2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida: on Budget & Economy
John McCain:
I’m well-versed in economics; I was at the Reagan Revolution
Q: Is it a problem for your campaign that the economy is now the most important issue, one that, by your own acknowledgement, you are not well versed on? A: Actually, I don’t know where you got that quote from. I’m very well versed in economics.
I was there at the Reagan Revolution. I was there just after we enacted the first tax cuts and the restraints on spending. I was chairman of the Commerce Committee in the Senate, which addresses virtually every major economic issue that affects the US.
I’m very well versed on economics. That’s why I have a strong team around me that respect my views and my vision. And that’s why The Wall Street Journal, in a survey of economists recently, that the majority of economists thought that I could handle the
nation’s economy best. And I have been a consistent fighter to restrain spending and to cut taxes. And my credentials & my experience & my knowledge of these economic issues, I think, are extensive. And I would match them against anybody who’s running.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
John McCain:
Impose some fiscal discipline to revive the economy
Q: Why should we continue a Republican in the White House with the current kind of economic record?A: I will, as president, veto every one of these big spending bills. I will impose some fiscal discipline. We will clean up our act and we will
regain the confidence of the American people as being careful stewards of our tax dollars, and we will fix this problem with having to borrow money from China, then we will balance our budget, just like every governor in America has been required to do.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
John McCain:
Will be able to reduce war costs & have a stable Middle East
Q: You would leave troops in Iraq for an indefinite period. How will you do this, both militarily & economically?A: I know of no military leader, including Gen. Petraeus, who says we can’t sustain our effort in Iraq. So you’re wrong.
The fact is, we are succeeding in Iraq. We’re going back down to previous levels, and we will be able to withdraw troops over time if we succeed. We have American troops all over the world today & nobody complains about it because we’re defending freedom
That’s one of the obligations of being the world’s superpower. I’m proud to adopt the strategy that is succeeding, and that’s happened. I’m the only one that said that. It is succeeding. We will be able to reduce our costs, and we will be able to have a
stable Middle East, where our vital national interests, national security interests are at stake. I’m so proud of the job that the men and women in the military are doing there, and they don’t want us to raise the white flag of surrender.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
John McCain:
Reform insurance to cover violent weather patterns
As more and more violent weather patterns take place, people’s homes are more and more in jeopardy. We can address it regionally. We can address it with the governors and the legislatures working with the federal government to have insurance spread
across state lines, increasing the risk pool. We can reform insurance. I will call the regulators, the governors and the legislators and work together to provide every American that’s in jeopardy to have the insurance that they need and deserve.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
John McCain:
FactCheck: Said--then denied--he needed economics education
McCain cast doubt on moderator Tim Russert’s assertion that the candidate had said he was no expert on economics. Russert claimed that McCain had repeatedly said, “I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues.
I still need to be educated.” McCain responded, “Actually, I don’t know where you got that quote from. I’m very well-versed in economics.”Russert’s quote comes from a 2005 interview with the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 26,
2005: “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”
We could not find that McCain has said that quote “repeatedly,” but he has made similar comments recently
The Chicago Tribune quoted McCain talking to reporters on Dec. 18, 2007: “The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should. I understand the basics, the fundamentals, the vision, all that kind of stuff.”
Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mike Huckabee:
Stimulus plan is $150B from China, to spend on Chinese goods
Q: What do you think of the president’s economic stimulus plan to send out 116 million checks to American homes?A: In talking about the stimulus package, one of the concerns that I have is that we’ll probably end up borrowing this $150 billion from th
Chinese. And when we get those rebate checks, most people are going to go out and buy stuff that’s been imported from China. I have to wonder whose economy is going to be stimulated the most by the package. And I’m grateful that something is being done.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mitt Romney:
Make sure that we rein in spending
We’re going to have to make sure that we rein in spending. It’s not just we all agree on the earmarks & the pork barrel spending & the “Bridge to Nowhere.” But the big one is entitlements & reining in entitlement costs, and that’s where the big dollars
are. What you’re seeing in a weakening dollar, in a declining stock market, in foreign countries coming here to buy into our banks, you’re seeing the foundation of our economy being shaken by that we haven’t been doing the job that needs to be done.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mitt Romney:
Support some kind of national catastrophic fund
I do support some kind of national catastrophic effort to make sure that people can get homeowner’s insurance that protects them against flood or hurricane or tornado or whatever natural disaster might occur, or man-made disaster in some cases. People wh
live along the coastline across the Atlantic have the same problem. Getting homeowner’s insurance is oftentimes almost impossible. So what we’re going to have to do, as you just indicated, we’re going to have to work together to create a program that get
people in high-risk areas insured. Now, I’m not in favor of saying that the people in Iowa should have to subsidize the people in Massachusetts or Florida--that doesn’t make a lot of sense--but to have those states that are in high-risk areas come
together and say, “How do we organize an effort on a national basis that actuarially deals with the differences between different states and the different risks they face and make sure that we have a backstop behind the private insurance industry?”
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Ron Paul:
Economic stimulus ok, but not via spending & printing money
Q: The president’s economic stimulus plan would send out 116 million checks to American homes. Should government have any role at all in stimulating the economy like this? A: Well, sure, indirectly. They shouldn’t stimulate it by interfering in the
market rate of interest. That’s where our basic problem comes from. And when you do that, you get into these problems, and then everybody wants to solve the problem by printing more money and spending more money and asking the
Federal Reserve to, you know, lower interest rates. And that just makes the problem that much worse. The government does have a responsibility: to lower taxes, get rid of regulations, and devise a monetary policy that makes some sense.
But to continue to say that we just appropriate more money, which is more deficit, and then expect us either to borrow it or expect the Federal Reserve to monetize it, it makes our problems worse.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Ron Paul:
Dollar crashing due to trillions spent on maintaining empire
Look at what’s happening today. The dollar is crashing. [Our debate moderator] suggests that we think of the economy, but not in foreign policy. You can’t do that. They’re one and the same. That’s where all the money’s going. We’re spending nearly a
trillion dollars a year overseas maintaining this empire. And then there’s never been a war fought without inflation and destruction and devaluation of a currency. And this is what we’re doing today to ourselves, is we’re literally spending
ourselves into oblivion.
But nobody here is willing to even suggest that we cut something overseas. But we have to. We don’t need to cut anything here at home. I’d like to see things frozen. I’d like to see massive tax cuts. But we need deregulation.
So this is the kind of thing we need. We need the government out of the way, but it should have sound money, low taxes, less regulations, and a sensible policy where we’re not wasting our money overseas.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Ron Paul:
Waving a flag the whole time on spending
I was waving a flag the whole time saying, slow up, slow up; this isn’t going well. And here we are. We’re at the verge of bankruptcy. We’re moving into a new era, believe it or not. With the dollar and our economy and the world economy, this is
a new era.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Rudy Giuliani:
Get economy back on track based on growth principles
When I became mayor, the economy of New York was in very bad shape--tremendous deficits, ten-and-a-half percent unemployment, 300,000 jobs gone. We turned that around, cut unemployment by more than half, brought in 450,000 new jobs, and we cut
taxes by 17 percent. We did it based on growth principles, exactly the principles that are in the growth package that was introduced in Congress yesterday, which the Club for Growth said is the best stimulus for growth they’ve seen in a very long time.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2018