Live Q&As

Ha, funny comment. That comment by Gingrich puzzled me. I still can't figure out why he thinks the comparison makes much sense. 

You know, I think even Obama has called it Obamacare. I thought it was funny that Romney last night referred to "Romneycare." 

You are right that the Affordable Care Act would be more accurate, though to be sure many of the names of laws based by Congress are thinly disguised advertising slogans. My preference is to simply say "the new health care law." But Obamacare, which started as a perjorative, has now become a figure of speech. 

Gingrich said "eight years." The Corps actually said it would normally take "five to eight years" but that they would speed it up. So that's an important clarification.

Re the health bill, why do you say "no one read it"? Someone obviously had to write it! In any case, no legislator really reads every word of every bill. They rely on people with expertise, in this case the committees who craft the language. The committees charged with health care laws made the initial drafts, then differences were haggled out, etc. The lawmakers who do not have health care expertise generally would rely on summaries, briefings, conversations with other lawmakers and lobbying groups, etc., to determine how they will vote.  On particular issues (such as abortion), they might look very carefully at the language of the provision.

But seriously, many big bills run hundreds of pages, with highly technical language, and no one  should expect that any one but the lawmakers charged with crafting the bill will read every single word. Otherwise, they would have no time to work on the bills where they bring a particular expertise. 

Good question. Perhaps the moderators dont want to get an argument with the candidates--or perhaps they don't feel confident enough to challenge them. 

ha, hadn't thought of that. Gingrich has sometimes been tough on the Fox moderators (who, by the way, have been excellent and quite sharp.) These days, I don't think the media is feeling very "elite" anymore. 

I had not noticed much of a connection. There are certain issues that trigger cheers from either conservative or liberal audiences.

They have admitted that. Romney and Gingrich, in one of the debates, spoke about the fact that this concept was first promoted by the Heritage Foundation. (In fact, if you look at a video of Romney signing his bill, the head of Heritage actually speaks at the event.)

Here's a link to the Romney-Gingrich exchange at the earlier debate.

This morning he said the tax returns will be released on April 15.  He assume he will have the nomination wrapped up by then--and that it will get the issue out of the way long before the general election.

Re his jobs claims, I am not sure why he ever started being so specific. If he had stuck with "tens of thousands" it probably would not have become an issue. 

Yep, it's politics. Let's not forget the other side also has trouble with the facts. Obama's first ad had serious problems. 

hmm, don't know. good question.

Here's a link to a video of him embracing the term. He said he had no problem with the phrase if it meant that "Obama cares."

You know, he didn't do too well as a presidential candidate. As Rick Perry found out, it takes a real talent to succeed on the national political stage.

I have not seen any studies on that. Cheering might suggest to people watching at home that the person made a good point.

I am hoping we make a difference! No one expects perfection from candidates, but I hope that voters will look at fact-based speeches and a commitment to accuracy as a character trait that should be considered, along with other factors. 

That's correct, and Romney has made the point repeatedly. However, the Heritage plan was originally offered as an alternative to Hillary Clinton's national plan (and Gingrich embraced as such). 

It is interesting. I was reading a c-span interview with Romney from 2006, and he explained that he was known as "Billy" until age 5, when he got upset at the lyrics of a song . So his mother suggested he use his middle name, and it's been that way ever since. 

The interview was conducted by Brian Lamb, who (shameless plug!) interviewed me for the same program last week. 

This is from the Romney interview:

BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Willard Mitt Romney, where did you get those first two names?

GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: A little unusual. Willard was after J. Willard Marriott, the founder of the Marriott Hotel chain. He was my dad’s very close friend. They were both boys in Utah, moved back here to Washington, D.C., so I was named Willard after J. Willard Marriott.

Mitt is my given middle name, and that’s after a man named Mitt Romney who in the 1920s was a professional football player for the Chicago Bears, quarterback, and the greatest athlete the Romney family has ever known. So I’m really named after two great heroes, one an industrialist and the other a great athlete.

LAMB: Why did you pick Mitt over Willard?

ROMNEY: Well, I actually used the name Billy when I was in kindergarten. And there was a song when I was a boy called ”Oh Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Oh Where Have You Been, Charming Billy?” And it talked about kissing and your mother and so forth. And I decided that was a terrible song. And I came home and said, I can’t live with that name any longer.

And I talked with my mom about what name I could use. She said, well, you could use your middle name. And so sometime in kindergarten I switched to Mitt and I have been on the Mitt name ever since.

Walloon is pretty close to French but point taken! Since my family is Dutch, I have no excuse for forgetting the Flemish....

Yep, that's my point. People are not superhuman. And my feeling is that if a lawmaker is really reading every word of every bill, then they have no time to do something useful, such as become an expert in a field and craft their own legislation.