Simi Valley, CA – Romney, Perry Spar Over Jobs, Social Security

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    Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, looks over to Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry as he answers a question during a Republican presidential candidate debate at the Reagan Library Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011, in Simi Valley, Calif.  (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)Simi Valley, CA – Quick to tangle, Republican presidential rivals Rick Perry and Mitt Romney sparred vigorously over job creation and Social Security Wednesday night in a feisty campaign debate that marked a contentious new turn in the race to pick a 2012 challenger to President Barack Obama.

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    Far more than in earlier GOP debates this summer, the candidates mixed it up in their first faceoff since Perry entered the race and almost instantly overtook Romney as front-runner in opinion polls. Those two — as well as other contenders on stage — sniped at one another, contradicted allegations and interrupted media questioners to demand opportunities to take each other on.

    “Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt,” Perry jabbed in the debate’s opening moments, referring to one of Romney’s Democratic predecessors as governor of Massachusetts.

    “As a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessors created jobs at a faster rate than you did,” Romney shot back at Perry, the 10-year incumbent Texas governor.

    The debate was the first of three in as many weeks, at a time when the economy is struggling, unemployment is seemingly stuck at 9.1 percent and Obama’s popularity is sinking in the polls — all events that could make the GOP nomination worth more than it appeared only a few months ago.

    Perry and Romney stood next to each other on the debate stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, a setting that invoked the memory of the conservative Republican who swept to two terms as president. And for much of the evening, the two men were at the center of the action, largely reducing their rivals to the roles of spectators looking for a way into the action.

    Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman sided with Perry when he turned to Romney and said, “47th just isn’t going to cut it, my friend,” a reference to the rank Massachusetts had among the 50 states in creating jobs during Romney’s term.

    But he also sought to rebut Perry’s claim to be chief executive of the country’s top job-producing state.

    “I hate to rain on the parade of the great Lone Star State governor, but as governor of Utah, we were the No. 1 job creator during my years in service,” Huntsman said.

    Businessman Herman Cain, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania shared the stage for the debate hosted by MSNBC and Politico.

    Not surprisingly, the GOP contenders had little good to say about Obama, either his record on creating jobs or the health care law they have vowed to repeal if they win the White House. Perry was an exception, volunteering his praise for the presidential order that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. military raid in Pakistan. He also said he was happy the U.S. prison at Guantanamo has been kept open.

    On another foreign policy issue, Bachmann criticized Obama’s decision to join an international military campaign in Libya.

    Bachman also said she would provide the “strong, bold leader in the presidency who will lead” the effort to repeal the health care law passed at Obama’s behest. “None of us should ever think that the repeal bill will just come to our desk,” she said in a pledge that drew applause from the audience.

    Gingrich resisted an effort to draw him into conflict with other Republicans on stage. “I’m frankly not interested in your efforts to get Republicans fighting each other,” he said, sparking an even louder round of applause. He said all Republicans should “defeat efforts by the news media” to spark an internal struggle when the real objective is to defeat Obama in 2012.

    But moments later, Cain said that after trying to defeat Democratic efforts to create national health care, “I’m running against Romneycare,” the legislation that passed requiring residents of Massachusetts to purchase coverage.

    Social Security produced more sparks, when Perry said the program was a “Ponzi scheme” and added it was a lie to tell young workers they will ever receive the benefits they have been promised.

    Romney quickly referred to Perry’s book, “Fed Up,” in which the Texas governor said that by any measure the program was a failure. Perry also said states should be able to opt out of the program,’ Romney added.

    Perry was unrepentant — “You cannot keep the status quo in place and call it anything other than a Ponzi scheme,” he said.

    The Texas governor also made it clear he doesn’t intend to take advice from Karl Rove, the former Bush political adviser who recently said some of Perry’s rhetoric has been too provocative for a general election.

    “Karl has been over the top for a long time now,” he said.

    Backstage, Romney and Perry exchanged small talk, but when they were introduced on stage, they stood stiffly side by side.

    Romney, slightly taller and just an arm’s length away for the debate, frequently turned his body toward Perry when the Texas governor spoke, watching him intently.

    When Romney talked about rebuilding the Massachusetts economy, Perry looked toward the audience with a broadly arched eyebrow.

    Despite their clashes, Romney defended Perry from criticism from other contenders who said he had infringed on parents’ rights when he tried to require young girls to be vaccinated for sexually transmitted diseases and some cancers. Romney said he had disagreed with Perry’s methods but that the Texas governor’s heart was in the right place — then sought to move the conversation away from social issues and back to job creation.

    The event was Perry’s first opportunity to share a debate stage with his rivals since he joined the race last month and shot to the top of the public opinion polls. He displaced Romney as front-runner and stepped on the momentum that Bachmann had generated with her victory in a straw poll at the Iowa State Fair earlier in the summer.

    A governor for more than a decade, he seemed at ease on stage in his campaign debut and moved quickly to assert his claim to having the best record of all on stage in creating jobs.

    “We created 1 million jobs in the state of Texas at the same time the United States lost 2 million,” he said, adding that the issue for the nation this election season is “who on this stage can get America working. Because we know for a fact that the resident of the White House cannot.”

    Romney threw the first jab of the evening, saying that being a career politician is a “fine profession” but not the same as having worked in the business world, as he did.

    That was a reference to Perry, who moved quickly to counter.

    He said Romney had indeed done well creating jobs in the business world, but “when he moved that experience to government, he had one of the lowest job creation rates in the country. … As a matter of fact, we created more jobs in the last three months in Texas than he created in four years in Massachusetts.”

    Romney didn’t exactly challenge that claim, but instead said Texas has no income tax, has a right-to-work law that makes it hard for unions to organize, plentiful oil and gas reserves and a Republican legislature. Massachusetts has none of those things, and he said he had turned the state’s economy around.


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    22 Comments
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    cool-3931
    cool-3931
    12 years ago

    I think both Perry and Romney should stop squabling and unite as one ticket, Perry Romney 2012, and I think the game is over for Obama.

    12 years ago

    I give Perry a tumbs up…i loved his performance   the debate,while Rommny tries to be polished as a nice guy,Perry is a tough 1 and is not affraid of saying what he thinks is right,thats the 1 and ONLY reason the libirals are so affraid of him,and thats y the media is pounding him.he would trash down Obama if he is the republican nominyee.i bet you the Obamas are pretty scared of facing him as the challange!

    cynic
    cynic
    12 years ago

    I’m guessing that Ron Paul said, well, something or another at the debate. But it’s sure hard to tell from this article.
    Now isn’t that interesting

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    Ron Paul is No. 1!!!!

    NeoYekke
    NeoYekke
    12 years ago

    It’s like a poster said elsewhere on this site, welcome to the Idiocracy. Facts don’t count for anything anymore.

    This really is Kafkaesque. At this point, we might as well set an upper IQ limit of 90 for all presidential candidates and be done with it. Meanwhile, I’ll stock up on the ammo for the coming economic apocalypse.

    To poster #6 , he has never met a privatization program he did not like. Texans like to joke that if Perry could set up toll booths on everyone’s driveway, he would charge you for backing out of your own home (I have a cousin in Dallas). Just google rick perry privatization and you will have the info you request.

    NeoYekke
    NeoYekke
    12 years ago

    Well, since I spent 6 years studying economics, I trust you won’t mind if I point out that you are confusing monetary levers with fiscal levers. Yes, Roosevelt’s policies did not result in stellar results, but they were entirely fiscal in nature. The understanding of monetary economics did not come into play until Milton Friedman. Bernanke does not have the ability to use fiscal controls – only Congress can do that. The Fed however can use monetary controls, which he is using to the best of his ability. Ironically, the economy now requires use of the fiscal lever. We are in a monetary liquidity trap, and one need only look at Japan over the past 10 years to see how NOT to address the situation. Bernanke does not want to be doing what he is doing, but since Congress lacks the political will to address the current issues, he does not have much of a choice.

    For the record, the USA is NOT bankrupt. We are ranked 37th in debt to GDP, ahead of the UK (23), Israel (22), Germany (19), France (15), Canada (14), and Japan (1). Our debt is 63% of GDP (not great, to be sure), but compare to Canada at 84% or Japan at 197%!

    To paraphrase Peter Drucker, you cannot manage what you don’t measure.

    leahle
    leahle
    12 years ago

    I suspect most readers of this site don’t understand much about christian theology. Both Perry and Bachman are affiliated with the Dominion Theology movement. Dominionists make Neturei Karta seem mainstream. Some of the core beliefs of Dominionism are that the U.S. was founded as a christian nation, their version of christianity is superior to all other versions and all other religions. Most disturbingly, they also believe the US should be a christian theocracy. It is their god’s will that all areas of the government and society be run only by christians of their group. Some Dominionists believe that the First Amendment should only apply to christians and some that there should be mandatory executions for adulterers, women who have abortions, spreading false religions and witchcraft. Look up the sponsors of Perry’s recent rally and read some of their materials. I don’t understand how any Jew could even consider voting for a candidate associated with these extreme beliefs.

    Raphael_Kaufman
    Raphael_Kaufman
    12 years ago

    Neo, Perry is well into his second term as Governor of Texas and has a Republican state legislature to work with.. During his tenure, Texas’ economy and employment has been significantly stronger than the national average. If his economic policies are so bizzarre and damaging, why isn’t Texas an economic basket case like California which, by the way has a Democratic Governor and an overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature?

    SherryTheNoahide
    SherryTheNoahide
    12 years ago

    I watched the entire debate & couldn’t believe what a freak show it was! The only candidates who had 1\2 a brain up there were Mitt Romney (a proverbial flip-flopper that most conservatives don’t trust), and John Huntsmen, who actually *could* give Barack Obama a run for his money… but isn’t even being noticed!

    Rick Perry was a disaster as usual! That’s just what we need… another anti-science cowboy at the helm, showing the world how dumbed-down we all are over here! Good grief!

    And calling Social Security a “ponzi scheme”, when millions of elderly people couldn’t live without it, was a dumb move! He basically handed Romney the primary!

    And that’s just fine with me, because to have a Rick Perry as President would be I think *worse* than George W Bush presidency, and that’s saying a LOT.

    And how many of you on here love their idea to privatize Social Security as a way of “fixing” the problem?!

    We should play people’s safety net in the stock market?! The SAME market that crashed not long ago, due to corrupt policies & deregulation?! (More of which they want to call for?!)

    This is just crazy-talk! We tried these things for decades! Wall Street cannot be trusted!