Politics Blog

Ron Paul Vs. Rudy Giuliani

The confrontation between Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul at the Repubilcan Debate on Fox News has gotten much play, although it’s been mostly a small snippet from Paul and Giuliani’s full response.  Here’s is the full transcript from the debate to put the comments into proper context.

MR. GOLER: Congressman Paul, I believe you are the only man on the stage who opposes the war in Iraq, who would bring the troops home as quickly as — almost immediately, sir. Are you out of step with your party? Is your party out of step with the rest of the world? If either of those is the case, why are you seeking its nomination?

REP. PAUL: Well, I think the party has lost its way, because the conservative wing of the Republican Party always advocated a noninterventionist foreign policy.

Senator Robert Taft didn’t even want to be in NATO. George Bush won the election in the year 2000 campaigning on a humble foreign policy — no nation-building, no policing of the world. Republicans were elected to end the Korean War. The Republicans were elected to end the Vietnam War. There’s a strong tradition of being anti-war in the Republican party. It is the constitutional position. It is the advice of the Founders to follow a non-interventionist foreign policy, stay out of entangling alliances, be friends with countries, negotiate and talk with them and trade with them.

Just think of the tremendous improvement — relationships with Vietnam. We lost 60,000 men. We came home in defeat. Now we go over there and invest in Vietnam. So there’s a lot of merit to the advice of the Founders and following the Constitution.

And my argument is that we shouldn’t go to war so carelessly. (Bell rings.) When we do, the wars don’t end.

MR. GOLER: Congressman, you don’t think that changed with the 9/11 attacks, sir?

REP. PAUL: What changed?

MR. GOLER: The non-interventionist policies.

REP. PAUL: No. Non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we’ve been over there; we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We’ve been in the Middle East — I think Reagan was right.

We don’t understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. So right now we’re building an embassy in Iraq that’s bigger than the Vatican. We’re building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us. (Applause.)

MR. GOLER: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attack, sir?

REP. PAUL: I’m suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it, and they are delighted that we’re over there because Osama bin Laden has said, “I am glad you’re over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.” They have already now since that time — (bell rings) — have killed 3,400 of our men, and I don’t think it was necessary.

MR. GIULIANI: Wendell, may I comment on that? That’s really an extraordinary statement. That’s an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th. (Applause, cheers.)

And I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that. (Applause.)

MR. GOLER: Congressman?

REP. PAUL: I believe very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they teach and talk about blowback. When we went into Iran in 1953 and installed the shah, yes, there was blowback. A reaction to that was the taking of our hostages and that persists. And if we ignore that, we ignore that at our own risk. If we think that we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred, then we have a problem.

They don’t come here to attack us because we’re rich and we’re free. They come and they attack us because we’re over there. I mean, what would we think if we were — if other foreign countries were doing that to us?

So, were Paul’s comments ‘blaming America’ or saying ‘America was responsible’ or ‘America is the bad guy’.  Well, here was Paul’s response when asked that immediately following the debate.

“Who did that?  Who blamed America?”

“I blamed bad policy over 50 years that leads to anti-Americanism.  That’s little bit different from saying ‘blame America.’ Don’t put those words in my mouth.”

“We’ve had an interventionist foreign policy for 50 years that has come back to haunt us.  So that’s not ‘Blame America’ — that’s demagoguing, distorting issues…That’s deceitful to say those kinds of things.”

So, was what Paul said out of line, in itself anti-Americanism?  Well, no.  Paul’s point comes almost directly from the non-partisan 9/11 Commission, from a number of CIA reports spanning the past 50 years, and from our enemy themselves.  Why is it so wrong to bring this basic knowledge to the table?  Perhaps his party would rather stay in denial and become a parody of what it once was.

Mike Gravel Democratic Debate Quotes

After being asked about his statement that he’s not in it to win it: 

Brian, you are right. I made that statement, but now that I’ve stand with them a couple, three times. Its like your first day in the Senate. You say, ‘How did I get here,’ and then about six months later you say, ‘How the hell did the rest of them get here? I’ve got to tell you, after standing up with them, some of these people frighten me.’ 

On the three most important enemies of the United States:

We have no important enemies. What we need to do is to begin to deal with the rest of the world as equals, and we don’t do that. We spend more as a nation on defense than all the rest of the world put together.Who are we afraid of? Who are you afraid of, Brian? I’m not.

And Iraq has never been a threat to us. We invaded them. I mean, it is unbelievable. The military-industrial complex not only controls our government lock, stock and barrel but they control our culture.

On the other the candidates’ War positions:

They frighten me. When you have mainline candidates that turn around and say that there’s nothing off the table with respect to Iran. That’s code for using nukes.

On Joe Biden:

You have a certain arrogance.  You want to tell the Iraqis how to run their country. I gotta tell you, we should just plain get out.”

On the other Candidates:

I won’t hold there youth and inexperience against them.

On how to end the War:

We need to find another way, that’s where I would like to sit down with Pelosi and with Reid and I hope you other senators would focus on how do you get out? You pass a law not a resolution — a law making it a felony to stay there.

Who Won The Democratic Presidential Debate?

According the results of a SurveyUSA poll conducted after the debate in South Carolina, Barack Obama came out as a slight winner.

1.) Did you listen to tonight’s South Carolina presidential debate? (Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 2.7%)

67% No
32% Yes
0% Unsure

2.) Who won the debate? ( Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 5%)

31%  Obama
24%  Clinton  
14%  Edwards 
6%  Biden   
4%  Richardson
3%  Kucinich
2%  Gravel   
2%  Dodd 
13%  Not Sure

3.) Who lost the debate? (Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 5%)

17% Gravel
12% Clinton
10% Kucinich
9% Dodd
9% Obama
9% Richardson
8% Biden
5% Edwards
20% Not Sure

Hillary Falls Behind In New Poll

What candidate ‘would be best able to lead the country out of Iraq?’

Obama: 27.87%
Edwards: 24.84%
Kucinich: 17.18
Richardson: 12.26%
Clinton: 10.7%

Sen. Hillary Clinton, the current favorite to win Democratic nomination, lagged behind her most of her competition in a poll taken after a virtual town hall meeting over Iraq.

The Verdict Is In: Hillary Is Loved

There are very few people in the world who bring about such strong passion, negative and positive, as Hillary Clinton.  It’s almost surreal how the former 1st lady can simultaneously  perform so poorly in the polling and be breaking fundraising records. 

According to Matt Drudge over at the Drudge Report:

AMERICA LOVES HILLARY; TOP FUNDRAISER FOR ROUND ONE: $36 MILLION
Sun Apr 01 2007 13:28:02 ETTotal includes $26 million raised since Jan 20, $10 million transferred from successful senate reelection campaignHillary Clinton’s campaign today announced it will report $36 million in total receipts for the first fundraising quarter, which ended March 31, 2007. The staggering number reflects the strength of support for Clinton from every walk of life and every part of America.“We are overwhelmed by the tremendous enthusiasm and historic response this campaign has received so far,” campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said today. “Going forward we are poised to continue this success and make even more history.”

Specifically, the campaign noted several key numbers demonstrating the overwhelming depth and breadth of Clinton’s support:

$26 million raised in new receipts since launching her campaign on January 20

80 % of the contributions were $100 or less.

$4.2 million raised on the internet (including $1 million in a week during the One Week, One Million campaign, and nearly $600,000 online in the 36 hours preceding the deadline)

$6 million in total grassroots donations (internet plus direct mail and telemarketing receipts)

50,000 donors (tens of thousands of them new donors)

Contributions received from residents of all 50 states (plus Washington, DC)

$10 million transferred from Senator Clinton’s successful senate reelection account

In March of 2003, the highest total reported by a Democratic campaign in its first-quarter fundraising report was $7.4 million and the top four candidates combined raised just over $23 million. In March of 1999, incumbent Vice President Al Gore reported $8.9 million for his first quarter.

The Poll Is In, Hillary Is Not Liked

In what can only be good news for the Republican party, according to a Harris Interactive poll released today, 50% of the people surveyed said they would not vote for Hillary Clinton as the next President.  Amongst Democrats, more than 20% said they would not vote for her.  Hillary Clinton remains the front runner for the Democratic nomination, with Barack Obama in second and John Edwards in a distant 3rd.

Source: http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/fifty-percent-of-americans-would-not-vote-for-clinton-2007-03-27.html

Discuss it in the forums: http://forumpolitics.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

Hillary Clinton You Tube Parody

Let the games begin.  In the most brazen political attack so far this election season, an unauthorized Internet ad for Barack Obama was submitted to the popular You Tube website.  The ad for the Illinois Senator is a parody of the 1984 Apple Computers Super Bowl commercial.  In the ad, an ominous Big Brother figure drones to a mass of zombielike followers, but this time Big Brother is Hillary Clinton.

You can view the video yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo

Hillary Clinton Nearly Named As Vice President Canidate

Senator Hillary Clinton was nearly named as John Kerry’s Vice Presidential canidate according to an article in the New York Daily News, and an upcoming book by Bob Shrum.  Said one source, in the Daily News column, “her name was proactively put on the list”.  According to Shrum’s book, No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigne, “A quiet round of polling helped guide the search. Hillary Clinton had high negatives - she would hurt the ticket”.   

No Excuses is due out in June.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/03/15/2007-03-15_big_negatives_knocked_her_off_kerrys_lis.html

John McCain In Uphill Battle

According to the latest Newsweek poll of 1,202 registered voters, Rudy Giuliani has jumped to a 25 point lead over John McCain amongst republicans.  Just one month ago, McCain and Giuliani were in a statistical dead heat.

Current Results:

Rudy Guiliani: 59 Percent

John McCain: 34 Percent

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2007-03-03T222450Z_01_N03453364_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-REPUBLICANS-POLL.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Mitt Romney In The Lead Amongst GOP Activists

CPAC STRAW POLL RESULTS:

Mitt Romney 21%
Rudy Giuliani 17%.
Sam Brownback 15%
Newt Gingrich 14%
John McCain 12%