The two leading US Republican presidential hopefuls, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry, accused each other in a Republican Party presidential debate of contradicting themselves on issues such as healthcare and Social Security retirement benefits.
Perry has overtaken Romney as the front-runner in the race. Seven other candidates also participated in the forum on Thursday night, but the Republican contest has largely turned into a two-person race with five months to go before the first nominating contests.
Perry insisted he had backed off “not one inch, sir” from what he had written in a campaign-season book published a few months ago.
Romney vouched for his own steadfastness moments later.
“There are a lot of reasons not to elect me,” he said. “There are a lot of reasons not to elect other people on this stage ... But one reason to elect me is I know what I stand for. I’ve written it down. Words have meaning.”
Five months remain until the first nominating contests, leaving little time for some of the candidates trying to break free of the pack. Their camps descended this week on Florida, a swing-state rich with elderly residents, who tend to vote in large numbers.
A poll released early on Thursday indicates Florida Republicans slightly prefer Perry, the front--runner, over Romney in their party’s battle to find a nominee to face US President Barack Obama next year.
Perry runs ahead in national opinion polls, with Romney a close second, and they compete daily for endorsements from members of the US Congress and other party luminaries in hopes of gaining a permanent edge in the race.
Romney accused Perry of having said that the federal government “shouldn’t be in the pension business, that it’s unconstitutional,” a reference to Social Security benefits.
Noting his rival’s denials, Romney mocked him.
“You better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that,” he said.
Perry soon returned the favor, saying Romney switched his position on healthcare between editions of a book he had published. In one edition, Perry said, Romney -advocated expanding to the rest of the country the healthcare program he signed in Massachusetts.
“Then in your paperback, you took that line out, so speaking of not getting it straight in your book, sir,” he said.
The Massachusetts legislation required residents of the state to purchase health coverage or pay a fine, a cornerstone of the law that Obama won from Congress last year that has inflamed conservative voters across the country.
The debate was the third in as many weeks for the Republican hopefuls and in its opening moments, quite a bit less combative than the other two. Obama was the target of the nine presidential -hopefuls on the debate stage, rather than each other.
The candidates sharply criticized Obama’s handling of the economy, calling for tax cuts, elimination of government regulations and other steps to help create jobs in a nation with 9.1 percent unemployment.
The two-hour event was sponsored by Fox News and Google, in keeping with an emerging trend in which mainstream media organizations partner with Internet companies.
Also on stage were former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, US Reprentative Ron Paul, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, businessman Herman Cain and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of