Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over, the republican presidential candidates are back preparing for the upcoming January caucus in Iowa.
And in spite of the verbal volleys being thrown at each other, the republicans do seem to have one agreement: their opposition towards Hillary Clinton.
Rudy Giuliani and John McCain condemned Clinton’s expenditures, particularly her $1-million allocation for a Woodstock museum, which honors the famous 1969 music festival.
“I wasn’t there. I’m sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time,” said McCain, simultaneously referencing the drug use during that four-day occasion and his captivity as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Giuliani, who quoted Clinton’s message about America not being able to afford all of her millions of ideas, responded by having said, “No kidding Hillary - America can’t afford you.”
The ex-N.Y. mayor also criticized Mitt Romney’s appointing of a judge who released a convict without bail, and last week, that convict was arrested on murder charges.
Although Romney reportedly asked the judge to resign, according to New York’s Daily News, he responded to Giuliani by saying that the verbal attack was “strange” and “ironic,” referring to Giuliani’s mishap with Bernard Kerik, the former N.Y. police commissioner who recently faced charges of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice.
In regards to the relationship between the democrats and the republicans, an expression of respect was shown by the opposing party when Barack Obama (D) admitted to high school students that he did drugs when he was a teenager.
Giuliani, in response, said through the Associated Press, “I respect his honesty. We’re all human beings. If we haven’t made mistakes, don’t vote for us.”
Fred Thompson, however, did make a jab, expressing the extremity of the democratic candidates.
“It’s like they’re all in training for NASCAR, you know, nothing left but a left turn, all the way around.”
According to Fox.com, Rudy Giuliani, the frontrunner of the republican race, was criticized by former U.S. senator of Tennessee and “Law and Order” actor Fred Thompson, who said that Giuliani is not republican-like by supporting abortion rights and granting illegal immigrants certain rights.
“I took the crime capital of America, and I turned it into the safest large city in the country,” said Giuliani in response to Thompson’s remark.
He then added his own verbal attack on Thompson by saying, “The senator has never had executive responsibility. He’s never had the weight of people’s safety and security on his shoulders.”
Third among the republicans is Sen. John McCain from Arizona, who did not hesitate to mention his past achievements while at the same time, belittling the political experiences of his opponents.
“I am prepared. I need no on-the-job-training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time. For 20-some years, including leading the largest squadron in the United States Navy, I led. I didn’t manage for profit. I led for patriotism.”
McCain also said to Romney, “Governor Romney, you’ve been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don’t want you to start fooling them about mine.”
The former Massachusetts governor has received criticism for his expensive healthcare plan. Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from Calif., used some humor to depict one of Romney’s mandates of fertility coverage.
“Well, what if you’re 90 years old? We may appreciate Governor Romney’s optimism, but you may not need fertility coverage.”
A neutral participant was Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist pastor, who is polling in at five percent, according to cnn.com.
“I’m not interested in fighting these guys. What I’m interested in is fighting for the American people, and I think that they’re looking for a presidential candidate who’s not so interested in a demolition derby against the other people in his own party.”
The two lowest-polling Republicans, Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, rating at two- and one-percent respectively, have not been gaining much attention in their campaigns.
