Get Involved!
2008 Elections
Civil Liberties: Republican Candidates
Posted on Thursday October 25, 2007
|
|
 |
Former Mayor Rudolf Giuliani
We can't close Guantanamo because nobody will take the people there.
I mean -- the president is attempting to move those people to other countries, and those countries are intelligent enough to say, "We don't want people as dangerous as this in our country." So what are you proposing? That we release them in New York or in Boston or in Los Angeles?
So there's a reality to this that the liberal media and some of the Democratic politicians seem to try to avoid.
September 5, 2007
Transcript, Republican Presidential Debate, Durham, NH
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Are you prepared to hold terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely if you feel that we can't convict them and they're too dangerous to set free?
Well, absolutely. And let me tell you that the proof of that is the fact that we have conducted these combatant review tribunals. And we've actually sent back to the battlefield or sent back to Afghanistan some of the people that we thought were no longer a threat.
Some of those people have shown up on the battlefield bearing arms against our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines, back on the battlefield after we sent them back.
If anything, we've been too liberal with the release of terrorists.
And let me tell you, you got guys like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who said that he planned the attack on 9/11. You got Osama bin Laden's bodyguards. Those guys get taxpayer-paid-for prayer rugs. They have prayer five times a day. They've all gained weight. The last time I looked at the menu, they had honey-glazed chicken and rice pilaf on Friday. That's how we treat the terrorists.
They've got health care that's better than most HMOs. And they got something else that no Democrat politician in America has: They live in a place called Guantanamo, where not one person has ever been murdered. And there's not one politician, one Democrat politician in America, that can say that about one of the prisons in his home district. We've got to keep Guantanamo open.
September 5, 2007
Transcript, Republican Presidential Debate, Durham, NH
Sen. John McCain
I have a very dear and beloved friend whose name is General Jack Vessey, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan. He served in four wars, and he's one of the great leaders I've ever known.
I called him, and I said, "General Vessey, do you think we ought to ever torture anybody?"
General Vessey said, "Any information that we may gain through the use of torture can never, ever be counterbalanced by the damage it does to America's reputation...and the risk that when an American is in the hands of an enemy that they will use the fact that we tortured people as an excuse to torture our brave men and women in the military."
…It was interesting during the debate on torture, retired military, from Colin Powell on down, and others, sided with me. Those who had no military experience took the other side.
September 5, 2007
Transcript, Republican Presidential Debate, Durham, NH
Rep. Ron Paul
In response to the question of where he stands on Guantanamo:
Shut it down. The current rationale at Guantanamo is based on the false premise that detainees are not entitled to due process protections. I support court decisions recognizing fundamental human rights, such as habeas corpus. Again, this is an issue that flies in the face of our civic and legal traditions as outlined in the Constitution. As such, I see no purpose for continuing the facility.
June 28, 2007
Article, “An Interview with Presidential Candidate Congressman Ron Paul,” Muckraker Report
Gov. Mitt Romney
Well, of course, we remind people that this is a nation that recognizes the equality of all individuals. We welcome people from all nations to come here.
We also want to make sure that our nation is kept safe. And we're going to pursue any avenue we have to, to ensure that people who might be preaching or teaching doctrines of hate or terror are going to be followed, into a church or into a school or a mosque, or wherever they might be.
But we welcome people of all backgrounds and faiths. And we don't discriminate against people based on those things. The countries that we're battling around the world, they're the ones that distinguish based on those things, and we don't.
And we, of course, welcome Arab-Americans here in Dearborn and in places across our country.
October 9, 2007
Transcript, Republican Presidential Debate, Dearborn, MI
Rep. Thomas Tancredo
Would you approve the use of torture if you felt it would prevent a terrorist attack?
Torture. I mean, we get into this debate all the time, and as to what exactly is the definition of torture, and I'm telling you that what we need to do -- remember, the question that I was originally asked that elicited the response that you mentioned was, what do we do in the response to a nuclear -- or the fact that a nuclear device or some bombs have gone off in the United States.
We know that there are -- we have captured people who have information that could lead us to the next one that's going to go off and it's the big one. That was the question that I responded to, and I told you, yes, I would do -- certainly, waterboard -- I don't believe that that is, quote, "torture."
I would do what is necessary to protect this country. That is the ultimate responsibility of the president of the United States. All of the other things that we do, all of the other things -- all of the other powers vested in him pale in comparison to his responsibility to keep the people of this country safe. And that is ultimate. And, yes, I would go to great lengths to keep this country safe.
September 5, 2007
Transcript, Republican Presidential Debate, Durham, NH
