NBC Tampa Debate

[ClydeR]

The debate starts tonight at 9:00 eastern on NBC. NBC was late in publishing its broadcast schedule for the debate, apparently waiting for Romney to decide if he would participate. Now that Romney has confirmed, the debate will reportedly air on both NBC and MSNBC.

[ClydeR]

I was just about to fall asleep until Romney said he would solve the problem of illegal immigration with "self-deportation."

It's all part of Romney's amazing pivot on immigration. In the past, he always said he would veto the DREAM act. Now he says he would like to amend it so it applies only to military service. In the past he said he would deport illegal aliens who have been here a long time. Now he says he would let them "self-deport."

The flip flop was already emerging before the South Carolina primary.


Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- In Florida, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is airing campaign commercials in Spanish telling Hispanics he’s “one of us.” In South Carolina, he is touting the endorsement of Kris Kobach, an anti-immigration activist who helped spearhead state laws that have sparked anger among Latinos.

More... (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-20/romney-s-straddle-aims-to-hold-base-as-he-courts-hispanics.html)

Since he went to Florida, he's also flip flopped on foreclosure. Previously, he said government should not do anything to help homeowners being foreclosed on. Now he says "of course" government should help them. Why, I wonder? Could it be because Florida has a larger number of foreclosures than any of the primary states so far?

Overall, I thought the debate was boring. The attacks on Gingrich were too complicated. You need something that the average person can understand.

The local reporters asked better questions than Brian Williams, who did not have any original questions, except for the one about Castro, who the candidates said they hope dies and goes to hell.

It was a tie between Santorum and Paul.

[Hulkein]

The self-deportation was odd. I mean I guess I understand his logic which is that if you make sure they cannot get jobs if they are illegal, they will leave for home then "get in line" to try to come here legally, but does he really think he can craft a perfect system that allows only legals to work in the US? His phoniness is starting to grate on my nerves.