The Republican Presidential debate last night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California abounded with falsehoods!
Rick Perry claimed that there is a crisis at the border with Mexico, and Michele Bachmann seconded that idea, but that is NOT the case! In fact, records of the federal government agencies show that crime is far lower in cities close to Mexico than they are in the rest of the country’s cities. The cities that have low crime rates include El Paso and Austin, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; and San Diego, California. But it is part of the plan of the GOP to exploit the illegal immigration issue, and instill fear in the American people!
Michele Bachmann said, regarding immigration, that we need to make citizenship difficult as it was in the 1950s and early 1960s, when literacy in English was required; knowledge of American history and politics was mandated; taxes had to be paid on time and accurately; a criminal record would eliminate the chance for citizenship; and having a communicable disease was also ground for refusal of citizenship. The problem with what Bachmann cited is that these are the SAME requirement now, as they were then!
Mitt Romney claimed to create more jobs in four years in Massachusetts than Barack Obama has in two and a half years! Wow, what a whopper that was, as he only created 48,000 jobs, while Obama has created or saved at least TWO million jobs over the past 30 months!
Herman Cain called for a 9-9-9 tax structure, which means 9 percent income tax rate 9 percent corporate tax rate, and 9 percent national sales tax, claiming that would raise enough money and be totally fair to everyone! Really, what a whopper, as a national sales tax would hurt the poor and the middle class much more because they spend almost all of their income on things, while wealthy people save a lot of their income. And Cain wants no estate tax and no capital gains tax, which means more distortion of national income in favor of the rich!
Ron Paul shocked many by openly criticizing Ronald Reagan on much that he did, and calling for cutbacks on federal regulation and enforcement in areas that almost everyone recognizes need federal involvement, including education, health, natural disasters, and corporate practices!
Only Jon Huntsman avoided any inaccuracies or ridiculous statements, seeming very statesmanlike, reasonable, and sensible. Despite this, just about everyone in the news media seem to be ignoring him, seeing him as not a major factor in the race.
This is folly, as John Kerry and John McCain proved in 2004 and 2008 that making judgments in September, and going by fluctuating public opinion polls, is a major mistake.
Some observers are saying that if Huntsman fails to gain in the next polls over the weekend, that he will be dropped from future debates, although he is scheduled for the CNN debate next Monday. It would be ironic if the Fox News Channel debate a week later saw editorializing by that channel, and led to Huntsman being eliminated from that debate. But if that happened, the answer would be: What else is new?