Great Lines from the Debate

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NY TIMES PROVIDES THE TRANSCRIPT> GREAT LINES :

Governor Huckabee: “Clearly, there was a real error in judgment, and that primarily had to do with listening to a lot folks who were civilians in suits and silk ties, and not listening enough to the generals with mud and blood on their boots and medals on their chest.” great contrast – silk ties, mud and medals. awesome rhetoric.

Governor Romney: “It’s more than Osama bin Laden. But he is going to pay, and he will die.”

Governor Huckabee: “It’s the old Boy Scout rule of the campsite; you leave the campsite in better shape than you found it.”
I (heart) the Boy Scouts.

MR. VANDEHEI: Congressman Tancredo, David Diamond from Memphis writes in, “Do you have a plan to solve the shortage of organs donated for transplant?”
REP. TANCREDO: Well, I don’t believe that the government of the United — that the president of the United States should be putting forth in — a plan to do such a thing.
At least he’s honest – not enough politicians willing to say no to something on one level of government because it is not, they believe, the job of that level of government.

REP. TANCREDO: After 40 million dead because we have aborted them in this country, I say that that would be the greatest day in this country’s history when that [Roe v. Wade] is in fact overturned.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Governor Gilmore, you have said in the past that you believe in the first eight to 12 weeks of pregnancy, that a woman should have the right to have an abortion. Do you still stick with that exception?
MR. GILMORE: I do, Chris. My views on this, my beliefs on this are a matter of conviction. And they’ve always been the same, and they’ve never changed the entire time that I’ve been in public life.
Did not know that about Gov. Gilmore … surprised that this has not caused him more trouble before. Maybe that’s because he’s such a non-candidate right now…

MR. THOMPSON: I believe it should be left up to the states. That was what was originally implied in the Constitution and was changed when the Supreme Court made the decision.
Leaving it to the states is good, compared to the current regime; a human life amendment to the US Constitution is ideal, though. No one mentions that.

MR. ROMNEY: It certainly will. Altered Nuclear Transfer, I think, is perhaps the best course.
Awesome answer. No one really talks about ANT-OAR. I asked about it when Fr. FitzGerald came here to MU, and he reassured the audience that most of the original ethics questions have been dealt with. ANT is something we should pursue, since the adult stem cells answer is old-hat now (unfortunately), I bet, in the polling.

MR. ROMNEY: I’d like middle-income Americans to be able to save their money and not have to pay any tax at all on interest, dividends or capital gains.
Bold.

MR. VANDEHEI: Congressman Hunter, Ryan from Los Angeles wants you to name one thing that the federal government does really well and one thing that it does poorly.
REP. HUNTER: Yeah. Really well: precision munitions on Mr. Zarqawi’s safe house.

MR. VANDEHEI: I’m curious, is there anybody on the stage that does not agree — believe in evolution?
(Senator Brownback, Mr. Huckabee, Representative Tancredo raise their hands.)

The Scooter Libby and Karl Rove questions – total insider baseball. Terrible questions. Terrible! Same with the Bill Clinton question – how did you think they would answer that? Also, the evolution question, while it may bring out something about each candidate, not really a major policy issue, their personal beliefs.

Mr. MATTHEWS: Seriously, would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House? (Laughter.)
MR. ROMNEY: You have got to be kidding.
MR. MATTHEWS: No, I’m not. (Laughter.) His wife’s running. Have you heard?
MR. ROMNEY: The only thing I could think of that would be as bad as that would be to have the Gang of Three running the war on terror — Pelosi, Reid and Hillary Clinton. (Laughter.) So I have to be honest with you. I think it would be an awful thing, for a lot of reasons.
that’s right, Romney. Feed us that red meat!

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