Republican Presidential Debate

[cliffburton]

You can't label Romney a flip flopper anymore than you can with Clinton, Edwards and every other candidate who voted for the war.  You give Edwards slack for "apologizing" for his vote, but think Romney is in a different category.  Please don't compare Ron Paul with Gravel.  Gravel came across as a nut job and has no credibility.  While I don't think Paul has a chance, the latest MSNBC polls show him taking a staggering lead - Gravel can't claim that. 

The biggest difference in the debates is the requirements on the candidates for each party.  The Republicans are the status-quo so they simply need to highlight what they're doing right.  The Democrats represent change, so they each need to show how they represent change the most and go against the grain - meaning they have to dog each other.  I'm not saying the Republicans wont' become cut throat in th primaries, they'll save that for the general election, but not nearly to the extent the Democratic candidates will have to be with each other.

The reason I won't vote for any Democratic candiate is the basis of what they believe government is and their desire for Iraq.  Democrats believe in cradle to grave policies and a more intrusive policies.  Not to say certain Republicans don't echo this, but the base values of the party are against this.  Democrats want to lose the war in Iraq; calling the war lost before it's even over is asking to lose- Al Qaeda is using Reid's latest comments in recruitment videos - Democrats don't hurt the troops in anyway with their comments  .  I don't believe Abortion to be the issue some make it to be, I am pro-choice and pro stem-cell research and don't see either being banned.

The Republicans have given us a record breaking economy and unemployment rates.  I've truly become to believe that Iraq is such a huge issue becomes the Democrats have nothing else to bitch about.  If they can assure failure in Iraq, they can blame Republicans for years to come.  For a nation that collectively has sacrificed nothing to very little to be so anti something they overwhelmingly supported a few years before shows how fickle the people are.  Romney hit it on the nail when he said a President/leader doesn't listen to popular consensus of the day.  Every single candidate with the exception of Paul agrees that Iraq was minmanaged, but we have a responsibilty to the Iraqi people, but more importantly for our own safety, to make sure Iraq doesn't become a fascist and terrorist state that must be dealt with later.  As a service member and the one who actually will make the sacrifices, this is the defining issue for any candidate.

[Booker Floyd]

You can't label Romney a flip flopper anymore than you can with Clinton, Edwards and every other candidate who voted for the war.  You give Edwards slack for "apologizing" for his vote, but think Romney is in a different category.

Yes, I can.  The war is a very different kind of issue and it is one issue.  Mitt Romney has flip-flopped on nearly every fundamental issue: championing himself as a defender of gay rights (moreso than Ted Kennedy) when it was politically convenient...you havent seen him chasing those gay group endorsements lately, have you?  In 1994, Romneys views didnt "line up with the NRA."  Now hes a "lifelong" hunter with a lifetime NRA membership.  Then it came out that the lifelong hunter had only gone hunting twice.  He voted for Paul Tsongas in 1992 because he favored his ideas over Bill Clintons...or was it because he wanted to help elect the weakest Democrat?  Maybe you can tell me.  His political hero is Ronald Reagan, yet he wasnt trying "to return to Reagan/Bush" as a senatorial candidate.  He attacked Hillary Clintons "It Takes A Village" slogan...of course in 1998 he said "Hillary Clinton is very much right, it does take a village, and we are a village and we need to work together in a non-skeptical, no-finger-pointing way."

And of course theres abortion.  You could take his word, that all through his adult life and political career as a Massachusetts politician he supported Roe V. Wade and a womans right to choose, before conveniently seeing the light right before becoming a national Republican candidate for president - thats a really fortunate epiphany for him to have.  But in light of the evidence, I think youd be naive to do so.  However, Im glad to see that you and your fellow Republican voters have become more understanding of flip-flop charges since 2004. 

Please don't compare Ron Paul with Gravel.  Gravel came across as a nut job and has no credibility.  While I don't think Paul has a chance, the latest MSNBC polls show him taking a staggering lead - Gravel can't claim that.

Your own opinion on Gravel, as well as your point about a poll, has nothing to do with what I said. 

I don't believe Abortion to be the issue some make it to be, I am pro-choice and pro stem-cell research and don't see either being banned.

No?  Not even if one or two more Alitos become Supreme Court justices?

[The Dog]

You can't label Romney a flip flopper anymore than you can with Clinton, Edwards and every other candidate who voted for the war.  You give Edwards slack for "apologizing" for his vote, but think Romney is in a different category.

Please, you can't compare being lied to/misled about the war to a 25+ year old supreme court ruling or gay rights or any of the other issues Mitt has flopped on.  The fundamental issues for aborition/gay rights etc have not changed while every reason we were given for why we HAD to go to war has proven to be total BS that was RAMMED down our throats.  Unlike gay rights and aborition, if you disagreed with the people in charge about Iraq, you were called unpatriotic, anti american and anti-troops.

[The Dog]

Its amazing how my opinion of the Repub nominees has changed since we first started talking about 2008 here.  I sincerely thought it'd be a win-win regardless of the party so long as the top candidates in either party won.  Oh how times have changed.

Is McCain even remotely the same person he was in 2000?

The light is finally being shone on Rudy and all i see is Bush 2.0

Off Topic - surprised nobody is talking about Obamas F up with the net roots/bloggers over the myspace stuff.