Presidental hopeful Rudy Giuliani said
he supports the Iraq war and would
not have acted differently in 2003.
Photo by AP/Jim Cole

Oh, the third GOP debate… or was it just the second one recycled?

Let me explain something before I go on, I would rather vote for a moderate republican (think Ron Paul) than I would a democrat (think Hillary Clinton, although I am falling in love with Obama a little more each day), but with the way the republican party is looking, I am nowhere near voting a GOP candidate in the White House anytime soon. With that being said, I was severely disappointed in the third debate. I have to say that it was not what I expected which is a closer examination of each candidate and a deeper discussion on certain issues. But unfortunately, all I got out of it was just more of the same old GOP crap (sorry, but I have to call it the way it is) — we can’t leave Iraq or the earth will explode, the terrorists are assaulting our way of life. We just can’t seem to get around the same issues that we covered in the second and first debate. I don’t think the republicans can get passed anything, but abortion is killing our souls and terrorists want to remove my heart and eat it.

If anyone wants a republican in office anytime soon, people need to encourage the GOP to move past the stubbornness of the ridiculously obvious Iraq war mistake and get rid of the Evangelical influence on our policies. Anyone that is a moderate and is on the fence is more than likely going to get scared away from electing a republican. They have proved themselves to be stubborn and arrogant; pro war, sidestep the Constitution, over spending tax dollars and now it seems militaristic with nuclear preemptive tactical striking. These guys keep telling the same story that hopefully we already know is BS. Anyways, here are your republican candidates:

Mitt Romney - Romney completely ran around a question about the continuation of losing so many soldiers in Iraq day in day out. “You just don’t take options off the table,” says Romney in regards to the option of a nuclear strike in Iran, but he did redeem himself by saying “How do we help move the world of Islam, so that the moderate Muslims reject the extreme form of Islam?” He said to do this we need a strong military, combined with our foreign allies and bring together a more global effort to control this danger within the Middle East and beyond. When asked about the immigration bill, he said that he does not like the Z Visa option of the bill. He thinks it should be a temporary only visa. He believes that as long as it is permanent it is not fair for all the people who would love to come here legally but can’t.

Wants everyone to know that he is the one responsible for the pushing of abstinence only education in schools [you mean the one that is scientifically proven NOT to work?! Oh, that one!] among other conservative beliefs to prove that he is the ultimate conservative choice. In regards to global climate change he is starting to warm up to the idea [ha, pun intended], and says that we need to do whatever we can to help with oil independence and reduce our addiction. But on the topic of big oil, he wants to encourage big oil to reinvest the billions of dollars made into new technology [but he didn’t sound as if he was going to enforce anything, just hope that they have the ethics to try to help on the issue — yet we all know they won’t do it unless forced].

On the issue of health insurance, Romney ended up saying a lot about personal responsibility, then says that everyone will have health insurance when he becomes president [okay, how does one guarantee something when they put the responsibility on someone else. He seriously contradicted himself.] When asked about being a moderate republican (Arnold Schwarzenegger was used for example) incorporating democratic views as well as conservative to represent the center of partisan politics, he said that Arnold doesn’t represent a true Republicanism [does he know that Arnold is a fantastic example of how to run a country?].

Tom Tancredo - Starts out quoting Benjamin Franklin on saying how we have given the Iraqis their democracy, and it is now time to give them the responsibility to manage it. He is vehemently against the current immigration bill. “We are testing our strength in holding together this country…becoming a bilingual nation is not good! [big applause]” He also thinks we should severely limit the amount of legal immigration as well as completely shut out illegal immigration, so we can concentrate on assimilating who is already here. In response to what he would do about Dubya if he became president, Tancredo says, “I have been so disappointed with the actions of the current president for the last several years, that I would tell him the same thing as Carl Rove told me a few years back” — you shall never darken the doorstep of the White House again. What he did not like about Bush’s actions were the following: No child left behind policy, the immigration bill, and the massive spending on the Medicare prescription drug program [I am so amazed that Tancredo is willing to stand up for what is right in regards to Dubya… so kudos to him].

John McCain - Oh McCain, he started off with the same old crap. He thinks we need to continue giving this surge a chance. He is continuing to push more fear, fear, fear in the fact that we have to give this “new” strategy a chance. He believes there is no other option to this “new” strategy, and if we fail, hell will break lose and Satan will devour your children. McCain is one of the authors of the immigration bill, so he tried to defend the bill by saying that the bill is exactly what we need. After McCain states, “if anyone out there has a better idea on immigration, I would love to hear it.” all the other candidates start raising their hands and speaking out load to chime in. [Obviously, there are more opinions, McCain just doesn’t want to hear them.]

McCain does not want to get involved with schools if they want to teach creationism alongside evolution. When it was McCain’s turn about big oil, he says, “They ought to be reinvesting it. [they ought to be doing many things, but wishing is not enough!]” He also likes nuclear energy to solve our energy dependence and agrees that global warming is an issue. When asked a question about how important soldiers that serve very specific duties get kicked out due to their being gay and what to do about it, he said that this “is not the time to deal with issues like this.”

In the second portion of the debate, an audience member told a story about her brother dying in Iraq and what they would do about the situation over in Iraq, most of then just did the same robotic “thank you for serving the country” [patronizing!] then spouted off the same rhetoric we have all heard — we can’t leave, so their sacrifice doesn’t end in vain — but McCain did something special. While Wolf Blitzer, the moderator, was talking to another candidate McCain, out of nowhere, just stood up, walked over to the front of the stage and thanked the woman for her brother serving the country [it looked really awkward and seemed extremely patronizing to me]. Then, continued with the same rhetoric stated over and over again. McCain wants everyone to know that what will make him different from the present administration is the control of spending [Thats it?! Holy crap, spending is the only problem with Bush. I just never realized it!] McCain finishes off being true to his character by saying, “The American Family is under assualt by the Islamic terrorists…” remember Fort Dix and JFK?! They are trying to kill us all!!

Rudy Giuliani - When asked about the Iraq war and knowing what you know now what you do it again, he says, “Absolutely the right thing to do… Iraq is completely part of the War on Terror [Which is complete BS. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or terrorism in general]”. We can’t rule out anything when it comes to Iran and its nuclear weapons production [even though Iran is 10 years out and doesn’t have the technology to actually produce the enriched uranium yet]. “The war is not a bumper sticker, this is a real war.” Giuliani, with pretty much everyone else except McCain, is not fan of the current immigration bill as well. The largest reason he disliked the immigration bill is because of the lack of centralized information.

When Rudy was questioned about the Catholic Bishop that gave him a hard time about his abortion stance, he started to speak and lightning interrupted the audio channel twice. He then glances up to the sky with a strange look, and the rest of the candidates move away from him as if he was being “smited” by God. [Could it be a divine sign?] He believes that we should listen to the scientists on the issue of global warming and we should do everything we can do to help create oil independence.

During the second part of the debate, Giuliani, not letting McCain outdo him, stood up as well and thanked someone for serving before forcing more fear down their throats. He also added that we are safer now because of these soldier’s sacrifice [Safer?! What world does he live in?]. He said that overthrowing Saddam was the greatest military achievement of our country [Overthrowing a weak and topheavy third world government was the greatest achievement? What about the Civil War and liberating all the slaves, WWII and freeing all of the Jews in captivity and saving them from being tortured, or the tremendous effort that went into the Cold War? This guy is mentally ill!]

The GOP presidential candidates line up before beginning the third GOP debate in New Hampshire.

To explain what to do about the inflated health costs, he said that they are government dominated, and that there are not enough choices for the consumer. He continued to say that a free market is the only way to fix the problem, and socialized medicine would destroy the health care industry [First off the republicans liberated the pharmaceutical companies by allowing them to advertise. And I don’t think they could be any freer.]. On the question, “What is the largest moral issue for Americ?,” Giuliani mentions that since we are able to enjoy our freedoms and civil liberties here in America, we are responsible for sharing those same gifts with other countries. He says, “they are not American gifts [civil liberties and freedoms], they are gifts from God that everyone in all countries should have [Does this sound like more regime change mentality to you too? Forcing more democracy through war, and more peace through violence?!]”

Ron Paul - “The sooner we come home the better… We are more threatened now by staying”, says DR. Paul about the Iraq war. When faith in politics came up, he said that we should enforce the Constitution — keeping church separate from State — and not allow ourselves to stray away from it. “I don’t think the [big oil] profits are an issue… What I object to is when the government gives [big oil companies] money for R&D. Our foreign policy is designed to protect our oil interests. The reason this is so dangerous is we end up starting wars to continue our oil addiction,” states Paul.

He also thinks the current policy on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is a decent policy, but thinks that we should stop grouping people into categories. It is not about gay problems, it is about human problems. If there is homosexual behavior that is disruptive, then it should be dealt with, and if we have a heterosexual problem that is disruptive, then it should be dealt with as well. We need to stop treating people as if they are different from one another by sexual orientation. When asked about the war in Iraq he said, “we don’t need to lose another 1,000 a year… we should never promote the goodness of this country through the barrel of a gun… it just doesn’t work, and we have to admit it!” Paul thinks that our belief of preemptive war is what is the largest moral problem within our country [Thank God, someone that lives in this world]. Then, he goes on to say how disgusted and appalled he is that the other candidates are willing to take preemptive nuclear strikes towards a country that has not harmed us in any way. He ends by conveying that this is not the American way.

Tommy Thompson - In regards to the current immigration bill, he says, “This bill no matter how you cut it is an amnesty bill!” Then he wanted everyone to know that HE is the most conservative of the candidates! On the question of how he would utilize former president George W. Bush during his future presidency, he said that Bush has some great characteristics, like honesty and straightforwardness. I would have him travel around and give lectures to the youth of our nation about being honest and having integrity. Then said that Dubya is a shining example of the values and the integrity of this nation [This has got to be the craziest, most mentally insane person alive to think this crap about Bush. It was even hard for me to write that statement out.].




Then… holy smokes, did Thompson come alive! When he was asked about health care, he stood up and started burning up the stage about prevention and wellness, how we concentrate 93% of our efforts fixing the ill and doing nothing to prevent it, and then says that we need to educate people about smoking, drinking and obesity to change the problems in the health care industry [Wow, I am still tingling from that speech].

Sam Brownback - Wants to divide Iraq into three states and thinks that is the solution for the conflict. In regards to Iran he believes we have to confront Iran aggressively… “They are a terrorist sponsoring state,” but he does think we should have somewhat of a dialogue with them. Then just after Paul gets this huge applause over the moral question of preemptive nuclear strikes to countries that have not even harmed us and how un-American that is, Brownback gets up and just completely ignores what Paul says by stating that abortion is our biggest problem! [yeah, abortion is more important than our newly adopted belief of preemptively striking with nuclear arms on nations that have not harmed us in any way… good priorities].

Then he continues to tell us that the most important issue within the Republican party is being pro-life and there is no way that a Republican nominee should be pro-choice [Have we lost our damn minds? We are in the middle of a war that is killing thousands and thousands of humans, yet abortion is the biggest issue… WTF?!] He finishes with glory by informing us that the leading cause of fear in America is getting cancer [What?! Where do these eggheads live… cancer… really?!]

Mike Huckabee - “It’s Ronald Reagan’s birthday, we all know that Ronald Reagan is the one that ended the cold war”, calls out Huckabee in reference to ending the Iraq war [don’t ask me what that meant, I am just as confused as you]. “It is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog,” Huckabee states about us occupying Iraq. He is an ordained minister if that means anything to you. Then he tries to defend himself on the evolution stance and conveys how this stance should make no difference on whether or not he should be president.

He believes what has happened to the GOP is that we have done the exact opposite of what we were elected to do — cut spending, lessen “big brother”, give back control to the local governments. When asked what will make him different from Bush, he says many things about spending, but the one that stuck out to me was how he said that there are litigations that were set in place that are making it very difficult for businesses to operate in this free enterprise system causing the exportation of many jobs [What?! Ahhh, the poor corporations are struggling to make billions. Plus, I thought the reason jobs were exported was due to globalization… but I could be wrong.].

Duncan Hunter - We need to do everything within our power to stop Iran from shipping weapons across the border into Iraq. “The US has the right to preemptively strike Iran if we believe its nuclear production is a potential danger [Holy crap, that is like saying policemen have the right to ticket you because you might choose to speed next week.].” states Hunter. I would approve a nuclear attack if it was needed [no wonder Iran wants a nuclear weapon. We keep threatening to use ours!]. Thinks the immigration bill is disastrous. When asked what are we going to do about all our men and women dying in Iraq, he goes on to say the same thing they all say — we need to make sure Iraq does not blah, blah, blah [same fear tactic always used]. Hunter ended up defending why prescriptions cost so much by saying that they work so hard to create the life saving medicines and we should just accept it. When asked what is the most important moral issue for America, he brings up abortion and then uses the extreme Islamists as an example of what America should not be — “they celebrate death, we should celebrate life.” He finished it off by rejecting the kind of moderate Republicanism that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [one of the most successful conservatives] represents.

Jim Gilmore - [Sorry, but Gilmore had the least amount of sound bites worth writing.] Gilmore believes that continuing the war in Iraq is vitally important in the stability of the Middle East and the protection of the US, believes we should have the Iraqi parliament vote if we should stay there or not. Thinks the “Rudy McRomney” group is not the conservative choice, then goes on again about being the “most” conservative of the group.

Well, my friends that’s it for the Republican candidates. I watch the debates, so you don’t have to. See you next time!