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finding practical ways to move from a republic towards a democracy and holding the media accountable for substantive, critical reporting of important issues....
since various camps were claiming victory in the Florida Republican Presidential Debate I decied to look at the transcript and found some interesting quotes:
January 24, 2008 Transcript The Republican Debate
link http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/us/politics/24text-debate.html?pagewanted=print
quotes
Ron Paul:
And then there's never been a war fought without inflation and destruction and devaluation of a currency. And this is what we're doing today to ourselves, is we're literally spending ourselves into oblivion.
But nobody here is willing to even suggest that we cut something overseas. But we have to. We don't need to cut anything here at home. I'd like to see things frozen. I'd like to see massive tax cuts. But we need deregulation. I was one of three people that voted against Sarbanes-Oxley. I knew that would be a problem, and it is a problem for the financial markets.
So this is the kind of thing we need. We need the government out of the way, but it should have sound money, low taxes, less regulations, and a sensible policy where we're not wasting our money overseas.
moderator:I want each of you to take 30 seconds. Will you go to the country and say the war was a good idea worth the price in blood and treasure, and we will stay?
REP. PAUL: It was a very bad idea, and it wasn't worth it. (Cheers, applause.) The al Qaeda wasn't there then; they're there now. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Had nothing to do with 9/11.
.....
Congressman Paul, a question for one of your colleagues on stage.
REP. PAUL: My -- my question is for Senator McCain.
This is an economic question that I wanted to ask. It has to do with the President's Working Group on Financial Markets.
I'd like to know what your opinion is of this and whether you would keep it in place, what their role would be, or you would get rid of this group. And if you kept the group, would you make sure we would see some sunlight and know what they're doing and how they're being involved in our markets?
SEN. MCCAIN: Well, obviously we'd like to see more sunshine.
But I as president, as every other president, rely primarily on my secretary of the Treasury, on my Council of Economic Advisers, on the head of that. I would rely on the circle that I have developed over many years of people like Jack Kemp, Phil Gramm, Warren Rudman, Pete Peterson and the Concord group. I have a process of leadership, Ron, that is sort of an inclusive one that I have developed, a circle of acquaintances and people that are supporters and friends of mine who I have worked with for many, many years.
REP. PAUL: So you'd get rid of the group?
SEN. MCCAIN: You remember back in 1982 when Phil Gramm -- Phil Gramm and Warren Rudman and Gramm-Latta and all of those people got the first real tax cuts done, the real -- first real restraints in taxes. I was there. You were there. And I rely on those people to a much larger degree than any, quote, "formal" organization, although the secretary of Treasury is obviously one of the key and important posts that I would have.
(ref to the group i found here http://www.treas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/financial-markets/fin-market-policy/ Chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Working Group includes the Chairs of the Federal Reserve Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
...
Giuliani to Romney:
MR. GIULIANI:
Now, you've said that -- I'm not sure exactly the position that you took on it, and you said you were going to talk to the insurance companies and get their advice. And I wonder if you have come to a position on it, because I think this is something that is important to the people of Florida. Do you have a position on the national catastrophic fund? Yes? No? And what qualifications?
MR. ROMNEY: The answer is yes, I do support some kind of national catastrophic effort to make sure that people can get homeowner's insurance that protects them against flood or hurricane or tornado or whatever natural disaster might occur, or man-made disaster in some cases.
MCCAIN: Now, the bill that passed through the House of Representatives was $200 billion -- no insurance reform whatsoever associated with it, no way to pay for it, and that burden is shared by everybody. We -- we can sit down together -- I will call the regulators, the governors and the legislators together, and we will work together, and we will provide every American that's in jeopardy particularly of hurricanes to have the insurance that they need and deserve. I'm confident we can do it together working with the insurance companies, not setting up another huge federal bureaucracy of $200 billion which still nobody has said how you're going to pay for.
....
MR. RUSSERT: Senator McCain, you are in favor of mandatory caps.
SEN. MCCAIN: No, I am in favor of cap-and-trade. And Joe Lieberman and I, one of my favorite Democrats and I, have proposed that it's, and we did the same thing with acid rain. They're doing it in Europe now, although not very well.
...
MR. TASH: Governor Huckabee, this question comes from David Haney in Spring Hill, Florida.
Chuck Norris, one of your most vocal supporters, recently said that at 72, Senator McCain would be too old to withstand the rigors of the presidency. Do you agree or disagree?
SEN. MCCAIN: Did you get my response?
MR. HUCKABEE: I did hear what Chuck said. I was standing with him and I didn't disagree with him at the time, because I was standing next to him. It's as simple as that. This is a guy who can put this foot on that side of my face, and there's nothing I can do about it. (Laughter.)
Now, I have said publicly, in fact, I think it was the debate we had, gosh, back in New Hampshire. And I publicly said and I have said it many times, I don't think that Senator McCain lacks the rigor and the capacity to be president. And I said, if you look at his mother and see her strength at 95, of all the things we can pick on Senator McCain for, that ain't one of them. (Laughter.)
....
MR. WILLIAMS:
Congressman Paul, the other campaigns have said to you that their worry is that you won't stick to your party; if you look at yourself and see yourself someday as unelectable, perhaps you would launch a third-party movement and hurt the Republicans.
REP. PAUL: My biggest concern is they won't stick to the party principles that Republicans stood for for so long, and, you know, being conservative and balanced budgets and limited government and individual freedom. No, I have no intention of going into another party. I've been elected 10 times as a Republican. I was from a Republican family. And no, I don't have -- I don't plan to do that. I wish they would worry about it, you know, just in case. But no, I have no intention of doing that, but it might keep them on their toes.
But no, I just think that the Republican Party has a problem because we don't act like Republicans. And we talked about this earlier; you know, that we're spending money that we don't have, we've run up these deficits. We -- you know, in the old days we used to be against the Department of Education; now we've doubled the size of it. No child Left behind. Even the Democrats are running against some of the things that we do. And they used to love that kind of stuff. And it used to be that we used to stop the wars. We stopped the Korean War. We were supposed to stop the Vietnam War the Democrats started. And here we're starting these wars. So that's why we've lost our way.
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