I'm still for the Democrats

NY1: Politics
but in the interests of equal time:
Presidential Hopefuls Clash Over 9/11 Comment During Heated GOP Debate
May 16, 2007

The gloves came off when ten Republican presidential candidates squared off in their second debate Tuesday night in Columbia, South Carolina.

Ten contenders squared off at the University of South Carolina, including four-term Arizona Senator John McCain; former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; former Governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin and Jim Gilmore of Virginia; and Representatives Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Duncan Hunter of California, and Ron Paul of Texas.

One tense moment came when early front-runner Rudolph Giuliani called for Congressman Paul to retract his remark that U.S. actions in Iraq led to the September 11th terrorist attacks.

"They attack us because we've been over there,” said Paul. “We've been bombing Iraq for ten years."

"That's an extraordinary statement from someone who lived through the attack of September 11th – that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th," said Giuliani in what drew some of the loudest applause of the evening. "I would ask that the congressman withdraw the comment."

Giuliani was also grilled on his abortion stance.

"I ultimately do believe in a woman's right of choice, but I think there are ways we can look for ways to reduce abortions," Giuliani said in the second debate of the campaign.

While fielding pointed questions, the former New York City mayor went after Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton, saying her policies are the bigger issues the candidates should focus on.

"[Clinton] also said, with regard to taxes, that we have to take money from you in order to give it to the common good," said Giuliani. "Now there is such a stark difference there – whether we go in that direction, the direction of removing private choice or of putting government in charge of so many different things – that I think those are the things that we should be debating and Republicans should be uniting to make certain that what the liberal media is talking about, our inevitable defeat, doesn’t happen."

-Yeah, RIGHT, like Cheney and Bush haven't taken plenty of money from us to fund their oil war.

During the 90-minute debate the candidates argued over topics including gun control, immigration, and foreign policy. Overall, the tone was much more heated than that of the first debate, which took place earlier this month in California.

There was very little debate on issues like tax cuts, as Giuliani called for "Reagan-like budget cuts across the board," and others, like former Governor Thompson, recounted the ways they had held down spending while in office.