YouTube as a stage for debate
Last Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla., the top eight Republican presidential candidates participated in the second-ever CNN debate posted on YouTube.
To encourage more diverse and public-driven questions, this debate consisted of streaming video questions posed by the public. With only six weeks until the first major electoral event, the Iowa caucus, the two-hour debate was a much-anticipated chance for candidates to differentiate themselves from the Republican pack.
According to RealClearPolitics.com, the Republicans leading in the debate were Rudolph Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and John McCain. The roughly forty videos that were selected from some 5,000 submitted were divided into four general policy areas: immigration, taxes and the economy, social issues and international relations.
The debate opened with the candidates taking turns emphasizing their firm opposition to illegal immigration. When asked if they would veto a bill providing amnesty to illegal immigrants, all eight candidates answered “yes,” and many struggled to stay under the 90-second time limit when promulgating this notion. A memorable moment occurred when Romney accused Giuliani of providing a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants. Giuliani interrupted and said that while governor of Massachusetts, Romney hired illegal immigrants to work on his home.
The questions about the economy centered on reducing the federal deficit without raising taxes. The candidates all answered “yes” to the question about promising to veto any effort to raise taxes. Rep. Ron Paul, whose Libertarian notion of minimizing government spending that has created a remarkable grassroots Internet following, was most adamant about cutting the budget of various government departments. When asked where he would cut spending, longtime “Law & Order” actor Fred Thompson showed why he may be more fit to play a president on TV than in real life. He strayed from the question with vague generalities, a trend he continued for the rest of the debate.
As expected, Giuliani and Romney faced the most pressure during the questions about social issues, since both candidates have histories of deviating from the pro-gun, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage positions that define social conservatives. When Romney was pressured about supporting abortion in the past, he said, “I was wrong. I was effectually pro-choice when I ran for governor. I changed my mind.”
Candidate Mike Huckabee, whose proposal to disband the IRS earned applause, got laughs with his response to the question of what Jesus would do about capital punishment. “Jesus was too smart to run for office,” the former Arkansas governor said, showing the type of charisma that has him rising in the polls as a potential dark horse candidate.
Iraq was the focus when the debate turned to international relations. While Giuliani managed to get in some tough-on-terrorism sound bites, it was McCain and Paul who dominated. McCain said he disagreed with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his strategy in Iraq, but said he believed the current troop surge “is working and we are winning the war.” To this, Paul, who has gained notoriety for arguing America should not only remove itself from Iraq but from all foreign countries and the United Nations, declared, “the best thing we can do is give the people of Iraq their country back…it’s time to take care of America first.”
Unlike the previous Democratic YouTube debate, which many feel turned into a mudslinging contest aimed at Hillary Clinton, Wednesday’s debate was relatively tame. The YouTube questions seemed to be written by Republicans, for Republicans and the candidates were hardly caught off guard. There was no mention of global warming, poverty or healthcare—issues that dominated the Democratic debate—and the criticism of the war in Iraq was tempered. Giuliani was not forced to talk about his three marriages or his infidelity, and Romney was not questioned about his Mormon faith, all concerns of Christian conservatives.
Though the polls show Giuliani as a 15-point favorite over Romney, they appeared equal adversaries during the debate, both speaking with conviction and direction. Thompson, who entered the race late with much fanfare, seemed aloof and unimpassioned. McCain continues to take a moral high ground on such issues as immigration and torture, but seems to do so at his political expense.
Jeffrey Mullen is a senior English and political science major.
Who is the real Mitt Romney?
Of all the old adages I have heard, my favorite has to be “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” As I follow the Republican primary race, it has become increasingly obvious to me that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney must have never heard this. If he had, he would not be attacking the conservative credentials of his Republican rivals, as his own public service record resembles Ted Kennedy’s more closely than Ronald Reagan’s.
One of Gov. Romney’s favorite phrases he consistently repeats on the campaign trail is “we’re not going to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton” taking what appears to be a shot at the moderate social positions of Republican national frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. But considering Romney’s “coincidental” political shift to the right, he shouldn’t expect to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like John Kerry either.
Throughout Romney’s political career, he has tailored his ideology to suit the voters whom he tries to win over. He was a liberal Republican when running for U.S. Senate in 1994 and Governor in 2002, liberal enough to be ranked by the conservative Human Events magazine as number eight on its list of “Republicans In Name Only.” But now that he is running for president, he has spent a lot of money (mostly from his own bank account) to create a new image of himself as the one true conservative in the Republican field.
As governor, Romney supported abortions as well as public funding for abortions. He was so “pro-choice” that when he ran for governor, he refused to answer a questionnaire sent to him by Massachusetts’ Citizens for Life and he and his Democratic opponent frequently fought over which of the two was the stronger abortion-rights supporter. Yet a few years ago, when his term as governor ended, he changed his position on the subject and become neutral, saying that “the states, through the democratic process, should decide their own abortion laws.”
Now as a presidential candidate, he opposes the Roe vs. Wade decision that supports a Constitutional amendment banning all abortions. Last week, he mailed flyers throughout South Carolina claiming to be the only Republican candidate to hold this position. He was roundly criticized by Oran Smith, president of the South Carolina affiliate of Focus on the Family, who called the brochure “oversimplified” and “offensive.”
Romney also solidly supported gay rights as governor, including, as he put it, homosexuals’ right to “serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military.” Of course, now as a presidential candidate, Romney supports another Constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. Last week in the CNN/YouTube debate when asked if he still supported the right of homosexuals to openly serve in the military, Romney ducked the question by responding that “this is not the right time” to answer that question since we are at war.
In 2001, Romney opposed President Bush’s tax cuts, which he now says he supports. He also refused to sign an anti-tax pledge as governor, but he did so this year as a presidential candidate and openly boasted as being the first to do so. Yet as governor, Romney did not show much fiscal restraint. While Romney did not raise income or sales taxes, he did raise or create 90 different fees.
Recently, Gov. Romney has criticized Rudy Giuliani for allowing illegal immigrants to report crimes in New York City while he was mayor, saying that he created a sanctuary for illegals. In television ads, Romney claims that he authorized the State Police to enforce the immigration law, but he never mentions that the law was never implemented. He goes on to say that as president, he would cut federal funding for sanctuary cities, yet as governor he didn’t cut state funding to any of the four federally recognized sanctuary cities of Massachusetts: Cambridge, Brookline, Somerville and Orleans.
Mitt Romney has spent millions trying to run away from his record as governor of Massachusetts and create a brand new squeaky clean conservative image. But voters are beginning to see through his façade. He is tied with Mike Huckabee in Iowa, in a three-way race with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain in New Hampshire and tied with Rudy in South Carolina. The American people don’t like flip-floppers and no amount of money in the world will change that.
Tony Spadaccia is a freshman political science and business management major.
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