CNN/WMUR-TV/New Hampshire Union Leader Debate   ...2 of 12 >
June 13, 2011--The New Hampshire Democratic Party held a press conference not far from Saint Anselm prior to the debate.  NHDP chair Ray Buckley talks with communications director Holly Shulman as AP's Holly Ramer and DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse look on.
In his remarks, Ray Buckley stated that:

"While the President is working to move the country forward, the Republicans that are running for president want to bring back the failed policies of the past that brought our economy to the brink of the second Great Depression, they want to take us back to the days of government handouts for oil and gas and other huge corporations, tax cuts for the super-wealthy, and they want to put insurance companies back in charge of health care.  And even worse, Republicans have a plan to bring about the end of Medicare as we know it."

*   *   *
"Tonight Pawlenty and Romney, Cain, Bachmann, Santorum and the rest of them are going to try to outdo each other on who will slash more programs, who will give more tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, and who will sign the GOP's plan to end Medicare as we know it faster than the next."

*   *   *

"When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50th in job growth.  47th out of 50.  As a corporate raider he eliminated middle class jobs to grow his fortune.  Those of us who were around can all remember those commercials from the '94 campaign of the workers that he eliminated.  What does Mitt Romney know about job creation?  Well the honest answer is not much.

"And then there's Gov. Pawlenty who left Minnesota with a projected $6.2 billion budget deficit, the largest in the state's history.  And under Gov. Pawlenty's leadership property taxes increased for 90 percent of Minnesotans.  Pawlenty came out with his own economic plan, which is nothing more than a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.

"Each and every one of the Republicans debating here are working against the interests of Granite Staters.  They want to end Medicare as it currently exists, extend tax cuts for the super-wealthy, and they want to make sure the tax cuts exist and grow for the oil companies, and [put] the insurance companies back in the driver's seat in health care."
 
Asked which of the candidates he thought would be the strongest challenger to President Obama, Buckley stated, "I think that's impossible to say right now.  At this point they're kind of like these bugs that are flying around us.  They're irritating, but not dangerous."
next