A little late but…..
Written by Michael K on October 16th, 2007I know this happened last week, but work has been brutal and I haven’t had time to comment until now. As everyone knows. Romney has been beaten up for his answer in the last debate that he would consult lawyers before considering whether he needed Congressional approval before attacking Iran. Once again, the GOP is attacking candidates for logical, thoughtful answers. The questions of when the President needs Congressional approval for a military action is a complicated constitutional question to which there is substantial disagreement . Do we really want a President that is so bloodthirsty that he would bomb first and ask questions later? That said, Thompson’s answer was clearly the best, as he pointed out that, whether required or not, the President should get Congressional approval in order to show a united front and enjoy broader support for the effort. It is hard to see how any sort of sustained military action can be undertaken without Congressional support. At the very least, Congress must fund the war.
Also, I am actually OK with some sparks flying between these guys. Its time that we starting forcing distinctions between the major candidates beyond the bland “I’m the most like Reagan” sound bites we’ve endured so far. But arguments about the line item veto aren’t going to win any votes. Romney and Giuliani need to move past the tiresome nitpicking of each others record and start making distinctions about each others future plans. What is the difference between the four major candidates on the war? On Iran? On immigration? There has been almost no fleshing out of these differences so far, and that is forcing voters to pick their guy based on personality and impression.
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Micheal,
Are you suggesting an actual debate?????!!! You better watch out saying things like that, you may end up with few friends in the political world. How pathetic are ALL OF OUR CANDIDATES that you could write the post above after months and months of campaigning? We deserve the beating that we are going to get in ‘08.
PS. Is Fred Thompson alive? Also, is he running for president? Also, does he have any opinions on anything?
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Fred’s relaxed schedule and lack of specifics is baffling. He has a lof of ground to make up, and he is not going to do it by making less appearances than anybody else. This race is ripe for the taking, yet Fred looks like he can’t be bothered to try. As a Thompson supporter myself, I find this very disturbing.
Romney has an impressive organization but he is wasting his time trying to establish himself as having some sort of solid conservative credentials in contrast to Rudy. He doesn’t have them….so forget the past. Talk about the future. Rudy is talking about….well, nothing, so a forward looking agenda could seize the day. I am personally becoming annoyed with the Rudy campaign, which is intellectually lazy and appears content to coast on reputation all the way to the nomination. That is a good recipe to get creamed by Hillary.
McCain probably has the best combination of energy and vision out there, and he is the one guy that I believe would really give Hillary a fight. McCain has will and determination, which is something that can’t be bought or taught, and I love that about him. But he is flat broke and his immigration position was just too much for people to take.
It is going to be a bad year.
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Romney was actually saying “I don’t have the luxury of caring what the lawyers say, let them moan. Let me do my job.”
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Thompson has done what exactly?
Still trying to understand why Republicans are so gung ho about him. He seems more like a distraction than a candidate.
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Today, at my office in Yonkers, NY, a 21-year-old woman who is a partisan Democrat and works in our customer service department, remarked on this exact question from the recent GOP debate.
Without ANY prompting whatsoever on my part, she said she liked Ron Paul’s answer to this question — that the president should just follow the constitution and return to the practice of seeking formal Congressional approval of Declarations of War. She agreed with Ron Paul that it was “ridiculous” that the president would have to rely so heavily on “his attorney.”
She added, “If had to vote for a Republican, I’d vote for Ron Paul.”
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Strangely telling that a partisan Democrat would pick Ron Paul from our field.
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Reagan brought over a lot of Democrats to the Republican Party with the promise of returning to the small government intended from our Constitution.
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Ron Paul is not Ronald Reagan. Nor is he Winston Churchill. Further, I doubt that the Reagan Democrats would be considered “partisan”.