Introductions
Tancredo: MoC for 10 years
Tommy Thompson: Candidate not the actor. Governor for 14 and Secretary of HHS
Sam Brownback. Raised on farm in Kansas, have 5 kids, Senator
Mitt Romney: Family, neighbor and MA.
Giuliani: Likes the motto
McCain: Served coountry all his life.
Huckabee: Give people from Hope another chance
Hunter: I missed it
Gilmore: same
Paul: Champion of constition
Was it a mistake to invade Iraq?
Romney: SUpported the president. Underprepared and underplanned. Didn’t do a great job afterwards. Stabilize the central government. Does that mean that he opposes Biden’s plan federalism? "Null set kind of question" is lame.
Giuliani: No. Says Dems are in denial.
Did Senators read NIE?
McCain: Did not read NIE. Did get briefings. Details. Details. Details.
Brownback: No. Held hearings and had briefings. Need a political plan. He supports federalism.
Should Senators read the NIE?
Gilmore: Yes. Middle East unstable place.
WMUR: What if the surge doesn’t succeed?
McCain: We don’t have the fifth brigade there yet. They will follow us back. We must succeed. They reasked the question. Says federalism doesn’t work.
Thompson: Make the government vote. (Does he have a new toupee?)
Hunter: I read the NIE report. Need reliable Iraqi forces. Withdraw through rotation of Iraqi troops.
Paul: "The sooner we come home the better." Paul got applause.
Huckabee: We underestimate al Qaeda.
Tancredo: Didn’t support the surge. "A Republic if you can keep it." He wants to withdraw. Also got applause.
Iran
Brownback: Supports the Prez on Iran.
Hunter: Dialog with everyone. Iran is moving deadly equipment. Reserve the right to pre-empt. Won’t take nukes to prevent Iran for nukes.
Giuliani: Unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear power. "The Democrats seem to be back in the 1990s." This war is not a bumper sticker. This is a real war.
Gilmore: Work with European allies.
Romney: People are testing the USA. We are not arrogant. We have resolve. "How do we help move the world of Islam to help the moderate Muslims." Need a broad vision.
Immigration
Tancredo: Consequences of the bill passing are "incredible" and "disastrous". Not just the number of jobs we may be losing or kids in our school. We are talking about "whether or not we will actually survive as a nation". "We are testing whether or not we will hold together as a nation,"
Giuliani: Problem with the plan is that it has no unifying purpose. Compromises leave you with the following conclusion: "Is it going to make this better?" Quite possible that it could make things worse. Tamper proof ID card. Database that allows you to figure out who they are and why thye are here. Throw out people who are not in the database.
Question to Romney about flip-flopping and pandering: Z visa is a real problem. It allows people who came here illegally to stay here for the rest of their lives. Every illegal alien gets to stay here. Not fair. Big applause.
McCain: Says Giuliani’s requests are in the bill. This bill satisfies national security challenges. "Our job to do the hard things." Also got applause.
Giuliani: "Say things that are not in the legislation"
Romney: Enforce the law as it exists. Make the Z-visa temporary.
Hunter: When they shut down a meat packing plant in Iowa, people showed up to take the jobs.
Brownback on pathway to citizenship: New path. Get in the back of the line. Exterior enforcement, interior enforcement, and resolve the interior situation.
Thompson: Secure the border. Says it is an "Amesty" bill. Is his hearing aid acting up?
Paul: No fence needed on Canada. "We subsidize illegal immigration."
English the official language. McCain says Native Americans too.
Fred Thompson
Gilmore: Fred Thompson conservative enough? We don’t know if Fred Thompson is conservative enough.
Thompson: Fred will help the party.
Giuliani on abortion: Lightening is striking! Government should not impose its views.
Romney: Says he fought as a conservative. "New Opportunity of the 21st Century."
Huckabee on Evolution: Wonders why someone who wants to be President is asked this. He says that he believes that God was active in the creation process. Says he doesn’t know about 6 days and 6,000 years. He knows that God created the earth.
Brownback: Fully convinced that there’s a God who was involved in the process. Debate faith and reason like St. Anselm did. I love Anselm.
McCain: School decisions should be left to local school boards.
Romney on the Mormon issue: Nothing new.
Paul on Church and State: "Congress shall write no law."
Global warming and energy
Giuliani: There is global warming and human operation contributes to it. Energy independence too. Need a project like the man on the moon.
Romney: Giuliani is right on an Apollo project. When companies make profit, that money should be reinvesting in capital equipment. It is not just the companies, it is the countries.
McCain: Everyone is annoyed by expensive oil. Companies should be invested. Including nuclear power.
Paul on subsidies: No subsidies.
Gays in the military
Paul: Current policy is decent policy.
Huckabee: Already covered by UCMC. You punish them if the behavior is a problem.
Giuliani about the gay linguists being fired: Not the time to deal with disruptive issues like this. "In a time of war you don’t much fundamental changes like this."
Romney: "Don’t ask don’t tell seems to be working."
McCain: Not enough military. It is their judgment. The policy is working. No one thinks that gays and lesbians should serve in the military.
What would you use Bush for internationally
Thompson: George Bush has a great family.
Brownback: Bush’s dad is great. I’m sure the son would be too. More about Bush Sr.
Tancredo: Was told "never to darken the doorstep of the Whitehouse." Would tell George Bush that.
Huckabee: "The Republican Party as a whole deserved to get beat." Katrina, Iraq, borders, etc.
Townhall forum
A woman from Medford who lost her son. Bringing troops home
Hunter: Rotate out as he said before.
Brownback: "Getting the situation to a point where we can turn it over to Iraqis." Federalism, again as he said.
McCain: First of all, he gets up. He said he is proud of the girl. "This war was very badly mismanaged." Some of the sacrifices were unnecessary because of the mismanagment. Applause line.
Cynthia from Merrimack. Her husband served in Iraq. What do we do to get the government of Iraq to work?
Paul: Just leave.
Giuliani: Likes the McCain walk around thing. Sacrifice and service are the reasons we are safe now. People can only embrace democracy when they have an orderly existence. Nitty-gritty of putting together an orderly society? And asks about whether success is going to get reported?
Kyra Crusco about whether conservatism can involve conservation
Gilmore: Reduces it to energy independence.
Tancredo: You have a conservative model to work from. TR put the stamp on that.
Doug Hall, town moderator for Chichester. Could buy refills for his drugs for $600 in Spain
Giuliani: Government and employer dominate.d. Health Savings Account. Democrats suggested socialized medicine.
Hunter: But insurance across state lines. This is the AHP that GOP congresses have been dealing with.
Joshua Williamsen, WMUR blogger. What would you do for healthcare?
Thompson: Turn it into a wellness system.
Romney: One of my friends asks if he is dying his hair darker. He talks about small business people being in trouble. He embraces it. Private mandates for private insurance.
Max Latona, St. Anselm Professor, most pressing moral issue
Huckabee: Pro-life is being the womb. We celebrate life. They celebrate death.
Giuliani: Our ideals come from God.
Paul: Acceptance that we promote pre-emptive war.
Brownback: Life baby! And he means a little more than abortion.
Neal Capano. Airline agent. Flip-flopping on immigration
Romney question about English as the national language: Don’t get an advantage to become permanent residents. Asia is our markets.
Tancredo: One language. U2 comes on in the background at my bar.
McCain: "Governor muchas gracias."
John Lewicke. Electrical Engineer. If we do more of the same, why do we expect anything different?
McCain: Spending. Spending. Spending. Which led to corruption. Earmarks.
Giuliani: "You get what you measure".
Romney: It goes from small bore to large bore. "Our projects and services can lead the world."
…..
Erin Gardner. What does it mean to be an American?
Tancredo: Cut from the past.
Huckabee: There are a nmber of people who we should welcome into this country.
Giuliani: Abraham Lincoln defined what an American is. "It is not whether you came over on the Mayflower or yesterday. It is how much you believe in freedom … freedom of religion … the right to vote …" This is good stuff.
McCain: "America is a land of opportunity. It is to share a common goal. It is to be created equal and be endowed by our creator wth unalienable rights." …. "A beacon of hope and liberty. And as Ronald Reagan said, a city on the hill."
Carolyn Gargasz. Rep. from Hollis about keeping moderate Republicans
Gilmore: what did he say? I forgot?
Hunter: "Move away from the Kennedy wing of the Republican Party"
Romney: Model is Reagan. Economic, military, and family values.
Giuliani: You can reach out to moderates by nominating me
McCain: Protect the family. And the battle against radical Islamic extremism.
