Health Care Inequality

Suarez is now asking a lengthy question about Hispanics and blacks having less health insurance, more diabetes. What does your health care plan contain to address these inequalities, he asks.

Hunter: Says that New Jersey policyholders should be able to buy cheaper California policies. Talks about massive malpractice insurance burdens. Wants to bring back family doctors. Refers to the "barrio" quite a lot...

Keyes: Says before bringing back the family doctor, you have to bring back the family. Two-parent households. But *how* Alan? How are you, or the federal government, going to do that? Also says that in areas where blacks and hispanics live, we have to encourage entrepreneurship.

Huckabee: Problem with health care system is that it is intervention-based, rather than prevention-based. Again, this hints at vast statism: remember, Huckabee has said he likes the idea of a national smoking ban. He's going to screen us all for alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and transfats!

Paul: We have managed health care and corporatism because of the tax code, we have a monopoly created by the code--the HMOs and Big Pharma. Talks about how inflation wipes out the Middle Class. Prices go down when you don't have government involved. "There's a doctor monopoly out there." Says we need to rein in the FDA. HUGE applause, biggest yet of anyone tonight.

Brownback: Says he wants "more markets," but doesn't say anything specific as Paul did. Totally anodyne remarks. oh, now he gets to the point: health savings accounts. That's his panacea.

Tancredo: Says it's the individual's responsibility to stay healthy. Precisely: "we have to first look to ourselves, individually." Tancredo is very right about some things: too bad he's a loose cannon on foreign policy and an ultramilitarist. Supports reimportation of drugs from Canada--excellent!

Now Juan Williams is asking about black military heroes, calls attention to the first African-American combat pilot in U.S. history, who is in the audience tonight. Williams corrects himself: first *female* African-American combat pilot. When he gets to his question, it's about the war in Iraq, and the fact that minorities overwhelmingly oppose it. What do the candidates say to that?

Keyes: "An effort to defend the United States of America to a ... threat that came against us." Yeah, as if Iraq attacked the U.S. Keyes is blathering. Says G.W. Bush put too much emphasis on democracy in Iraq, not security in America. Ok, but if he'd put the emphasis on our security, he would never have invaded Iraq in the first place.

Huckabee: Says we need a federal "Veterans Bill of Rights" to make sure veterans benefits are the first thing to be drawn from the federal treasury. Says nothing about Iraq.

Paul: Says we shouldn't get into these wars, and if we do we need to declare wars. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Lots of applause. Points out Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. If we live up to our principles, we would have fewer injured veterans, and if we stopped sending the money overseas, we'd have more money to care for wounded veterans. Bravo!

Brownback: Lies through his teeth, says we declared war. Gets applause for saying military is doing a superb job. Says that the political situation is not working in Iraq, however, and wants to divide Iraq into three ethno-religious areas with a weak federal structure. Wishful thinking.

Tancredo: Says Congress must declare war and either fund or not fund the war. Says Congress should not dictate how the war is fought. "If you dont' want it, don't fund it, but you cannot micromanage it from the Congress of the United States." Applause.

Hunter: Refers to his son being in Afghanistan, tells Bernice, the pilot lady, that she might be in Afghanistan soon. Kind of a bad thing to stay. Says Iraq has a free government and needs a reliable Iraqi army. Wants more combat tours to create battle-hardened battalions. Gets some applause for saying we have to leave Iraq in victory.

Now Smiley says questions will be restricted to 30 seconds. Cynthia Tucker asks about Darfur. Huckabee says we must first address the genocide in America, abortion. Gets HUGE applause for this line. Says we have to fight poverty at home, "there's poverty in the Delta."

Paul: "The U.S. government has no authority," constitutional or moral, to get involved in Darfur. Says that we'd be getting involved in a civil war. We must keep our objective as our own national security, we should come home from everywhere, "bring our troops home from Iraq." HUGE applause.

Brownback Says he "couldn't disagree more," and gets a lot of applause. He wants war--says we shouldn't put our own troops in Darfur, but he's being shifty: he wants every measure that would lead to war.

Tancredo: No troops, but like Brownie, he wants war, under U.N. auspices.

Hunter: The UN and African Union can't do it, we need a "humanitarian corridor" with armed convoys of UN or African Union forces, and teach the villages self defense.

Keyes: Says he's appalled at the idea of retreating into Fortress America, says we have a "universal mission." He's a global imperialist without varnish.

Suarez asks Paul about the death penalty, whose support is fading. Whites support it more than blacks. There is a federal dimension to it. Is the death penalty carried out justly?

Paul: Says he's changed his opinion about the death penalty, says it should not exist at the federal level, it's unjust, it favors the rich over the poor who are more likely to be convicted. Huge applause.

Brownie: "We need a culture of life in the United States" (but we'll bomb the rest of the world!), "I have difficulty with the death penalty." He's temporizing. Says we should have very limited death penalty.

Tancredo: Almost entirely a state issue. Tancredo supports continuation of death penalty for crimes like treason. Gets applause.

Hunter: Says the death penalty is justified by deterrence. (This is a pretty problematic claim, actually.) Says it might only deter 5 percent. Actually, it might not even do that much.

Keyes: "I support the death penalty." Says it has a basis in universal justice and in the respect for life. Says most murders are of black people, and we would cheapen the significance of that if we didn't execute the killers.

Huckabee: Claims he dislikes the death penalty more than anyone else on the stage because he had to carry it out as Arkansas governor. Said he did it because it was the only conclusion that he could come to. Says "God help the American who has a cavalier attitude about the death penalty," but he supports it. Says we must emote, but not stop the policy. What hypocrisy.

Williams is asking about the achievement gap in schools. Is the Supreme Court right to say that school integration is no longer key to equal results?

Brownback says we still need integration, on a voluntary and "incentivized" basis, as much as possible. (But clearly if it's not possible freely, he'll force it.)

Tancredo: Says it's racist to claim that blacks can only learn by sitting next to whites. Wants more charter schools, vouchers.

Hunter: Population of schools should depend on communities, not forced mandate for government integration.

And that's it.