Not that anyone cares, but here are some things I’d say at the Republican debate (I’m sure I could come up with lots more, but here’s what comes off the top of my head):
1) Ronald Reagan said he wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. That’s because Americans are perfectly capable of running their own schools, and don’t need to be taxed to fund a Washington bureaucracy that, to add insult to injury, then has the nerve to tell them what to do.
No one on this stage has the slightest problem with any of this. In fact, everyone else on this stage supports Teddy Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind Act. And they have the nerve to say they stand for change?
2) John McCain says it’s fine with him if American troops are in Iraq for 100 years. With that one statement, John, you have guaranteed that you can never defeat the Democrats in November. They’ll have a field day with that crazy statement. There’s nothing even slightly conservative about that kind of recklessness. And where, may I ask, are you planning to get the resources for all this? Specifics, please, not platitudes about eliminating waste. What “waste,” exactly?
3) Everyone else on this stage has an atrocious record on taxes and spending. Not one of them attacks my record on taxes and spending because they know they can’t. I have the highest rating the National Taxpayers Union has ever given. I have voted in opposition against the entire Congress more than all other congressmen put together.
4) The subprime mortgage crisis, the bursting of the housing bubble, all the financial instability we’re seeing — I predicted this years ago as it was gathering steam. No one else on this stage plans to do anything other than tinker around the edges. No one else on this stage even seems to understand what’s happening.
5) We were asked in an earlier debate to name three federal programs we would eliminate. That’s no problem for me, since I believe in freedom and limited government. I wonder if you gentlemen have had more time to think about that question. I’ll make it easier: can you name a single federal program you would eliminate? And no, a $400,000 bridge project doesn’t count.
6) Our absurd foreign policy is bankrupting us. It’s costing a trillion dollars a year to maintain these overseas commitments. Not only are we spreading ourselves too thin, and thereby making our country less secure, but we are hastening the day of financial reckoning. Entitlements are underfunded to the tune of over $50 trillion. Where is that going to come from? I’m the only one even talking about this. The rest of these men are traipsing around the country promising to hand out loot to every interest group you can name, totally oblivious to our financial situation.
7) The New York Times has endorsed John McCain. Need I say more?
10:51 pm on January 29, 2008
