The Last Vegas Republican Presidential Debate was very entertaining to watch. There was drama, jokes, Obama bashing, and even some physical contact. The more interesting parts of the debate were the bashing on Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” plan and the growing tension between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Since Herman Cain has been the surprising front runner in the polls, it seems like the other candidates decided to gang up and attack his “9-9-9” plan. The “9-9-9” is Herman Cain’s tax plan that proposes a 9 percent corporate tax, individual income tax, and national sales tax. It seemed like every candidate found something wrong with the plan. First, Rick Santorum pointed out an interesting fact which was that 84 percent of people would pay more taxes with Herman Cain’s plan. This is because people, who do not make enough money and don’t pay taxes now, would have to start paying 9 percent. He also pointed out that Herman Cain’s plan does not distinguish between families and individuals, like our current tax system. Herman Cain repudiated those facts by saying that everybody needs to look at his web site and they would see it’s not true. Most of the issues he didn’t directly, but just said read his plan and all the questions would be answered. Rick Perry also had an interesting point, saying that states like New Hampshire don’t pay a national sales tax. Therefore, making them start paying a national sales tax was “not gonna fly.” All of the candidates also mentioned that it would increase the price on some things because the tax would be combined with the state tax. To this, Cain said that it was like comparing apples and oranges. Mitt Romney had a really funny answer to that saying at the end of the day they would have “bushels of apples and oranges.” Many of the candidates were confused about how this plan was supposed to create jobs. It was very clear that the other candidates felt threated by Herman Cain’s growing popularity and decided to attack him on his policies.
What made the debate really interesting was the obvious tension between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney particularly on the issues of immigration and healthcare. The debate about immigration started when Anderson Cooper asked Herman Cain about his electric fence remarks. However, the debate soon turned uncomfortable when Rick Perry and Mitt Romney began to attack each other’s previous records on immigration. Mitt Romney accused Rick Perry of being compliant to undocumented immigrants by allowing them scholarships to college. He also brought up the fact that Texas’ undocumented immigration is growing, while Florida’ and California’s is not. Perry accused Romney for hiring “illegals” to do his landscaping. When Romney tried to explain what happened, Perry cut him off. Romney told Perry to allow him to speak, saying that if he wanted to be president he needs to learn to allow other people to speak. At one point Romney even put his hand on Perry’s shoulder. Another issue that turned into an exchange of words between the two was healthcare. After Romney criticized “Obamacare” and said he would repeal it while in office, Perry essentially called him a hypocrite. He said that “Obamacare” was structured on the healthcare policies of Massachusetts while Romney was governor. Romney answered back saying that even though the healthcare policy is working is Massachusetts, it does not work on a national level. He said that he even mentioned it in his book that he does not want this policy for the whole country.
I really hope all presidential debates are this entertaining from now on. Although, Rick Perry’s “feistiness” was hilarious to watch I think Mitt Romney was the clear winner. Aside from the whole should touch incident he seemed very presidential. He was always cool and composed which makes him seem like the right candidate for the Republicans.
No comments:
Post a Comment