Republican debate shifts from Cain scandal to eurozone crisis

Well, they can all explain to Michigan's citizens how they're doing them a big favor by extending tax cuts for the wealthy, but cutting help to state governments.

The Perry thing was embarrassing, painfully so.

None of the candidates had anything whatsoever to say about the Eurozone crisis.

"They (Republicans) also warned that failing to cut budget deficits at home would doom the U.S. to the same sort of crisis that now plagues Greece and Italy."

Perhaps they should have thought of that when they launched 2 wars without paying for them, and introduced the incredibly costly prescription drug benefit, all of which have done massive harm to America's financial future.

"Some critics continue to assert that President George W. Bush’s policies bear little responsibility for the deficits the nation faces over the coming decade — that, instead, the new policies of President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress are to blame. Most recently, a Heritage Foundation paper downplayed the role of Bush-era policies. Nevertheless, the fact remains: Together with the economic downturn, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years (see Figure 1).

The deficit for fiscal year 2009 was $1.4 trillion and, at nearly 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was the largest deficit relative to the size of the economy since the end of World War II."

[Source: Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years]

Triumvere - "None of the candidates had anything whatsoever to say about the Eurozone crisis."

Do any of them even know where the country of Europe is?

That's the question I would be asking.

The Department of Energy oversees not only Federal energy policy - which by itself is at a crucial juncture as new technologies such as smart grids and solar thermal plants either enhance or replace traditional supplies - but also regulates nuclear power, an area whose importance Daichi might have emphasized - and also an area slated to expand broadly in the near future.

Perry does not like it because it is Federal and because any extension of non-traditional energy hurts those deep-pocketed oil companies in his state. The man could only be a greater menace if he weren't so s l o w.

@sushisake 3

Do any of them even know where the country of Europe is?

Europe is not a country.

Sushisake, just wait until the country of Europe gets nuclear weapons - that's Cain's primary concern. ; )

JeremiahW - "Europe is not a country."

Really? Former Alaska Govenor and staunch conservative Sarah Palin was convinced Africa was a country,

I was simply using her logic.

This JeremiahW fellow is a sharp one.

Unlike Sarah Palin's fellow staunch conservative colleague Herman Cain who believed up until only last week that China has never possessed the nuclear arsenal they have had bolted to the ground for the last 50 years, I know I really have to up my game.

Apologies are due.

Why is it that Herman Cain's complete incompetence doesn't make the news? Remember that debate he had with Newt Gingrich a few days ago? He had no idea what simple health care terms were. He's also been caught off guard with very simple foreign policy questions and proposed in seriousness limiting all bills to three pages.

Yet, not a single news article in my memory has ever questioned his readiness to take on the highest office arguably in the entire world despite ludicrously limited knowledge of economics, foreign policy and health care.

"left-wing bias"... right....

HumanTarget - "He's also been caught off guard with very simple foreign policy questions and proposed in seriousness limiting all bills to three pages."

Looks like neither Cain - nor any of his GOP presidential candidate colleagues - will be inducted into MENSA this week.

Maybe next week?

sushisake asks

Do any of them even know where the country of Europe is? That's the question I would be asking.

Priceless.

Twice as priceless: "I would do away with--the education, the commerce." --Ricky Perry

It sounds like he did done do away with the education a long time ago.

The Perry thing was embarrassing, painfully so.

I didn't see the debates, so when I read about this I thought it must have been painfully embarassing. Yahoo.com had peg it as the beginning of the end for Perry. I just took a youtube look and it didn't really seem that bad. He seemed like a person that had something slip his mind temporarily. Our human's really at the point where this kind of a slight slip is seen to be such a terribly horrible thing? Maybe the guy's policies stink. I only checked out that particular scene, so I would not know. However, it would be nice for the world if the US picks someone based on their policies, not on how well they shine their shoes or how many innocent mistakes they make, etc.

Rick Perry might have temporarily forgotten the name of a government agency, but he wouldn't bankrupt the country like the current president has.

But this isn't about policies. It's entertainment. Nothing more and nothing less. You could call it the best reality TV show in the world. A little sad that you always have to wait about two years (until the next campaigns start). I love American elections because they reveal the true state of mind in the US (when people don't watch out or think no one listens), not the shiny, polite and powerful surface that is normally shown to the world. It would happen in the same way everywhere else, but the US extend this wonderful show to entertain the world. And the Republicans are much funnier than the Democrats. Thanks a lot!

Rick Perry is going to pay for John Stewart's light bill for the next two week.

Taka

Rick Perry is going to pay for John Stewart's light bill for the next two week.

What is saddest about this is that these candidates represent the "best and brightest" that one of the two major parties are able to put forward as a candidate to lead the nation. Heck, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain seem better suited to having giant balloons made of themselves and floated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. (Cain with his pimp brim and that sly "C'mon girl" grin. Newt seems to be naturally expanding with more hot air each passing month.)

Bachmann? She's just this side of Christine O'Donnell bat$hit crazy. Just ask her last two campaign managers. Sanitorium? Give me a break. Ron Paul? Never happen. And then there's Rick Perry, who attests to the sorry state of the rest of the lot by immediately vaulting to lead the pack before people had a chance to see him open his mouth to speak.

That really leaves the two Mormons, one of whom causes newsflashes every time he maintains a stance on a position for longer than one week. Yes, Willard Romney makes John Kerry look like the rock of Gibraltar.

Yabits, this all leaves me wondering: when is the GOP/TP going to field a serious candidate??

All they have at the moment - bar Jon Huntsman - are clowns in different clothing.

Heck, all the Democrats have at the moment is Barack Obama.

If there's anybody who needs the teleprompter more than Obama, it's Perry instead of relying on memory during a nervous situation.

But at least he's handling it well. He knows he's not that good a debater, so he's rolling with it. His website is asking websurfers which Department they'd like to forget, and he's appearing at David Letterman's Top 10 List tonight.

Well, they can all explain to Michigan's citizens how they're doing them a big favor by extending tax cuts for the wealthy, but cutting help to state governments.

Under Granholm we had 14% unemployment, under Snyder we've got 11%. Its not good, but it's not as bad. The states have to get their acts in order. Snyder also got the 2012 budget done the earliest in 30 years, and as of next year the only businesses to be taxed at the state level will be C-corps. Michigan has a massive industrial skill base, among the best in the world, but nobody wants to set up shop.

all the Democrats have at the moment is Barack Obama.

Looks like another lesser of two evils election. Looks like I'm voting for the libertarian party again, at least Wrights is a little easier to listen to than Barr was.

The Question, do not waste your vote. Voters for Nader in 2000 in Florida gave Bush the election, sort of. And we all know now what a disaster that turned out to be for the country.

Perry, wow. And Texas has made this guy governor for years now. He makes Bush look smart.

The Question, do not waste your vote.

All votes are wasted as far as I'm concerned. The president isn't supposed to be elected by popular majority anyway, for that matter neither is the senate but thats a different beast entierly.

"Heck, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain seem better suited to having giant balloons made of themselves and floated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. (Cain with his pimp brim and that sly "C'mon girl" grin. "

"Pimp brim" ? What a demeaning, derogatory, racist thing to say.

Cain grew up in the South, when the Democrats who controlled it didn't even let "his kind" register to vote. He attended Morehouse, like so many of the African Americans who changed the nations' - and the world's - opinions as regards the true potential of his race. He majored in mathematics and went on to get a master's degree from Purdue.That is academic achievement far and above most of the folks posting here. He had the foresight to study computer programming in 1971.Cain was CEO of a pizza company, yes, but also served as chairman of a Fed Reserve bank in Kansas. He also recognized the necessity, back in the Clinton years, of challenging Dems' attempts to impose socialized medicine on America. Yabits' comment is just one more example of what modern 'liberalism' is all about - they are all for diversity of color, religion and sexual orientation, but not if means diversity of thought.

Yabits' comment is just one more example of what modern 'liberalism' is all about - they are all for diversity of color, religion and sexual orientation, but not if means diversity of thought.

I hereby apologize to pimps everywhere for any resemblance their taste in headgear might have to the likes of Herman Cain and Jack Abramoff.