Historically we see more personal attacks between candidates as the primary season draws closer to an end because some of the lagging candidates become more desperate to get their message out. The Republican Debate this past Tuesday was no exception. We saw Cain’s tax plan get torn apart, Romney was called a liberal, and Romney and Perry nearly get into a fist fight over whether Romney is a hypocrite over the illegal immigration issue. It is hard to get everything into a short summary so I chose to simply cover a few hot topics discussed a the debate and then give my conclusion.
Economy:
- Given that Herman Cain has risen significantly in the polls it was no surprise that the candidates jumped on his 9-9-9 Tax Plan quickly. The plan basically calls for a 9% national sales tax, 9% business tax, and a 9% income tax, but not a simple straightforward plan as Cain describes it. There are write-offs in the plan (but not child tax credits) and captital gains taxes go to zero. Quick question on capital gains. Stockbrokers and other investors make nearly all their income on capital gains rather than income, so does this mean that these investors pay no income taxes at all? Anyway, all the candidates congratulated Cain on coming up with a bold plan but all agreed that it would not pass or work if it did pass Congress. In truth, the plan really does raise taxes on most lower and middle-class Americans regardless of the assessment given on Cain’s website. The plan actually lowers taxes for the rich and businesses while raising taxes on the rest of us. After listening to Cain fumble with the details of his own plan an obvious possibility ran through my head. I am starting to wonder if Cain is using his presidential campagin to promote his national popularity and booksales rather than seriously run for the office.
- Romney’s 59 Point Plan was ridiculed as well although not as much and I think this is because the other candidates have not actually read the whole plan. I know that I have not. Perry found this to be a good opportunity to go completely off-subject and talk about how we are sitting on an untapped gold mine of oil in America and we should “drill baby drill.” Romney responded by saying that we need other types of jobs like manufacturing and high tech in addition to energy.
Jobs:
- Oddly all three ex-governors think that their states had the lowest unemployment and highest job growth during their tenure, but the problem is that they all were governors around the same time. It is true that Texas has had the best job growth during the recession but, as Romney has pointed out several times, most of these jobs were right at minimum wage and Perry had little to do with obtaining them. Perry pointed out that Romney had very little job growth as governor of Massachusetts but Romney replied that there was not as much necessity for job creation because Massachusetts was already at 4.7% unemployment. Admittedly that is a pretty good unemployment rate.
- Overall the ultimate solution for job creation, according to the candidates, is cut taxes and government regulations then everything else will fall into place. Of course, Bachmann’s solution was even more simple than that, just get Obama out.
Healthcare:
- Of course the first measure of business for all the candidates is to repeal Obama’s healthcare plan, but Romney’s commitment to this action was called into question by Rick Santorum. Romney has been repeatedly questioned about his opposition to “Obamacare” because he passed a similar health care program in Massachusetts as governor. Romney has always stated that he feels it was a good idea for a state but not for the nation because it will not work and the federal mandate to buy health care is unconstitutional. But Santorum brings up that Romney stated in his book that he feels that this type of plan would be good for the entire country and, of course, Romney denies this.
Illegal Immigration:
- Cain was ridiculed for his earlier statement that we should put an electrified fence up across the entire border, but backed away from this in the debate stating that we should use fencing, video, and boots on the ground.
- Bachmann took Cain’s argument a step further by arguing that we should have a double-walled fence along the entire border rather than just an electrified one. Then she started spouting off about how some of Obama’s relatives who came here illegally are the cause of the problem, or something. To be honest I did not know what in the world she was talking about on this point.
- Romney stated that we should have fence with people overseeing it, but major solution would be to lift the magnets luring immigrants here illegally, such as tuition breaks ( a clear jab at Perry for offering in-state tuition to illegals in Texas).
- Perry’s solution was simple, just poot more boots on the ground. But he did take an unprecedented opportunity to make himself look like jerk when he took a personal jab at Romney stating that he was a hypocrite on the issue because he hired illegal immigrants. This accusation was not true but did start a rant by Perry while Romney was supposed to have the floor which gave Romney the opportunity to chastise Perry for interrupting. And Romney took it.
Defense Spending:
- Cain got into hot water again about a statement he made earlier when he admitted that he would consider trading all the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in exchange for hostages. At the debate he backed away from this stating that he would not negotiate with terrorists.
- Bachmann blamed Obama for all defense issues siting that he recently got us into our fourth conflict. This statement is so ridiculously insane that I will not even comment on it further.
- Ron Paul offered possible spending cuts of 15%. He believes that our military is in far too many places and we are acting like an “empire.” Paul claims that we have enough weapons to destroy the world 20 times over and do not need to spend any more money on defense. I totally agree with him on this issue.
Conclusion:
- Cain is in serious trouble given that he has put his foot in his mouth on a couple of major issues recently: the abortion confusion and his statement about trading terrorist prisoners for hostages. He also fumbled in his defense of the 9-9-9 Plan and has now made changes to the plan. I think he is a passing fad that will fizzle out, but not before he gets a great deal of public exposure and sells many books.
- Perry continues to look more and more desperate as he continues to make poor performances at the debates. He still has a great deal of money and has finally released an economic plan that has been applauded by some so I expect him to stick around for a long time. I have not read the plan yet myself so I cannot comment on that.
- Perry has virtually been the leader since the beginning and I expect him to go down to the wire in the Republican nomination. He appears to be the most level-headed of the bunch, has qualifying experience, and really presents himself very well.
- Gingrich might be the only guy who can really stand up to Obama on an intellectual debate on the important issues but will likely not get the chance. Winning the nomination has less to do with substance and more to do with other factors such as financing, appearance, and popularity.
- Santorum, Paul, and Bachmann will remain in the race until they run out of money but I do not expect to see them go the distance unless one of them comes up with a revelation that catapults them forward. I’m not holding my breath for this to happen, but stranger things have happened in politics.
