Paul replied.
"And that's what we do on the floor of the Senate," Huckabee said.
California Rep. Duncan Hunter ended the discussion by saying progress by
U.S. forces in Iraq should determine whether the United States should remain
there.
"We've got 129 battalions in the Iraqi army that we're training up. We're
training them up, we are getting them into the fight. When those Iraqi
battalions are battled-hardened and they start to rotate into the positions
on the battlefield displacing American forces, the American forces can then
rotate out, come back to the U.S., or go to other places in Central Command.
That's the right way to win. It's called victory. That's how we leave Iraq,"
he said.
National Security, Domestic Responsibilities
But not all the debate on stage was on Iraq. Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo
called Iraq a battlefield in the War on Terror but the departure of U.S.
forces does not mean the end to threats to national security. He said if he
were president, he would take whatever action necessary short of torture to
defend the U.S.
"I would do - certainly, waterboard - I don't believe that that is, quote,
'torture.' I would do what is necessary to protect this country. That is the
ultimate responsibility of the president of the United States. All of the
other things that we do, all of the other things - all of the other powers
vested in him pale in comparison to his responsibility to keep the people of
this country safe. And that is ultimate. And, yes, I would go to great
lengths to keep this country safe."
Tancredo, whose presidential campaign platform has been based almost solely
on stopping illegal immigration, also lashed out at the other candidates for
political correctness, saying that is what "will get us all killed." He
offered another retort to those who change their views based on when the
"wind is blowing in one direction."
"I'd like to see more than rhetoric ... (enforcing immigration law) has got
nothing to do with disliking people entering this country, it has to do with
the rule of law. Does anyone understand that?" Tancredo said.
On the topic of immigration, McCain defended his position as a co-sponsor of
an immigration reform bill this year that failed in the Senate largely
because of popular opposition to the guest worker program, called "amnesty"
by opponents, that was outlined in the plan.
"Amnesty, according to the dictionary, is 'forgiveness.' The proposal that
we had would require fines, would require back in the line, would require
deportation for some. It would require others to go back to the country of
their origin. It would require an enormous amount before anyone, as long as
13 years, could even be eligible for citizenship in this country," McCain
said.
"Why we failed is because the American people have lost trust and confidence
in us - our failure in Katrina, our failures in Iraq, our failures to
control runaway spending. ... There's 12 million people who are in this
country illegally, which is de facto amnesty, and we need a temporary worker
program. I commit to securing the borders first. We can secure those
borders. As president, I would have the border state governors certify that
those borders were indeed secure," he said.
Romney, who ran an ad criticizing Giuliani for being mayor of a "sanctuary
city" - one that does not prosecute illegal immigrants in New York City,
also defended his enforcement of immigration law as governor of
Massachusetts, saying that he could not force mayors to follow state law.
"With regards to sanctuary cities, the governors aren't responsible for
mayors who are not following the law. And, actually, in my case, as soon as
I learned about a program in the department of ICE (Immigration and Customs
Enforcement) that we could have our state police authorized to enforce the
law, I did just that so that in sanctuary cities in our state - and
nonsanctuary cities - the law would be enforced," Romney said.
Giuliani countered that his policy on illegal immigrants enabled him to
clean up crime in the city even if it meant leaving illegals in place.
"The problem that I had was I had 400,000 illegal immigrants, roughly, in
New York City. And I had a city that was the crime capital of America. I had
to do something intelligent with them," he said. "So what I did was, I
said - and I think this a sensible policy: If you are an illegal immigrant
in New York City and a crime is committed against you, I want you to report
that. Because lo and behold, the next time a crime is committed, it could be
against a citizen or a legal immigrant."
Giuliani also used a similar defense to explain his support for gun control
laws, though said what worked for New York City may not be the best answer
for places like Virginia Tech, where a shooter killed 33 students and
faculty last spring.
"I think states have a right to decide that, states have a right to decide
their gun laws. The Second Amendment grants you the right to bear arms. We
have a federal system," he said.
Paul cited the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as an example of the failure
of the U.S. government to protect Americans by enacting too strict gun laws.
"Here is one example when the federal government was involved and they
messed it up, and if we put the responsibility on the right people,
respected the Second Amendment, I sincerely believe there would have been a
lot less chance of 9/11 ever happening," he said.
On social issues, Huckabee said he didn't care to compare the positions of
Giuliani and Romney on abortion, and the debate about abortion doesn't
revolve around whether it should be a federal or state issue.
"The reason this country has been extraordinarily interested in what's going
on to those miners out in Utah is because even though we don't know them,
they represent us in the sense that they are human beings, and we don't know
their fate. We need to show the same kind of respect for life whether a
child is in the womb, or whether in a coal mine, or in a long-term care
facility," he said.
Hitting on another socially sensitive topic, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback
received a mix of applause and boos when he said he supports a
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"When you do these vast, social experiments - and that's what this is, when
you redefine marriage - it's a vast, social experiment. They're not done in
isolation. They impact the rest of the culture around you. When you take the
sacredness out of marriage, you will drive the marriage rates down," he
said.
Brownback, who has tried to corner the socially conservative base of the
GOP, said he thought Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who pleaded guilty last month
to a misdemeanor plea of disorderly conduct for allegedly soliciting a cop
in a men's bathroom at a Minnesota airport in June, ought to stick to his
commitment to resign. That position was echoed by Hunter.
"I think he ought to stick with the commitment that he made. And, you know,
that's one thing about our party. When our guys have problems like this,
they leave. They leave the Senate or they leave the House. When the
Democrats have problems like this, they often make them chairmen of their
respective committees," said Hunter of California.
Asked about his own family values, Giuliani, whose personal life includes
two divorces and sometimes frothy relationships with his children, said he's
running as an executive who knows how to get definable results in situations
that people think are impossible to fix.
"Obviously, any issues in my private life do not affect my public
performance," he said, adding that he is "not running as the perfect
candidate for president of the United States, he's running as a human
being."
Among the would-be panelists in the debate were Republican voters at Young's
Restaurant, who posed their questions remotely. One sheriff's deputy whose
son is due back from Iraq told Romney that he was out of line for comparing
his sons' campaigning for Romney to be president to the service performed by
U.S. troops.
"There is no comparison, of course," Romney replied. "There's no question
but that the honor that we have for men and women who serve in our Armed
Forces is a place of honor we will never forget and nothing compares to it."
Two Republican Presidential Candidacies Offered New, Revived Life
Thursday, September 06, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Republican presidential nominating contest took on a new
shape Thursday with an additional candidate in the race and new life
injected into a suffering campaign following a praiseworthy showing at a
primary debate in New Hampshire.
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson officially joined the 2008 presidential
campaign with an announcement made just after midnight on the "Tonight Show
With Jay Leno" followed by an Internet Webcast on his own campaign Web site.
"We're where we need to be right now, and that's one of the things I wanted
to talk to you about. I'm running for president of the United States,"
Thompson told Leno.
Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. John McCain won wide praise from voters
participating in an instant response meter that gauged reaction to
candidates' remarks. The nearly unanimous reaction came after a retooling of
McCain's campaign following several months of poor fundraising, a staff
shake-up and falling poll numbers.
Thompson, who several times this year delayed entering the campaign and has
been plagued by campaign staffing changes even before a campaign was in
place, said he started thinking about entering the race in March. He
rejected assertions that his late start would hurt his chances.
"I don't think people are going to say, you know, 'That guy would make a
very good president, but he just didn't get in soon enough.' Communications
being what they are nowadays, if you can't get your message out in a few
months, you're probably not ever going to get it out," Thompson said.
The former "Law & Order" star made his official entry announcement just
after the other eight candidates seeking the Republican nod wrapped up a
debate marked by both banter and bickering.
Anticipating Thompson's entry, the other candidates welcomed him into the
contest but wondered about his timing.
"I think he's done a really good job of playing my part on 'Law and Order.'
I personally prefer the real thing but I think Fred will add something to
the race," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was once a U.S.
attorney, said at the debate on FOX News held at the University of New
Hampshire's Whittemore Center.
"I was scheduled to be on Jay Leno tonight, but I gave up my slot for
somebody else because I'd rather be in New Hampshire with these fine
people," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
"Why the hurry? Why not take some more time off?" added former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney.
Thompson's campaign immediately claimed that the candidate was dominating
the Republican presidential primary process, releasing news headlines that
noted his absence from the debate. Thompson himself told Leno that he
doesn't think much of the current debate structures.
"The segments now, you know, you've got 10 guys if everybody shows up, you
know, with 30, 40 second sound bites. It's not designed to enlighten the
American people," he said.
"And I'll tell you something else. For those who talk about that New
Hampshire situation, I'm certainly not disrespecting them, but it's a lot
more difficult to get on the 'Tonight Show' than it is to get into a
presidential debate," Thompson added.
Surge in Iraq, Surge for McCain
While Thompson's absence was noted several times throughout the evening,
candidates found plenty of room to talk about several issues - and spent a
predominant amount of time arguing over the degree of success that has
occurred as a result of the troop surge in Iraq. The tone offered a far cry
from Democratic debates or even earlier Republican debates in which words
like "redeployment" and "withdrawal" dominated the discussion.
In Wednesday night's debate, McCain, a Vietnam war hero, was repeatedly
praised by the other candidates, who agreed with many of his remarks on the
prosecution of the war but didn't go as far as McCain in emphasizing the
success of the surge in Iraq.
"It is working. No, not 'apparently'; it's working," McCain said, taking
issue with Romney over his cautious optimism.
McCain said the surge has been successful in part because of a good strategy
being executed by Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Multinational Forces in
Iraq who is set to testify to Congress next week about the successes of the
Iraqi government to meet 18 military and political benchmarks. Critics of
the congressionally-mandated report say the benchmarks are worded to ensure
failure and scheduled on an impossible timeframe. The general's remarks are
sure to be used in the debate on Capitol Hill over changes in U.S. force
structure in Iraq.
"The Maliki government is not doing the things we want it to do, the police
are not functioning the way we want them to do, but we are succeeding. And
the great debate is not whether it's apparently working or not, the great
debate is going to take place on the floor of the United States Senate the
middle of this month. And it's going to be whether we set a date for
withdrawal, which will be a date for surrender, or whether we will let this
surge continue and succeed," McCain said.
McCain added that he wants the troops to return home - when it's the right
time for the United States to leave.
"I want our troops home with honor. Otherwise, we will face catastrophe and
genocide in the region," he said.
On another topic, McCain also scored well among his peers and the audience
when he said he pledged to "veto every pork barrel bill that comes across my
desk. And I will make the authors of those pork barrel projects famous, and
that's what I've been doing for a lot of years."
Several of the candidates praised McCain throughout the debate, with
Huckabee saying that "if there's anybody on this stage that understands the
word honor, I've got to say Sen. McCain understands that word.
"He has given his country a sacrifice the rest of us don't even comprehend,
and on this issue, when he says we can't leave until we've left with honor,
I 100 percent agree with him" on Iraq, he said.
"I have tremendous respect for Senator McCain. I think I've said, more than
once, if I wasn't running I'd probably be supporting him for president,"
said Giuliani, who took similar positions as McCain on Iraq and a no-new
taxes pledge that both called unnecessary.
Even Thompson on the Tonight Show called McCain a "good friend."
"John McCain and I sat side by side on the Senate floor. He's a good friend
and will be after this is over with unless, of course, he beats me," he
said.
But not all the candidates shared McCain's insistence on the rightness of
the war, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul led the criticism.
"I'm the anti-war candidate representing the Republican traditional
position," he said before getting into one of the night's liveliest sparring
matches - a back-and-forth with Huckabee over whether it's time for the
United States to leave Iraq.
"Going into Iraq and Afghanistan and threatening Iran is the worst thing we
can do for our national security. I am less safe, the American people are
less safe for this. It's the policy that is wrong," Paul said.
"The people who say there will be a bloodbath are the ones who said it will
be a cakewalk or it will be a slam dunk, and that it will be paid for by
oil. Why believe them?" he asked.
In response, Huckabee said that it was agreed before the war started that if
the U.S. breaks Iraq, it must buy it.
"Congressman, whether or not we should have gone to Iraq is a discussion the
historians can have, but we're there. We bought it because we broke it.
We've got a responsibility to the honor of this country and to the honor of
every man and woman who has served in Iraq and ever served in our military
to not leave them with anything less than the honor that they deserve,"
Huckabee said.
Paul then responded: "The American people didn't go in. A few people
advising this administration, a small number of people called the
neoconservatives hijacked our foreign policy. They're responsible, not the
American people."
Huckabee retorted that the United States is one nation. "We can't be
divided. We have to be one nation, under God. That means if we make a
mistake, we make it as a single country: the United States of America, not
the divided states of America," he said.
"No, when we make a mistake - when we make a mistake, it is the obligation
of the people, through their representatives, to correct the mistake, not to
continue the mistake," Paul replied.
"And that's what we do on the floor of the Senate," Huckabee said.
California Rep. Duncan Hunter ended the discussion by saying progress by
U.S. forces in Iraq should determine whether the United States should remain
there.
"We've got 129 battalions in the Iraqi army that we're training up. We're
training them up, we are getting them into the fight. When those Iraqi
battalions are battled-hardened and they start to rotate into the positions
on the battlefield displacing American forces, the American forces can then
rotate out, come back to the U.S., or go to other places in Central Command.
That's the right way to win. It's called victory. That's how we leave Iraq,"
he said.
National Security, Domestic Responsibilities
But not all the debate on stage was on Iraq. Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo
called Iraq a battlefield in the War on Terror but the departure of U.S.
forces does not mean the end to threats to national security. He said if he
were president, he would take whatever action necessary short of torture to
defend the U.S.
"I would do - certainly, waterboard - I don't believe that that is, quote,
'torture.' I would do what is necessary to protect this country. That is the
ultimate responsibility of the president of the United States. All of the
other things that we do, all of the other things - all of the other powers
vested in him pale in comparison to his responsibility to keep the people of
this country safe. And that is ultimate. And, yes, I would go to great
lengths to keep this country safe."
Tancredo, whose presidential campaign platform has been based almost solely
on stopping illegal immigration, also lashed out at the other candidates for
political correctness, saying that is what "will get us all killed." He
offered another retort to those who change their views based on when the
"wind is blowing in one direction."
"I'd like to see more than rhetoric ... (enforcing immigration law) has got
nothing to do with disliking people entering this country, it has to do with
the rule of law. Does anyone understand that?" Tancredo said.
On the topic of immigration, McCain defended his position as a co-sponsor of
an immigration reform bill this year that failed in the Senate largely
because of popular opposition to the guest worker program, called "amnesty"
by opponents, that was outlined in the plan.
"Amnesty, according to the dictionary, is 'forgiveness.' The proposal that
we had would require fines, would require back in the line, would require
deportation for some. It would require others to go back to the country of
their origin. It would require an enormous amount before anyone, as long as
13 years, could even be eligible for citizenship in this country," McCain
said.
"Why we failed is because the American people have lost trust and confidence
in us - our failure in Katrina, our failures in Iraq, our failures to
control runaway spending. ... There's 12 million people who are in this
country illegally, which is de facto amnesty, and we need a temporary worker
program. I commit to securing the borders first. We can secure those
borders. As president, I would have the border state governors certify that
those borders were indeed secure," he said.
Romney, who ran an ad criticizing Giuliani for being mayor of a "sanctuary
city" - one that does not prosecute illegal immigrants in New York City,
also defended his enforcement of immigration law as governor of
Massachusetts, saying that he could not force mayors to follow state law.
"With regards to sanctuary cities, the governors aren't responsible for
mayors who are not following the law. And, actually, in my case, as soon as
I learned about a program in the department of ICE (Immigration and Customs
Enforcement) that we could have our state police authorized to enforce the
law, I did just that so that in sanctuary cities in our state - and
nonsanctuary cities - the law would be enforced," Romney said.
Giuliani countered that his policy on illegal immigrants enabled him to
clean up crime in the city even if it meant leaving illegals in place.
"The problem that I had was I had 400,000 illegal immigrants, roughly, in
New York City. And I had a city that was the crime capital of America. I had
to do something intelligent with them," he said. "So what I did was, I
said - and I think this a sensible policy: If you are an illegal immigrant
in New York City and a crime is committed against you, I want you to report
that. Because lo and behold, the next time a crime is committed, it could be
against a citizen or a legal immigrant."
Giuliani also used a similar defense to explain his support for gun control
laws, though said what worked for New York City may not be the best answer
for places like Virginia Tech, where a shooter killed 33 students and
faculty last spring.
"I think states have a right to decide that, states have a right to decide
their gun laws. The Second Amendment grants you the right to bear arms. We
have a federal system," he said.
Paul cited the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as an example of the failure
of the U.S. government to protect Americans by enacting too strict gun laws.
"Here is one example when the federal government was involved and they
messed it up, and if we put the responsibility on the right people,
respected the Second Amendment, I sincerely believe there would have been a
lot less chance of 9/11 ever happening," he said.
On social issues, Huckabee said he didn't care to compare the positions of
Giuliani and Romney on abortion, and the debate about abortion doesn't
revolve around whether it should be a federal or state issue.
"The reason this country has been extraordinarily interested in what's going
on to those miners out in Utah is because even though we don't know them,
they represent us in the sense that they are human beings, and we don't know
their fate. We need to show the same kind of respect for life whether a
child is in the womb, or whether in a coal mine, or in a long-term care
facility," he said.
Hitting on another socially sensitive topic, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback
received a mix of applause and boos when he said he supports a
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"When you do these vast, social experiments - and that's what this is, when
you redefine marriage - it's a vast, social experiment. They're not done in
isolation. They impact the rest of the culture around you. When you take the
sacredness out of marriage, you will drive the marriage rates down," he
said.
Brownback, who has tried to corner the socially conservative base of the
GOP, said he thought Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who pleaded guilty last month
to a misdemeanor plea of disorderly conduct for allegedly soliciting a cop
in a men's bathroom at a Minnesota airport in June, ought to stick to his
commitment to resign. That position was echoed by Hunter.
"I think he ought to stick with the commitment that he made. And, you know,
that's one thing about our party. When our guys have problems like this,
they leave. They leave the Senate or they leave the House. When the
Democrats have problems like this, they often make them chairmen of their
respective committees," said Hunter of California.
Asked about his own family values, Giuliani, whose personal life includes
two divorces and sometimes frothy relationships with his children, said he's
running as an executive who knows how to get definable results in situations
that people think are impossible to fix.
"Obviously, any issues in my private life do not affect my public
performance," he said, adding that he is "not running as the perfect
candidate for president of the United States, he's running as a human
being."
Among the would-be panelists in the debate were Republican voters at Young's
Restaurant, who posed their questions remotely. One sheriff's deputy whose
son is due back from Iraq told Romney that he was out of line for comparing
his sons' campaigning for Romney to be president to the service performed by
U.S. troops.
"There is no comparison, of course," Romney replied. "There's no question
but that the honor that we have for men and women who serve in our Armed
Forces is a place of honor we will never forget and nothing compares to it."