Who is up/down after last night's debate?....
Selected issue exchanges:
Bain Capital. Baier asked Newt re Romney adds. After Newt gave answer reiterating his position, Romney responded: he invested in well over 100 businesses, with a record of success. (Of Bain's job creation Mitt said that he "helped create" jobs at Staples, because he was nailed last week for implying Bain was sole creator of jobs there. (LFTC made that same mistake & I regret the error.) Baier asked Rick Perry about how he would deal with "vulture capitalism"? Perry cited Dodd-Frank as candidate for repeal, then hit Mitt for an investment in SC as vulture example, then bragged that his income taxes are out for all to see, so why does not Mitt disclose his tax records? Mitt said that the Georgetown steel mill he invested in SC was old technology, sunk by foreign dumping that took down 30 such mills all over the US. Mitt cited an Indiana new-tech steel mill as a positive example. Seib asked Romney about another plant that closed; Romney answered that Bain had overseen the opening of second, non-union plant, then the firm consolidated, closing the union plant whilst offering jobs to all union workers who worked at the original plant, but that union workers did not want non-union jobs.
Unemployment Benefits. Baier asked Santorum & Newt. Santorum called for block grants to states, and noted that welfare reform limited benefits to 40 weeks. Newt said, asked re duration, that 99 weeks of unemployment benefits is "an associate degree."
Entitlements. Santorum & Romney said control spending first, before taking Newt's suggestion to migrate entitlements to new savings accounts per the very successful Chilean model. Newt & Mitt said that guaranteed personal retirement acccounts would take money away from Medicare & Social Security today. In other words, fix the fisc first.
Work Ethic. Williams asked Newt re kids in African-American communities taking janitorial jobs instead of collecting benefits, if Newt saw anything insulting in this. Newt said no, he did not. He cited his daughter's janitorial work experience, and other examples.
Education. Newt called Bush 43's No Child Left Behind law a failure, and called for returning education to the states.
Taxes. All want lower tax rates than current 35 percent federal level. Paul topped all, called for zero federal income tax. Evans asked Mitt if he would release his tax returns; Romney said he would around April time period, as that is the tradition. (It is also when Mitt thinks he will clinch the GOP nomination.)
Immigration. Romney told Williams, who asked re Hispanic voters & GOP, that he opposes giving path to citizenship to illegals, because they jump the line; he would have them return & apply from their home country. He strongly supports legal immigration. Evans asked Perry re immigration, noting that border crossings are at a 40-year low; Perry countered that the reason for that is that our economy is probably at a 40-year low.
European & US Financial Problems. Evans asked this of Romney. Mitt answered that bankruptcy plays a role in restructuring the economic system, and not to bail everyone out all the time.
Defense Spending. Ron Paul told Seib that US bases overseas should be closed, as they cause many of the overseas problems we face.
Taliban. Romney said do not negotiate with Taliban, help Afghans defeat them. Paul said al-Qaeda & Taliban differ: the former come here to kill us, the latter do not. (This ignores collaboration between the two pre- & post-9/11.)
Libya/Syria. Santorum assailed Obama policy re Syria & Israel.
Turkey. Rick Perry said Turkey no longer is a US ally--noting that things had changed since he was a pilot stationed in Turkey in the 1970s.
Extrajudicial Killings. Paul says they violate int'l law, but Newt cited OBL as example of legitimate act of war. Newt noted that young Andy Jackson was struck with a saber by a Brit soldier and then gave the best quip of the night: "Andrew Jackson had a pretty good idea of what to do with America's enemies: kill them."
Felon Voting. Mitt's against this, period. Santorum's for it, noting that many African-Americans are affected, and that upon completing sentence + parole period, their voting rights should be restored; Rick Perry says leave it to the states.
SC Voter ID Challenge. Williams asked Perry re Voting Rights & scrutiny of SC law. Perry said TX & SC are at war with Justice Dept.; he cited SC voter ID, immigration laws & Nat'l. Labor Relations Board going after Boeing for seeking non-union plant in SC.
Bottom Line. Romney did not help himself. But unless Santorum & Newt can gain traction with voters to match their debate performances, Romney may escape yet again.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, Conservative Politics
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