E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSDES MOINES, IA -- After the first few questions at tonight's GOP debate, House Speaker Newt Gingrich looked a bit like a kung-fu hero facing multiple opponents.
Mitt Romney jabbed that Gingrich was a career politician. Ron Paul whacked Gingrich for the money he made advising Freddie Mac. And Rick Perry noted that Gingrich (as well as Romney) supported an individual health-care mandate.
Enter the Dragon -- Gingrich-style.
But a funny thing happened as the other GOP candidates tried to pile on Gingrich and as he tried to fight back: Romney became the focus of attention, and not necessarily in a good way.
First, Gingrich was able to turn the table on Romney's career-politician hit by delivering this line of the night: "The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994." Direct hit.
Then, when Perry accused Romney of writing in his book that he wanted Massachusetts' health-care mandate to be a model for the country, Romney said he was wrong. "Ten-thousand-dollar bet?"
Perry didn't take the bet, and the Romney campaign says the reason he didn't is because independent fact-checkers -- like the Washington Post -- say that Perry is wrong.
But it was the size of the bet Romney offered -- not the substance of the argument -- that triggered post-debate attacks from Romney's GOP rivals.
"Ten-thousand dollars is three or four months salary" for many Iowans, Bachmann Communications Director Alice Stewart told reporters after the debate.
A Democratic Party strategist piled on. "Mitt Romney is going to rue the day he offered a $10,000 bet in this debate. Talk about a window in to his out-of-touch soul." The strategist added, "You just can’t be more out of touch than Mitt Romney –- and you can’t have a less understanding of what it’s like to be middle class."
To be sure, tough questions about Gingrich's record (about his past divorces, about his views on illegal immigration, and his views on the Middle East) dominated the middle portion of the debate.
But if the debate produced memorable moments, it was the Ted Kennedy line and the $10,000 bet.
And, suddenly, it's Mitt Romney -- and not Newt Gingrich -- in the hot seat.
Leave a Comment:
Human Rights: Food, Clothing, Shelter, Education, Health Care and Work. Why do we need to go to prison in this country to get them?
You can get all of the above by going to work...ever hear that word? W-O-R-K... If you want the government to support you, you are unfit for life. The Governments job is to protect our borders, defend the constitution and secure liberty. Your job is to live. You live by offering a service to others, taking your orders from your boss, doing a good job, pay your bills, obey all laws and save about 10% of your money in the bank. Your government should not have to fork over money to feed you or shelter you. No one owes you anything. As soon as you stopped hanging upside down in your mothers womb, you were using your own resources. Mommy stopped, hopefully, when you were 18. So stop wanting that free hand out, and get up every day with a real job on your mind. This world is not Heaven, its planet EArth...the place that made T-Rex, Adolf Hitler and Small Pox...your on your own.
Richard, shut up.
These guys are out of touch, period! Why does the media give them so much attention?
Yet another debate showing how out of touch the pols are with America...the Dems as well as the Repubs...we can do better than this! These two parties have locked out middle America from the debate on real issues confronting the country...and the press, including the jokesters running this blog, are part of it. They'd rather laud a poke in the eye than a debate on substantive issues. George Washington is the only president who didn't join a political party because as he said "they would put the interests of the party over the interests of the American people." I think he was a pretty insightful guy. If you're as concerned as I am about solving America's problems check out www.AmericansELECT.com. It's a proactive, constructive approach by millions of Americans to take back our country from the failure of this two party system.
If Romney can so cavalierly bet $10,000 on a fact check, it pretty clearly indicates he does not know the value of that money to someone who doesn't have it to live on much less have it to fritter it away. It lines up well with his position that nothing should be done to control the foreclosure crisis hitting many working and middle class citizens and that banks be allowed to foreclose and investors be allowed to turn family homes into rentals. What does everyone think middle class means to this man?
Perhaps $1,000,000.00 per year?
Anita what has the sitting president done for the middle class while catering to the goldman sachs crowd?
Lets see SSmike the idiot: How about all those middle class workers at GM that still have jobs. How about the fact that your insurance company can no longer cancel your coverage with some bogus claim of pre-existing condition (despite the lies about President Obama trying to kill my grandma). I could go on ssmike, but i figure the highest you can counts is two.
You people don't get it Romney did not bet anything. He called the riddler out on the fact that he did not know what he was talking about. It's not a bet or gambling if you know you are going to win.
Anita - frankly I have no problem with his childish bet - what I do have a problem with is saying he was a Missionary - let's flesh that out - during the Viet Nam War in order to evade the draft his Church sent him to France as a so-called missionary Now last I looked at that time I would say France was about 90% Catholic, so he holed up in Paris
If you want to be a missionary why not the jungles of say Uganda or some other African country
A missionary to France - give me a break - oh the good news - he can speak a little bit of French
Michael 528 are you as stoooopid as your statements would indicate?The gm workers still have a job because of our tax dollars. not obamas brilliance. My health insurance now costs me 1500 per month cause im subsidizing yours!
fraid not ssmike. You see i have good health care coverage probably better than most. It's actually better than the coverage the management on my jobs has. That's is what collective bargaining does for Union workers. You know the Union workers that the Gaseous Old Pfarts want to destroy? So trust me son you aint paying nothing for me. I probably pay more to the IRS than you make. Matter of fact the way you talk you probably did not finish H.S. How many Happy Meals do you get a week as part of your compensation.
Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann seem to be the only ones who have a clue or a concern about normal everyday working people. I think Perry tries to have a clue, but since he's clueless its hard for him. Gingrich and Romney are just rich people out there trying to make thier country club buddies even more rich over the backs of the rest of us!
Santorum/Bachman, or maybe Bachman/Santorum
Believer - I'll buy that they can both "Pray Away the Gays"
They're all out of touch with the American working class!
There is one question which none of the debates have yet to ask? The question is this? What about the "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? After all is that not the very thing that got the United States into the mess it is now in? Sure there are other factors, such as Corporate Greed, among others, but the big elephant in the room should be the question about WMD's? The next question should be and who was the President when all that was happening? Well I may not know much, but I do know this, IT WAS NOT OBAMA. Why is the GOP so eager to have America forget about WMD's? Maybe if we got an answer to this question, we may be able to ascertain who among the fools is most Presidential?
Isnt Obama selling weapons of mass destruction to iraq as we speak? please dont try to convince me that an f 16 is not capable of mass destruction. you liberals really are out of touch with reality.
And you know what Meridous99 the Gaseous Old Pharts party will rely on that line they always use. "That was the past" As if that forgives all their wrong doing.
ssmike again you are showing your extreme moronic idiocy. To answer your question - No! A fighter jet is not a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
Jeeeeeeesh! Somebody take his keyboard please.
ssmike - Sorry you've got Obama confused with Reagan - maybe you're too young to remember the Iran-Contra fiasco - if so look it up
Michael 528 wrong again? You cannot defend the indefensible.
All of the runners are full of it, they will tell the americans what we want to hear(like Obama) and then shove it to all of us after they are in and collect their salery for life after they are out and security, and choose the medical they want, and can afford, but the real loosers are the soldiers thats died and the famalies, and the ones that came back to a country that refuses to give them the help they need,but yet it was ok for them to go and put their life on the line at a fight that should have ended days after 911,to tell the americans that if?when Obama made the statenment, ssi,american troops will not get paid? who do you think is there for the american people, for sure no body from texas? and probally none that are in the running,what this country needs is someone like the sheriff in az,fighting all the illigals,,,,.and the governor that started the process of the illigals .
$10,000 is a very very small percentage of Romney's estimated $200 million net worth. What does a struggling person spend yearly on lottery tickets? Compare those percentages and I'll bet Romney's percentage is much smaller. Also, don't overlook the fact that there was no risk of losing the bet. Romney knew it and Perry knew it. It wasn't like betting on the lottery. Romney showed that Perry was saying something that was not true. He was confident. Most people want their leaders to be successful, smart and confident. If not, vote for someone else.
Romney's campaign has always been based around his inevitability. "Hey, you might not like Mitt, but we don't care. He's going to be the winner, so you might as well fall in line now." For the first time this cycle, that narrative is being challenged, and Romney's not responding well. He just can't play the lovable underdog because he's utterly unlovable, and those kinds of uncle moneybags comments just further illustrate how phony all of his middle class posturing is.
The sad, scary thing is that this could possibly lead to a President Gingrich.
And even worse, Obama responds by throwing ideals under the bus in favor of pure political expediency. Talk about your lose-lose-lose scenarios.
This is stupid. Talk about much ado about nothing. Good thing he didn't say a gazillion dollars. First of all, it was obviously not a genuine offer for a bet. Second of all, how many people are so out of it, even in Iowa, that they don't realize that Romney could make a ten K bet if he cared to. The guy's worth 250 million. Just a dumb thing to be clamoring about.
I'm not a Romney apologist. I actually don't care for him. I despise Gingrich and believve he is a strong contender for the most corrupt politician alive. The only man up there I respect is Ron Paul. But trying to make this a big deal is ludicrous.
Well let's see? $10,000.00 on a stupid bet. And we know politicians are all professional liars so he would have either lost, or welshed.
Now is that the kind of out of touch moron you all would want to be throwing your money around?
I can hear it now. Some whack-job third world country tweaks the nose of the US president, and if it were PlastoMan he would stand there with that pasted on manure eating grin on his mug asking them, "You wanna bet?"
Sigh..............
Rue? Really? Would it have been too bland to say Romney offered a bet he may regret? Who actually uses "rue" in a sentence?
Is this the best the Republicans have to offer? First, we found out that Christine O'Donnell was a witch, now they want to give us Eye of Newt for President. If we elect a Republican, you can get that we are going to Rue.
We already know what we will rue, even more than we do now, that we didn't elect one in 2008!
Then again, I think people are more accepting of a serial remarrier hypocrite than a guy who can mouth off about ten thousand dollar bets. Considering Newt has blood money from the Evil Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac in his bank account...in the tune of /millions/ rather than Mitt's self-earned money.
Politics is all about spinning the hypocrisy of human beings.
I wonder if Newt got those taxpayer funded fat bonuses we were all pissed about from Freddie.
Mormons are forbidden from gambling or encouraging others to gamble. Did Mitt Romney go against the tenets of his own faith for political reasons? Is he flip flopping on his own religious convictions? Whether Rick Perry accepted the bet or not, I think Mitt Romney just committed an act of infidelity to his Mormon principles.
Between Romney with his "$10,000 bet" and Gingrich with his "$500.000" Tiffany's bill, you can clearly see that the GOP fat cats ARE NOT men of the people.
Who do you honestly think they will govern on behalf of ? HINT: Corporations and the wealthy !!!
Gingrich has his game face on, so he is smiling more these days, but look at his voting record,...and his infidelity to his wife. This IS NOT Mr Family Values.
It would be embarassing to even talk about Perry.
The GOP field is in shambles. These guys are UNELECTABLE !!
Why are we concerned about Mitt spending $10,000 on a bet? Obviousy he felt he could win whether he was low, middle or upper class American. Never bet if you believe you might lose. Just make the other guy feel like he may have a chance to win.
I cannot wait untill someone asks president obama how many states their are? Or how he plans on paying for the health care debacle that wasnt going to cost the taxpayer one thin dime! Oh thats right! The press would not dare vett or make a mockery of their own creation! From community organizer to president without ever holding a job. Unbelievable!
Since when is being an attorney or a community organizer not having a job? Do they work for free?
Also, would love anyone in the GOP to explain how we will all continue to pay for the HealthCare of those that refuse to buy it themselves? Isn't this against their morals....to ask for a free hand-out?
Lolabee
Obama never praticed as an attorney, both he and Michelle have surrendered their licenses and NO a Community Oraganizer is not a job! The function of a Community Oraganizer is to get as much taxpayer money as possible for those who refuse to accept personal responsibility for their and their familys life!
Lolabe is health insurance reform going to cost the taxpayer or isnt it? Did the president make a gaff alluding to the fact that their are more than fifty states or did he not? And other than through redistribution of others income has he ever created a job? Nice try though!
lolabee: Perhaps YOU can explain how making health care mandatory will magically make it affordable for someone of very limited income, who will be forced to choose between feeding their family or buying health insurance? And, how is adding MORE patients to the system going to reduce costs to the general public? As more patients are added, more claims will be filed...and you can
bet(oops!) rest assured that the dollar amount of the claims will exceed the increased premiums collected.Car insurance is mandatory in most states (maybe all, I don't know for sure...I've only lived in a few), but that doesn't affect everyone. If you don't own a car, you don't have to have it.
To All of the Above: Here's what I know about Health Care... I have a job. I have healthcare. I pay for for healthcare. I'm not asking for a hand-out. Nobody needs to "mandate me", per se. Yet, for all the people who don't have healthcare, who still go to the ER, who still bo to the doctor's...my premiums are sky-high. By not mandating healthcare, the people who are actually insured end up paying for it all! Now, the "solution" for the GOP would be for those people not to get sick, or not to go to the doctors, or to be denied healthcare, or to be put in debt...but that doesn't seem too logical, let alone humane, does it?
PS - Mitt Romney was my Governor for 4 yrs. I actually voted for him. (He was an "Independent" back then.) He mandated Health Care in our state. It's not perfect, but it's putting healthcare in the right direction.
Something new and dirty is going to come out against Newt soon.
No need there is plenty of current and old dirty that can be used against dough boy
Romney is such a phoney but the real romney came out with that bet. He is your typical silverspoon in the mouth rich A-hole who thinks his money will get him anything he wants. I hope the american people can see through this unsinsere blow hart. Ron paul sounds better all the time. He has some good ideas and is not all about the money.
Ron Paul has the chances of a one legged man in an arse kicking contest. LOL
I can't comprehend how ANY person making middle-class wages would vote for Mitt. Bet $10,000? What a stupid, naive comment to make. Still, he doesn't have a clue.
Lalabe It doesnt appear that you comprehend much of anything! Unless of course it has a D next to it! Then you get in lockstep and vote, cause news vine said so!
SSMIke....I bet you $10,000 you're wrong. I actually voted for Mitt when he ran for Governor.
Yes and now ma has the highest healthcare costs in the land.
Amongst this bitch slapping buffoonery that is the Republican lineup, there is not one real man present. I don't think a cat fight could get anymore silly than these morons debating one another and constantly coming out with one super gaffe after another. One can only surmise that each of these loonies are actually certifiably insane. One thing that remains clear and constant is the fact that not one has the intelligence, courage, honesty, or discipline to be anyone's commander in chief, just a weaker version of that masked terrorist George Bush. Not to mention, that total fruitcake Trump, waiting in the wings to give his endorsement to someone that even these clowns do not want. Its like a comedy show that is getting bad ratings and needs to be pulled off the air due to a lack of interest or humor.
Ten thousand dollars is almost a year's pay for me; but I often offer wager even more when I know I'm right. Much ado about nothing... again.
So if you lose the bet, how do you pay up?
You sound like a REAL smart one... Must be a Republican. You probably think that giving more money to the richest guy in town will somehow help you pay your bills. LOL
@lolabee,
I don't do it if I might have to pay up, like if someone says, "I'll bet you've got at least one credit card in your wallet." There's no way I can lose a bet like that; so I'll never have to pay up. No problem betting $10k, in that case.
Actually, Randy, I'm a socialist; but I'm also a realist. I don't really care how much money "the richest guy in town" has, as long as everyone else has meaningful employment, food, clothing, and a roof over their heads. I am more disgusted by grown men who make tens of millions of dollars playing children's games, and by the people who religiously watch their games on TV and buy the products that they see advertised their. More than that, though, I'm terrified by voters who keep electing representatives who promise to give them more and more, and to tax them less and less; though I suppose I shouldn't be, as that will almost certainly guarantee that we will soon have a socialist government, by default.
P.S.
There seems to be a common misconception among the undereducated that the wealth of the nation's richest citizens is cash sitting in banks that can be taken and spent. Even if we take it all away, all we will be left with is a handful of cash and a factory full of tools that we don't know how to use efficiently.
Well said Ian-424438! Will that 10K bet come from his wallet, campaign funds or the tax payers?
A $10,000 amount doens't mean he is not in tune with the middle class...Personally if I was that sure, I would have raised the limit myself and cashed in on Perry's stupidity. And going up against, Teddy Kennedy...I'm sorry but that doesn't say much to me for Gingrich. Most Americans know anyone going up against the Kennedy's at the time would have lost, so to me that comment makes me wonder if Gingrich doesn't think we Americans aren't stupid.
The response was to Mitts refferring to a "career Politician" all Newt was saying is that Mitt would have been a career politician if he had beaten Kennedy, egro pot calling kettle black!
Gingrich being the front runner proves that there ARE A LOT OF STUPID AMERICANS....