Tag: attacked

Rick Perry Ripped By Rivals In Republican Tea Party Debate

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Attacked from all sides by fellow Republicans, Texas Gov. Rick Perry softened his rhetoric if not his position on Social Security in a crackling presidential campaign debate Monday night. He fended off assaults on his record creating jobs and requiring the vaccination of schoolgirls against a cancer-causing sexually transmitted virus.

Across a fractious two-hour debate before a boisterous tea party crowd, the front-runner in opinion polls gave little ground and frequently jabbed back, particularly at his chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

But the criticism of Perry kept coming — from Romney on Social Security, from Texas Rep. Ron Paul saying the governor had raised taxes, from Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum assailing his executive order to require Texas schoolgirls to get a STD vaccine and more.

Perry bristled only once, when Bachmann seemed to suggest a connection between his executive order on the vaccinations and campaign contributions he received in Texas. “I’m offended,” he said, if she had questioned his integrity.

Monday night’s faceoff marked the first time in a season of debates that internal Republican differences dominated rather than a common eagerness to unseat Democratic President Barack Obama.

Social Security was a key issue.

“A program that’s been there 70 or 80 years, obviously we’re not going to take that away,” Perry said in the debate’s opening moments as Romney pressed him on his earlier statements questioning the constitutionality of Social Security and calling it a Ponzi scheme.

The Texas governor counter-attacked quickly, accusing Romney of “trying to scare seniors” with his own comments on a program that tens of millions of Americans — including millions in the debate state of Florida alone — rely on for part or all of their retirement income.

The eight rivals shared a debate stage for the second time in less than a week, a pace that marked a quickening in the campaign to choose a challenger to President Barack Obama in 2012. The encounter was sponsored by tea party groups — the conservative voters who propelled the GOP to victory in the 2010 congressional elections, and by CNN.

In the debate’s opening moments, Perry and Bachmann courted the support of tea party activists. Bachmann said she had “brought the voice of the tea party to the United States Congress as a founder of the tea party caucus.”

Perry said he was glad to be at the debate with the Tea Party Express.

But it soon became clear that the presidential hopefuls were not only eager to court support from the most conservative voters but were anxious not to offend seniors and others who depend on Social Security and Medicare.

None of the three who have gotten the most support so far this year — Perry, Romney and Bachmann — said they favored repealing the prescription drug benefit in Medicare, which has a large unfunded liability. Paul, asked the same question, turned his answer to a call for ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as ways to save money.

There was little time for niceties.

Within minutes of the debate’s beginning,, Romney moved aggressively to press Perry on Social Security, saying the front-runner had previously called it a Ponzi Scheme, an absolute failure and unconstitutional.

Perry did not dispute the characterization. In his recent book he called the retirement income program an example of a federal initiative that is “violently tossing aside any respect for our founding principles of federalism and limited government.”

Monday night, he said retirees and near-retirees are assured of receiving the benefits they’ve been promised — and should be — but changes are needed to make sure younger workers have any sort of benefit when they near retirement.

Romney wasn’t satisfied with that, quoting others as saying the Texas governor’s position on Social Security could spell defeat for the party as it tries to win the White House from Obama next year. Repeatedly, he pressed Perry to say whether he believes the program is unconstitutional. Just as insistently, Perry ducked.

Then he countered, quoting Romney as having said in his own book that if people did with their financing what had been done with Social Security receipts it would be a criminal offense.

“You’ve got to quote me correctly,” Romney responded. “What I said was taking money out of the Social Security trust fund is criminal and it’s wrong.”

Social Security benefits are financed through a payroll tax that workers and their employers pay. According to the most recent independent forecasts, unless Congress enacts changes, benefits will have to be cut beginning in 2037.

Bachmann and Santorum were the aggressors when the topic turned to an executive order Perry signed in 2007 requiring the vaccination of Texas schoolgirls against STD.

Bachmann, whose candidacy surged and then fell back in the polls in less than a month, said that “to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong. That should never be done. It’s a violation of a liberty interest.”

Perry said, as he has before, that it was a mistake to issue an executive order on the issue, but he defended wanting to have the vaccinations take effect.

Bachman didn’t stop there. She said that “a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate” also had made a campaign contribution to Perry in Texas.

“The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million. And if you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended,” Perry retorted.

Immigration brought more criticism for Perry, who supports giving the children of illegal immigrants the same tuition breaks at state colleges and universities that other students receive.

“I’m proud we are having those individuals be contributing members of society,” Perry said, adding that the policy was a state’s rights issue.

The audience briefly booed the answer, while his opponents again pounced.

Perry and Romney also reprised an exchange they had last week in a debate in which each claimed the superior record of job creation as governor.

“I think Gov. Perry would agree that if you’re dealt four aces, that doesn’t make you a terrific poker player,” Romney said.

“Well, I was going to say Mitt you were doing pretty good until you got to talking poker,” Perry said, provoking laughter.

There was a brief letup in the crossfire when the subject of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke — no favorite of Republicans — came up.

Perry stood behind his recent comments that it would be treasonous if the Fed were printing money for political reasons.

Romney let it pass, as did the others on stage.

Later, though, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman took aim at Perry’s opposition to construction of a fence across the length of the border with Mexico.

“For Rick Perry to say that you can’t secure the border is pretty much a treasonous comment,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in South Carolina and Kasie Hunt in Washington contributed to this report.

Boehner’s 2-Step Debt-Ceiling Plan Attacked From All Sides As Obama Threatens Veto

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House threatened on Tuesday to veto emergency House legislation that aims to avert a threatened national default, a pre-emptive strike issued as Republican Speaker John Boehner labored to line up enough votes in his own party to pass the measure.

Boehner faced criticism from some conservatives in advance of an expected vote on Wednesday.

The bill would raise the debt limit by $1 trillion while making cuts to federal spending of $1.2 trillion — reductions that conservatives say aren’t enough.

The measure also would establish a committee of lawmakers to recommend additional budget savings of $1.8 trillion, which would trigger an additional $1.6 trillion increase in the debt limit.

The White House objects to the requirement for a second vote before the 2012 elections.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said the measure stood no chance of passing the Senate even if it cleared the House. He pronounced it “dead on arrival.”

Washington and the nation are staring down an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt limit or face national default.

Flanked by conservative colleagues, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters he could not back the Boehner proposal and said it doesn’t have the votes to pass in the Republican-controlled House. In a two-step plan, Boehner is pressing for a vote on Wednesday and a second vote Thursday on a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

“We think there are real problems with this plan,” said Jordan, who heads the Republican Study Group. He argued that the spending cuts are insufficient and expressed opposition to likely tax increases.

Added Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla.: “If I had to vote right now, my vote would be no.”

And Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in Iowa, said she would vote against any bill in Congress to raise the debt ceiling. She said that included Boehner’s plan.

The conservative challenge came just hours after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told the Republican rank and file to stop grumbling as he sought to rally lawmakers for the Boehner plan. In a closed-door session, the Virginia Republican acknowledged the resistance to increasing the nation’s borrowing authority. “The debt limit vote sucks,” he told his caucus. But Cantor insisted that it must be done.

Cantor spelled out the options for the GOP — allowing default and stepping into an economic abyss, backing the Senate Democratic plan or calling President Barack Obama’s bluff by backing the GOP’s own proposal.

Neither of the rival plans offered by Boehner in the House and Reid in the Senate seemed to have the necessary votes in Congress amid a bitter stalemate that could have far-reaching repercussions for the fragile U.S. economy as well as global markets. Stocks declined Tuesday as U.S. markets registered their nervousness over the Washington gridlock between Obama and Republicans.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said the administration remains in contact with congressional leaders despite the collapse of talks last Friday and inconclusive discussions this past weekend.

“We’re working on Plan B. … There has to be a product that can pass the House and the Senate and be signed into law,” said Carney, who argued that the Boehner plan had no chance of passing in the Senate.

Carney insisted that Aug. 2 is the drop-dead date for the Treasury’s cash flow — “beyond that date we lose our capacity to borrow” — and expressed confidence that the debt ceiling would be raised by the deadline.

The continued bickering on Capitol Hill overshadowed any signs of emerging common ground.

Two major groups who carry some sway with conservative lawmakers — the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America — said the Boehner plan failed to address the fiscal mess and they urged members to contact lawmakers and express their opposition.

Countering the criticism, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed the legislation.

“We are going to have some work to do to get it passed, but I think we can do it,” Boehner told reporters.

In an address Monday night, Obama pleaded for compromise and urged Americans to contact their lawmakers.

“We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare,” Obama told the nation.

Boehner, in a rebuttal, said he had given “my all” to work out a deal with Obama.

“The president would not take yes for an answer,” he said.

House offices experienced a spike in telephone calls, receiving 35,000 per hour, said Salley Wood, communications director for the House Administration Committee. On an average day, the House gets about 20,000 calls per hour. During the rancorous health care debate, House offices received about 50,000 plus calls per hour.

Wood also said some congressional websites experienced problems dealing with the high volume of traffic, especially those operated by outside vendors.

Unclear was whether the callers echoed Obama’s argument or backed Boehner’s call for his approach.

In the Senate, Reid challenged Republicans to back his competing legislation, arguing that the no-taxes, government-cuts proposal was just what they wanted.

“In short, it’s everything the Republicans have demanded wrapped up in a bow and delivered to their door,” Reid said at the start of the Senate session.

In afternoon trading on Wall Street, stocks were mixed as the financial markets warily watched the standoff.

The extraordinary back-to-back appeals by Obama and Boehner gave no indication that weeks of brinkmanship and sputtering talks over long-term deficit reductions were on the verge of ending. With the deadline rapidly closing, Congress and the White House had limited options to avoid a potential government default that could send the already weak economy into a damaging swoon.

Obama reiterated his call for achieving lower deficits though spending cuts and new tax revenues. But in a notable retreat, he voiced support for a Senate Democratic plan that would reduce deficits by about $2.7 trillion over 10 years only with spending cuts, not with additional revenue.

The Senate plan, unveiled by Reid, and the proposal announced the same day by Boehner overlap in significant ways. Both identify about $1.2 trillion in spending cuts to the day-to-day operating budgets of government agencies, though Reid’s proposal also counts an extra $1 trillion in savings from winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both proposals would create a bipartisan congressional commission to identify further deficit reductions, especially in major health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The primary difference between the two is timing. Reid’s proposal would raise the debt ceiling enough so that it wouldn’t have to be reconsidered until 2013, beyond the 2012 elections, as demanded by Obama. The GOP plan would only extend the debt ceiling for about six months.

For Republicans, the timing provides crucial leverage to force Democrats and the president to cut spending in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, expensive benefit programs that Democrats have long protected, despite escalating costs.

Credit rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have threatened to downgrade the United States’ gold-plated AAA rating if Congress and the White House don’t extend the debt ceiling and take steps to bring long-term deficits under control.

While both plans would increase the debt ceiling, ratings agencies have said a short-term increase such as the one proposed by House Republicans may not be enough to protect the U.S. from a ratings downgrade. What’s more, neither plan offers the larger deficit-reducing assurances that credit ratings have said they need for the U.S. to retain its place as one of the most secure investments in the world.

Associated Press writers David Espo, Erica Werner and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

U.S. Embassy in Syria Attacked

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government supporters smashed windows at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Monday, raised a Syrian flag and scrawled graffiti calling the American ambassador a “dog” in anger over the envoy’s visit last week to an opposition stronghold, witnesses said.

French Embassy security guards in the capital fired in the air to hold back supporters of President Bashar Assad’s regime who were also protesting the French ambassador’s visit to the same city, Hama, in central Syria. Protesters smashed embassy windows and shattered the windshield of a diplomatic SUV outside the compound. The French flag was removed and replaced with a Syrian one.

“God, Syria and Bashar. The nation that gave birth to Bashar Assad will not kneel,” read graffiti written outside the embassy. One witness said three protesters were injured when guards beat them with clubs. The witness asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

There was no immediate word on casualties among protesters at the American Embassy demonstration.

A U.S. official said the Obama administration will formally protest the attack and may seek compensation for damage caused when a mob breached the wall of the compound before being dispersed by Marine guards.

The official said the State Department would summon a senior Syrian diplomat on Monday to condemn the assault and demand that Syria uphold obligations to protect foreign diplomatic missions. The official said no buildings were entered and there were no injuries to embassy personnel. But the official said the attackers damaged the chancery building.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Syrian security forces were slow to respond to the attack.

The Syrian regime called the French and American ambassadors’ visits to Hama last week interference in the country’s internal affairs and accused the envoys of undermining Syria’s stability.

The protests erupted after U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford harshly criticized the Syrian government’s crackdown on a popular uprising.

Some 1,600 civilians and 350 members of security forces have been killed since demonstrations began, activists say. Syria blames what it calls “armed gangs” and Muslim extremists for the violence.

Hiam al-Hassan, a witness, said about 300 people had gathered outside the French Embassy while hundreds others were at the American diplomatic compound.

“Syrians demonstrated peacefully in front of the French embassy but they were faced with bullets,” said al-Hassan.

On Sunday, Ford attacked the Syrian government for allowing pro-government protests while beating up anti-regime demonstrators. The pro-Assad protests in Syria are known as “mnhebak,” or “we love you.”

“I have not seen the police assault a “mnhebak” demonstration yet,” Ford wrote on the embassy’s Facebook page. “On July 9, a “mnhebak” group threw rocks at our embassy, causing some damage. They resorted to violence, unlike the people in Hama, who have stayed peaceful.”

“And how ironic that the Syrian Government lets an anti-U.S. demonstration proceed freely while their security thugs beat down olive branch-carrying peaceful protesters elsewhere,” he said. “I saw no signs of armed gangs anywhere not at any of the civilian street barricades we passed,” Ford added.

Monday’s protests coincided with government-organized talks in Damascus on possible political reforms after four months of unrest.

However the talks did not stop Syrian forces from pressing their crackdown on the opposition.

Before the embassy attacks, Syrian troops stormed the country’s third-largest city with armored personnel carriers and heavy machine guns, a rights activist. At least two people were killed and 20 wounded in the attacks in Homs, activists said.

The clashes in Homs in central Syria suggest the Assad regime will not ease its four-month-old crackdown on the opposition despite proposing some political changes.

Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa called Sunday for a transition to democracy in a country ruled for four decades by the authoritarian Assad family dynasty. But the talks, which wrap up Monday, are boycotted by the main anti-government factions and are unlikely to produce any breakthroughs to immediately end the bloodshed.

The two days of meetings, however, were seen as a major concession by Assad’s regime after the most serious challenge to its rule.

In Homs, an activist in the city told The Associated Press clashes occurred after security forces on Sunday killed the son of an anti-regime tribal leader. The unrest lasted until 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) Monday.

Street lights were turned off then troops started entering neighborhoods, shooting with heavy machine guns atop Russian-made armored personnel carriers, said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

He said some people cowered in their bathrooms during the height of the assault. At least one person was killed and 20 wounded, the activist said.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said forces pushed into parts of Homs.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.