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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including