College Conservative Movement

The best exchanges of the campaign

Here are some of the best exchanges of the campaign. McCain's exchange makes it very difficult to support McCain. As I remember this, it makes it incredibly difficult to support him in the general election. I am struggling to throw my support to John McCain after the Clintonian stunt he pulled in Florida and on Super Tuesday against Mitt Romney.

Romney vs. Huckabee

HUCKABEE: And the fact is there were specific issues that I’ve
been attacked for, sometimes pretty brutally on some of these
television spots, but I’m proud of the fact that I governed and
lowered taxes, and did something that had never been done in my state,
and did it against the headwinds of a Democratic legislature that had
never done it in 160 years before.

WALLACE: Governor Romney?

ROMNEY: Well, facts are different things.

I think, Mike, you agreed that net-net, you raised taxes by half
a billion dollars. Is that right?

HUCKABEE: You know, Mitt, let’s talk about how stubborn the
facts are. Answer the question.

HUCKABEE: The fees I think you raised were more like half a
billion dollars, not $240 million. You came into office…

ROMNEY: Mike, I asked you a question…

HUCKABEE: … with a deficit, and you left with one.

ROMNEY: You know, the let’s — facts are stubborn things. Let’s
get the facts right, OK? I came in with a…

HUCKABEE: And you opposed those Bush tax cuts in 2002.

ROMNEY: You know, Mike, you make up facts faster than you talk,
and that’s saying something. So let’s slow it down and let’s get the
facts correctly.

HUCKABEE: All right.

ROMNEY: I came in, there was a $3 billion budget gap. Together
with the legislature, we cut spending, we also raised fees, and we
calculated how much money we raised in the fees.

It was $240 million. We can show you the number. And at the end
of my first year, we had a surplus. Every single year I was in office
I generated a surplus, and we put over a billion dollars in our rainy
day fund.

Now, I asked you a question to begin with. And that was, net-
net, did you raise taxes in your state by half a billion dollars?
HUCKABEE: We raised jobs, we built our roads.

ROMNEY: You know, that’s political speak.

HUCKABEE: You know, Mitt…

ROMNEY: The question is — you can avoid this issue by just
saying…

HUCKABEE: … you spent tens of millions of dollars sayings all
negative things about me. If someone raises a question, you say it’s
a personal attack. And facts are stubborn things, and you mentioned
that. And did you support or oppose the 2002 Bush tax cuts?

ROMNEY: I have never opposed the Bush 2002 tax cuts. I
supported them. The first comment I made about the Bush tax cuts was
that I supported the Bush tax cuts.

I do not oppose them. I support them, always have.

Now let me go back to the question I’ve asked you that you
refused to answer three times — did you raise taxes, net, in Arkansas
by $500 million?

HUCKABEE: By a court order that said we had to improve
education. Maybe — maybe you don’t have to obey the court in
Massachusetts. I did in Arkansas. And you know something? Education
is a good thing for kids, because kids…

ROMNEY: I agree.

Romney vs. McCain

HOOK: Yes. I'd like to start with Governor Romney.

Obviously, Iraq is still a major issue in this campaign, and over the last few days there's been a real back-and-forth going on here. Senator McCain has said over and over again that you supported a timetable for a phased withdrawal from Iraq.

Is that true?

ROMNEY: Absolutely, unequivocal -- if I can get that word out -- unequivocably, absolutely no. I have never, ever supported a specific timetable for exit from Iraq.

ROMNEY: And it's offensive to me that someone would suggest that I have.

And I have noted that everyone from Time magazine to Bill Bennett over there to actually CNN's own analysts, he said it was a lie and it's absolutely wrong.

I do not support that, never have. We've had -- we've -- and Senator McCain pointed to an interview I had back in April with ABC, when I said that our president and their prime minister should have timetables and milestones.

We have timetables and milestones for progress that we're making together. But I never suggested a date specific to withdraw and, were to give you a date specific for withdrawal, would you, Senator, veto it?" I said I'd veto it.

I'm opposed to setting a specific date for withdrawal. By the way, we've had, since that time, 10-12 debates. Senator McCain never raised that question in any of those debates.

If he ever wondered what my position was, he could have raised it. I instead have pointed out time and time again, and let me make it absolutely clear again tonight, I will not pull our troops out until we have brought success in Iraq, and that means, for me, that we do not have safe havens for al Qaeda or Hezbollah or anyone else, that our troops have secured the population from that kind of threat, that they will not have safe havens from which they could launch attacks against us.

And if there's any misunderstanding, those words should make it perfectly clear, as have every single debate that I've attended...

COOPER: Senator...

ROMNEY: ... 15 debates. I do not propose nor have I ever proposed a public or secret date for withdrawal. It's just simply wrong.

And by the way, raising it a few days before the Florida primary, when there was very little time for me to correct the record, when the date of withdrawal," sort of falls in the kind of dirty tricks that I think Ronald Reagan would have found to be reprehensible.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator McCain, tough words.

MCCAIN: Well, of course, he said he wanted a timetable. Before that, we have to understand that we lost the 2006 election and the Democrats thought that they had a mandate. They thought they had a mandate to get us out of Iraq.

And I was prepared to sacrifice whatever was necessary in order to stand up for what I believed in.

Now, in December of 2006, after the election, Governor Romney was won't weigh in. I'm a governor."

At the time, he didn't want to weigh in because he was a governor, I was out there on the front lines with my friends saying, "We not only can't withdraw, but we've got to have additional troops over there in order for us to have a chance to succeed."

Then in April, April was a very interesting year (sic) in 2007. That's when Harry Reid said the war is lost and we've got to get out. And the buzzword was "timetables, timetables."

Governor, the right answer to that question was "no," not what you said, and that was we don't want to have them lay in the weeds until we leave and Maliki and the president should enter into some kind of agreement for, quote, "timetables."

"Timetables" was the buzzword for the...

ROMNEY: Why don't you use the whole quote, Senator?

MCCAIN: ... withdrawal. That...

ROMNEY: Why don't you use the whole quote? Why do you insist on...

MCCAIN: I'm using the whole quote, where you said "I won't"...

ROMNEY: ... not using the actual quote? That's not what I said.

MCCAIN: The actual quote is, "We don't want them to lay in the weeds until we leave." That is the actual quote and I'm sure...

ROMNEY: What does that mean?

MCCAIN: ... fact-checkers --

ROMNEY: What is the meaning?

MCCAIN: It means a timetable until we leave.

ROMNEY: Listen, Senator, let's...

COOPER: Let me jump in, because the quote that I have...

ROMNEY: Is it not fair -- is it not fair to have the person who's being accused of having a position he doesn't have be the expert on what his position is?

How is it that you're the expert on my position, when my position has been very clear?

(APPLAUSE)

I'll tell you, this is...

MCCAIN: I'm the expert. I'm the expert on this. When you said...

ROMNEY: This is the kind -- this is the kind -- this is...

MCCAIN: ... "I won't weigh in. I'm a governor." You couldn't weigh in because you were a governor...

ROMNEY: That's a separate point.

MCCAIN: ... back when we were having the fight over it.

ROMNEY: That's a separate point.

MCCAIN: The fact is...

ROMNEY: That's a separate point.

MCCAIN: ... that I have fought for this surge. I have said we need to have this succeed. I know the situation in Iraq and I am proud to have supported this president and supported the fact that we are succeeding in Iraq today.

ROMNEY: There's...

MCCAIN: If we had done -- if we had waited and laid in the weeds until we leave, then al Qaeda would have won and we would be facing a disastrous situation in the...

COOPER: There's two separate issues being discussed...

MCCAIN: ... today.

COOPER: ... and I just want to clarify both of them. First of all...

MCCAIN: These are...

COOPER: ... Senator McCain...

MCCAIN: ... quotes that I am giving you that are direct quotes.

COOPER: So, Senator McCain, the quote is from Governor Romney on GMA that you've been quoting. The actual quote is, "Well, there's no question that the president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones"...

MCCAIN: Timetables and milestones.

COOPER: ... "that they speak about, but those shouldn't be for public pronouncement. You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone."

MCCAIN: You don't have to...

COOPER: He does not say he is supporting a withdrawal.

MCCAIN: ... wait until the enemy lays in the weeds until we leave. That means that we were leaving.

COOPER: It's open to interpretation.

MCCAIN: If we weren't leaving, how could the enemy lay in the weeds?

(CROSSTALK)

ROMNEY: Senator, if you have question on this, if you have a question on this, you can just ask it.

MCCAIN: I'm sorry you did not have -- could not weigh in as governor on the surge when it was the critical issue. And I'm sorry...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: ... so let me just allow you to respond to the issue of the going to be gone, laying in the weeds question.

MCCAIN: Timetables was the buzzword for those that wanted to get out.

COOPER: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: And you're saying, point blank, you did not want to get out then. What did you mean by that statement?

ROMNEY: That we have a series of timetables and milestones for working on the progress that they're making, the progress we're making, the rule of law, what their soldiers are doing, what our soldiers are doing.

COOPER: OK.

ROMNEY: How many troops they're able to recruit, how well the following question, "do you have a specific time, would you support Congress if they gave you a specific time?" I said "absolutely not."

COOPER: Let me -- OK, on the...

ROMNEY: By the way, this has been around. If this was a question, it could have been raised in April or May.

COOPER: On the second issue...

ROMNEY: But it was raised...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: I want to give you an opportunity...

MCCAIN: It was raised many times. I raised it many times, as to whether you have the experience and the judgment to lead this country in the war against radical Islamic extremism. I've raised that many times.

ROMNEY: Senator McCain...

MCCAIN: And I will continue to raise it.

COOPER: I want to give you, Governor Romney...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: ... a chance to respond to the other accusation.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: All right. Let's just focus on this, the second one, which is the issue that Senator McCain raised, which was actually back in the surge, when you were a governor, and you did say you would not take a position.

This was in January -- excuse me -- December of 2006. Two months later, you announced you were running for president.

Why two months before you were running for president were you not willing to take a position on supporting or not supporting a surge?

ROMNEY: Look, as governor of the state, there are a lot of issues of a federal nature that I didn't take a position on. I was running a state. My responsibility was for running a state. When I became a governor, I took a whole series of positions on national issues. That's normal and natural.

With regard to the surge, the briefing that I received -- I received an early briefing from Fred Kagan on the size of our military. After I received that, I said I support increasing our military by at least 100,000. And then just prior to the president's announcement of the surge, I spoke again with Fred Kagan, and he laid out the philosophy of the surge, his vision for it. As you know, many consider him one of the authors of the surge idea. And when he gave me that report, I met with my staff and announced that day that I supported a surge. The president announced later that day the entire program.

So I supported it as a candidate for president, No. 1.

No. 2, with regards to this idea that I favor a specific date for withdrawal -- I do not. We've had, I believe since that interview that the senator quotes, we've had 10 or 12 debates. He's never raised that issue with me. He's never said, "are you for a date specific?" had, I said I will not leave Iraq until we have secured Iraq, make sure it will never become a safe haven.

And what's interesting here is it's an attempt to do the Washington-style old politics, which is lay a charge out there, regardless of whether it's true or not, don't check it, don't talk to the other candidate, just throw it out there, get it in the media and the stream.

There's not a single media source that I've seen that hasn't said it wasn't reprehensible. Even the New York Times said it was wrong. The Washington Post -- they endorsed you -- The Washington Post gave you three Pinocchios for it. It's simply -- it's simply wrong, and the senator knows it.