Scott Allan’s World

Question 1 -Taxes - To Romney, how is your tax record better than McCain and Huckabee?

Romney very politely shows the differences in their records. He continues to go after McCain for not supporting the Bush Tax cuts. He also proposes zero cap gains tax for middle income earners. McCain dodges the question on not supporting the Bush tax cuts by talking about cutting spending instead which to me are two completely different things. McCain pushes his maverick image to show how he saves taxpayers money. He wants to be a rebel, but rebelling against your own party is usually not the best way to win a nomination. Huckabee points out how he cut taxes 94 times even though Romney points out that the net tax burden went up by half a billion dollars in Arkansas. He defends the tax increase as a court mandate he was compelled to enforce. When Romney challenges Huckabee on his avoiding and inventing facts, Huckabee looks a little foolish going against a economic genius. Giuliani defended his record on taxes in NYC by lowering income tax by 24% and hotel occupancy by 34%. He shows how tax cuts increase revenues using supply-side economics. Thompson will extend Bush tax cuts, estate tax, and repeal alt minimum tax, and cut corporate tax rate. He is asked how he will pay for the loss of income. Thompson says he will save social security by creating individual savings accounts. He will tie social security index to inflation rather than wages. He says this will save 4.7 trillion dollars. He will go right to the people when Congress fights him on this. Romney does not want to reduce the fixed income to retirees. He says he has no problem changing benefits to higher income or raising the retirement age. McCain says he agrees with Fred and says to appeal to United States citizens directly.

Question 2: Change and populism. Using Huckabee’s video where he says people would rather vote for someone who work for them rather than someone who lays them off, he is asked if this is a shot at Romney. His populism argument seems to border on class warfare. He says he does not want to make the rich poor, but instead make the poor rich. Romney says you don’t help the wage earner by attacking the wage payer. Romney highlights his business and job creation experience. Huckabee wants to eliminate corporate, income, and death taxes. This is where I think Huckabee makes the most sense. Giuliani is asked about the fair tax and says that he brought many people out of poverty in NYC by changing welfare to workfare. I’m still waiting for the Fair Tax answer. He says workfare = love. Thompson likes parts of Fair Tax. He is worried we would get both sales and income tax since the Constitutional amendment will never happen. He calls it wishful thinking. He wants a flatter tax. He wants 10% tax under 100,000 and 25% over. 100,000 is not what it used to be. I find that a bit low.

Question 3 - Change - To McCain, who is really an agent of change, you or Romney? McCain says fighting for the surge and getting rid of Rumsfeld shows how he can affect change. He says there is no better change than saving American lives. He keeps pointing to how he killed the Bridge to Nowhere. Romney calls McCain an agent of change, but Washington is broken and needs someone who is not in Washington already. He says just moving the same people into different chairs is not change. Romney says his executive leadership skills is what America needs right now. McCain says he has leadership experience by leading the largest squadron in the Navy. He knows how to bring about change and will also best protect our nation which is a little off topic. Thompson says every always throws around the catch phrase change since the beginning of democracy. He says leadership and telling the truth is more important than change. He says telling people that the war will be protracted and that we will not be energy independent any time soon is what America need to hear. Giuliani says change is not good if it is in the wrong direction.

Question 4 - Foreign policy - Romney is asked if leadership is more important than experience. Romney says America usually chooses a Governor for President for his leadership for the unknown problems that may occur. Expertise in one particular area is not the best quality for a President. McCain says a President must have a background in foreign policy. Romney says a President needs empathy, temperament, wisdom, etc. Huckabee is challenged on his knowledge of foreign affairs and his readiness to be President. Huckabee notes all the countries he has visited. He says he has more government executive experience than anyone running. He avoids the question as usual. He again is asked why he gets so many foreign affairs facts wrong. He says he might make a slip of the tongue, but there is no slip in his judgment. Of course, he agrees with Romney that Governors make better Presidents. Giuliani is asked about McCain’s charge that all the experience he has is 9/11. He says he is the only candidate who actually has terrorism crisis management experience. He also talks about his communications with leaders of other countries. He reminds everyone that he told a Saudi Prince where to stick his 9/11 check. Thompson goes after Romney saying that Romney thinks expertise is important in every area except foreign affairs. He talks about his experience on the Foreign Intelligence Committee. Thompson goes after Huckabee for saying our foreign policy is arrogant, that we should close Gitmo, lifting the embargo on Castro etc. Huckabee says he was for Gitmo until a court decides otherwise. He says the conditions in Gitmo were too good for these prisoners. Now that was a surprise. Thompson says these prisoners do not deserve habeas corpus rights which is what they would get in Leavenworth. McCain says he knows how to get Bin Laden by making it a top priority.

Question 5 - Immigration- McCain is asked about if his immigration bill is amnesty. McCain says all immigrants need to earn the right to stay and that he does not support amnesty. The first step is securing the border, then establish a worker program, then deal with illegal status in a compassionate way. Romney says we are compassionate but must believe in the rule of law. He says too many people have waited too long to get in here legally and it is unfair to place illegals in front of them. He considers this amnesty because it will encourage people to continue the breaking the law to jump the line. McCain says not doing anything is de facto amnesty. Strangely I agree with both candidates on this issue. Take McCain’s bill and stick the people at the end of the line and everyone will be happy. Huckabee defends his plan to make illegals go home to “touch back” and get at the end of the line including their children even though he says we must educate the children of illegals. Chris Wallace finds this contradictory since it will punish the children by sending them back to poverty. Giuliani is asked if he has changed his position on letting illegals stay in the country. Giuliani says it is humane to give illegals education and health care but at the same time as mayor of NYC, he tried to get them all deported but was denied by the INS so he did the best he could. All candidates say a border fence is the most important thing to do first. Of course no one mentions how Canada’s border is wide open. Thompson says our policies encourage people to risk their lives to sneak in. Our entitlement programs are already overburdened. He says Mexico needs to fix their own economy rather than relying on us to provide jobs to their people.

Question 6 - Romney’s immigration attack ads - McCain is asked if Romney is lying about his record. McCain says he runs a positive campaign. (Ha! I guess snide personal comments don’t count) He says he wants to be judged by the type of campaigns he runs. Huckabee thinks he was rewarded by not responding negatively to Romney’s ads. He wants to change the tone of discourse in the country. Romney is asked why his ads attack candidates. Romney says his ads have mostly shown his positions. He denies his ads are attack ads since he does not anyone’s character, but instead compares issue differences. He feels it is important to discuss these differences. He mentioned how Huckabee’s campaign manager wanted to kick his teeth in. Huckabee says Chuck Norris is waiting outside. He feels Romney’s ads were not completely accurate citing the New York Times as agreeing with him. I wouldn’t side with the NY Times if I were him.

Question 7 - Flip Flopping - Romney is asked about flip-flopping. He is sure that he is not the only person who has changed their position. He feels it is much better to admit when you are wrong about your positions rather than be stubborn and never change your position. He says he was very accurate in his ads and has no obligation to defend Huckabee in his ads.

Question 8 - Giuliani is asked about his scandals and lapses in judgment. He regrets the lapses but has had many successes and the mistakes have already been settled.

Question 9 - McCain’s age - He will be 72 years old. Is he too old? He says he’s not running for an eight year term. He’ll start with four. He says he has plenty of energy and learned many lessons.

Question 10 - How are you the best person to beat the Democrat nominee.

Giuliani- He has proven leadership reaching across the aisle in NYC. He says we need leadership, hope, and optimism. He is a proven leader.

Thompson - He is the only candidate to never lose an election and runs strong campaigns. He mentions his conservative values. He is worried about our children’s future and can provide the leadership to improve it.

Huckabee says he is the common man candidate. He sounds like John Edwards.

Then my satellite signal died and the next thing I saw was Frank Luntz asking how many people in his focus group were switching to Romney which was overwhelming. They felt Huckabee waffled on the first response. They feel Romney is clear and concise. Most felt Thompson was the weakest candidate. They felt he was not a good communicator. New Hampshire voters will not vote on a person’s religion. They liked the debate. They all believe Romney can beat Obama. He is very articulate and presidential.

I thought this was a pretty good debate. A great night for Mitt.