Candidates Reveal Their Biggest Mistakes

Katie Couric Asks The Top Presidential Candidates To Explain The Standout Slipups Of Their Lives

(CBS)  For the series “Primary Questions: Character, Leadership & The Candidates,” CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the 10 leading presidential candidates 10 questions designed to go beyond politics and show what really makes them tick. Below is the full transcript to the question: "What is the biggest mistake you've ever made?" Watch their answers tonight on the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.

Check out the candidates' full responses in our "Primary Questions" video library.

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MIKE HUCKABEE:

Katie Couric: What is the biggest mistake you've ever made? How did you recognize it? And what did you do to change course?

Huckabee: I've made so many, there's a catalogue. And when (NOISE) I ever forget them, I just, you know, look at all the things that my critics have said, and I find that they - there's some I didn't even know.

I made a mist[ake]. I've made a lot of mistakes sometimes, particularly in maybe giving people too much benefit of the doubt, keeping people in positions that should have been let go. And sometimes you pay a big price for that. I think what I had to do is to learn that if you've got, particularly, a personnel issue, the best thing to do? Deal with it. Deal with it as quickly as possible, suffer the loss, try to clean up as much of the mess as you can and accept that you can't make it all right.

Couric: Give me an example. This is, that's sort of vague.

Huckabee: Yeah, it is vague 'cause I don't want to, you know, put anybody's name out here. There was a case in which I had a cabinet member that just simply did not mesh, not only with me, but with the rest of the cabinet [and] with his own agency. And we realized we had a problem, and I thought we could fix it. I thought we could get this worked out, give him some time. Well, it turned out we couldn't. I finally ended up terminating him, he ended up suing me, suing the state. It became very ugly, very unfortunate. We ended up winning the case, but it was a long, protracted, expensive and embarrassing situation that wouldn't have happened had I been a little bit more forceful at the very beginning. And I learned a lot from that.

Couric: Any other mistake?

Huckabee: Oh, yeah.

Couric: I mean?

Huckabee: How long you got? (LAUGHS) You got all day? You know, I think I made a lot of mistakes as a parent, not intentionally. You know, I don't think any parent makes intentional mistakes. But I was probably too lenient on my daughter and maybe too tough on my two sons. Maybe that's a dad's natural tendency. My daughter would say that I wasn't, but, you know, I may have let her get away with some things that I would never have let my son get away with, either of my two sons. Again, just in a general way, I think that I look back and realize there were times when I should have been maybe more stern with her, less stern with the boys, but the boys were older. And so, by the time she came along, I was pretty mellowed out.

Couric: And she turned out okay?

Huckabee: She turned out great. Yeah.

Couric: Not doin' prison time?

Huckabee: She gets out in three to five. No, she's doing fine. She's (LAUGHTER) I should have said, "I pardoned her just before I left office." (LAUGHS)


JOHN MCCAIN

Couric: That brings me to my next question. Since you said you've made a lot of mistakes, what is the biggest mistake you've ever made and how did you recognize it and then change course?

McCain: Well, I'd like to say the biggest mistake was when I raised my hand after I'd been on the USS Forestal and we had a terrible fire and we'd gone back to the States and they asked for volunteers to stay. I found out, I ended up, a couple of months later, in a North Vietnamese prison camp. But that's a bit self-serving. Probably was when I attended a meeting with four other senators with some regulators who were overseeing a guy named Charlie Keating, who was a big contributor and a big, important economic factor in my home state. I shouldn't have done it. And the lesson I learned from it is not only do what you know is right, but do what you know you would be glad to see on the front page of The New York Times or the Washington Post, or watch Katie Couric talking about on the Evening News.

Couric: What did you do to change course or how did you recognize it? That mistake was sort of recognized for you, was it not?

McCain: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, it was recognized for me. I went through two years of investigation, and I ended up being found guilty of poor judgment. But to be honest with you, it was worse than poor judgment because I created an impression of impropriety, and the thing I value more than anything else is my honor.


BARACK OBAMA

Couric: What is the biggest mistake you've ever made and how did you recognize it? And what did you do to change course?

Obama: Well, the biggest mistake that I ever made was when I was a teenager because I got involved with drinking and trying drugs. I was being raised by a single mom and by my grandparents, and I've written about this in my first book. You know, I was frustrated and didn't have role models out there that made sense, and so I engaged in a lot of destructive behavior. And it, I pulled out of it in my first couple of years of college because I started thinking outside of myself. I started thinking about people I met who were struggling a lot worse than I was. You know, I didn't come from a wealthy family, but it was a middle-class family and I never had to worry about whether I had enough to eat or I never had to worry about whether I had a roof over my head. And so just becoming more aware of the tough times that other people were going through, and I remember having a conversation with somebody and them saying to me that, "You know, it's not about you. It's about what you can do for other people." And something clicked in my head, and I got real serious after that and I started applying myself at school. That's how I started becoming a student activist and then, ultimately, a community organizer. And, you know, that's probably the path that I've been taking ever since. That's how I ended up where I am today.


BILL RICHARDSON

Couric: What's the biggest mistake you've ever made? How did you recognize it and what did you do to change course?

Richardson: The biggest mistake I ever made was being too aggressive. I was in the New Mexico legislature. I wanted to get a bill passed increasing the minimum wage, and instead of waiting and planning and talking to people, I just rammed it through and it didn't happen. And because of that, for a year, New Mexicans didn't get an increase in the minimum wage. I think that's the biggest tactical mistake I've ever made and it's the biggest personal mistake because I feel so bad about it. For a whole year, New Mexicans were stuck at $5.15 per hour instead of $7.50 per hour.

Couric: How did you change course? Did you go back and make another attempt?

Richardson: I went back, made another attempt, talked to people, became inclusive, didn't get aggressive, gave others credit. And I got it done. I had just been trying to act too much like Superman and I didn't do it right and it cost people money on the table.


MITT ROMNEY

Couric: What's the biggest mistake you've ever made? How did you recognize it and what did you do to change course?

Romney: Well, I think from the political perspective, the biggest mistake I made was believing that my personal disagreement with abortion and my view that abortion was wrong, that somehow I could accommodate my personal view that abortion was wrong with a public view that other people should be able to make up their own mind, and the government wouldn't play a role. That, in my view, was a mistake. It became apparent to me when a bill reached my desk that would have created new life and destroyed it, and I simply could not sign it. It was unacceptable to me to … be associated with the destruction of human life. And I recognized that. I, therefore, wrote an op-ed piece in the Boston papers explaining that I was wrong in the past, that I'd made a mistake, and that I would, as a governor, come down on the side of life. And in the years I was governor of Massachusetts on every bill that related to … life, I came down on the side of life.

Couric: But that did haunt you for a while and you were called a flip-flopper on that issue.

Romney: Yeah. There's no question people are gonna be very focused on any time an individual changes their view on an issue. But certainly people make mistakes in their life. I have. I will. I hope I keep learning from my mistakes. I'm only worried about people who make mistakes and don't admit them and persist in a in a wrong-headed course. And you see a lot of that in politics. I was wrong with regards to my first position on abortion. I recognized that when I became governor and I have a record of showing where I came out.

Couric: Do you have an example of people who make mistakes and can't admit them?

Romney: Absolutely, but I'm not going to tell you what they are (LAUGHS). I don't want to be critical of other individuals and attack them. I think there are a lot of people who are…wrong and may not know they're wrong, but there are probably some who recognize they're wrong but are unwilling to make the shift and acknowledge that they made a mistake.

Couric: You said you have personal views toward abortion but felt that in the public arena, another position could exist. What is wrong with that? What's wrong with having a personal view and feeling that it's the right of individuals to make these difficult choices?

Romney: Well, what I recognized is that in a civilized society that there has to be a respect for the sanctity of life - that if you put that aside, if you say, "We're gonna start creating life and then destroying it," you're, in effect, playing God. And I think a civilized society has certain rules of conduct that it live by and one of those is to respect the sanctity of life. Another is respect in the sanctity of marriage. And…so when…I was faced with not a theoretical question of, "What do you think about abortion?" but, instead, the reality of being a governor who would sign a bill that would create life and destroy it-this was an embryonic cloning bill--I said, "I simply cannot become party to something where life would be created and then destroyed." And that made the decision for me that it was impossible to have a strong position personally opposing abortion and, at the same time, to say that we're going to have laws which permitted and permit the destruction of life throughout our society.

Couric: So are you opposed to stem cell research?

Romney: No, I'm very much in favor of stem cell research, but in a way which I believe is moral and ethical. And creating new embryos through embryo farming or through cloning, I find to be unethical and I would not pursue that course of stem cell research.

Couric: So what kind of embryos - embryos that are created for procreation and then would be discarded? Are those the ones that you feel are perfectly fine from which to cull cells for stem cell research?

Romney: Yes, those embryos that are referred to commonly as surplus embryos from in-vitro fertilization. Those embryos, I hope, could be available for adoption for people who would like to adopt embryos. But if a parent decides they would want to donate one of those embryos for purposes of research, in my view, that's acceptable. It should not be made against the law. I wouldn't finance that with government money because it represents a moral challenge for a lot of people and I think we're better investing in places where the prospects are much better. And I think that's something like something known as alter-nuclear transfer where you create new embryo, like, entities, but they're not human embryos. And you can take stem cells from those.

[antoniof123]

billysmith6 soon it will be President CACKLE to you.

LOL....

[edward1975-2009]

Biggest mistake some of these people made was ever entering the presidential race. Romney seems to be the better of the field at this point.

[trogdoar]

How come they didn''t interview Ron Paul???

[samthetvcat]

"Couric: If you had to say specifically in dealing with healthcare what it was that you did wrong, what would that be?"

Great follow-up Katie! I was wondering the same thing, and still am...

Hillary talks about people in the abstract supporting the idea of universal healthcare but being reluctant when it came to the details, but people are starting to wonder about her details this time around too. Like if it was big insurance who were against her plan the first time and she has embraced them this time, then isn''t this effectively forcing the lower-class to channel their hard-earned money to big-business (since the middle/upper class are already covered through work). And insurance rates are based on risk level as determined by actuarial science, not ability to afford so for-profit private corporations aren''t going to be willing to implement a sliding scale.

So how are the lower-class going to be able to afford thousands of dollars of premiums a year? Is Hillary going to subsidize this? Who''s going to pay for the subsidies if she''s not willing to tax the upper-class? And what about paying down the debt?

And what about illegals who don''t get insurance?

Also, what will be the effect of illegals showing up to get treated by doctors when they don''t have insurance . . . will they be reported to the INS?

And can the system handle having an extra 30 million or so customers? Are there enough doctors and nurses? Are the facilities adequate?

[tylenol6]

Guiliani BIGGEST MISTAKE?????? HE IS SELLING OUT THE
USA. Google Guiliani and Cintra. Guiliani is a CROOK.

[marcodele]

"And what was your biggest mistake Katie? Leaving the Today Show?"

[hillaryin08]

Whats up with the 20,000 more troops in Afghanistan this year more than last year? What could George be up to?

[bwessels]

This is why people tune out politics. We get tired of listening to the spin, turning an opportunity for self-deprecation into a statement "on message." Giuliani: "One of my wives. Not sure which one." Obama: "Thinking I can get elected in this racist country." Romney: "Lying to Massachusetts to get elected." Clinton: "Putting up with Bill. Good president, lousy husband."

[denn034]

We''re human and mistakes come with the territory.

[merlgrey]

leading presidential candidates?

i think someone from the republican side is missing, dont you katie? someone who has broken fundraising records and wins many many straw polls. journalism at its best... total lack of credibility and integrity.

[xtcryanx]

I have tried to ignore the accusations of the media trying to keep Ron Paul out of the headlines, but this Katie, is impossible to do, with reporters like you.

[dan122754]

Why don''t you ask them some real questions, like how are you going to put people, like in michigan to work, That woulld be more tax dollars for company''s like, What the Hellaburtom!! I''m starting to think the real canidate hasn''t shown up yet! Just keep giving money away to all the other country''s in the world, and don''t worry about your own, I think all of you are out of touch, I don''t have the answers, but I have alot of sugestions. WORRIED!!!!

[kansas1946]

Well, I think from the political perspective, the biggest mistake I made was believing that my personal disagreement with abortion, and my view that abortion was wrong, that somehow I could accommodate my personal view that abortion was wrong with a public view that other people should be able to make up their own mind and the government wouldn''t play a role.
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LMAO. Keep sucking up, Mitt. Flip...flop..

[kansas1946]

This is why people tune out politics. We get tired of listening to the spin, turning an opportunity for self-deprecation into a statement "on message." Giuliani: "One of my wives. Not sure which one." Obama: "Thinking I can get elected in this racist country." Romney: "Lying to Massachusetts to get elected." Clinton: "Putting up with Bill. Good president, lousy husband."
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Posted by sanevoice at 04:08 PM : Dec 04, 2007
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LOL, sanevoice. I had to laugh, because it would be nice to have a politician say something like that. The only one I disagree with is I think that Obama can be elected in this racist country. I think what is hurting him worse is the "muslim" thing. The right will keep sneaking out underground info that he is a muslim, is wanting to turn our country over to Bin Laden,,etc., Blah..blah. Nevertheless, I would vote for him in a heartbeat and bet a lot of other folks would too. Who are they going to vote for, one of these pitiful Republicans?

[likeitis5050]

We''re staring down the barrel of the primaries and we still don''t have clear cut answers or out right plans on how Hillary plans to pull the rabbit out of the hat. But she''ll tell you again and again how ''uniquely qualified'' she is to be president...and this seems perfectly acceptable to (enter her percentages here) of women/black women supporting her all the way....oh and more numbers about how women carry the votes now. In all these years, who knew overies were the secret ingredient to determining the ''most uniquely qualified'' person to be president? Imagine a contest historically dominated by women until a man finally steps up and declares himself uniquely qualified on the basis he''s spent 8 years grooming a woman to be the winner of the pagent and therefor feels he''s uniquely qualified to be the leader of the free world. He gained a lot of experience and learned how to move about confidently in a dressing room full of women in various stages of undress and knows all the ''secrets'' to keeping b.oobies and b.utts in place during the swimsuit portion. This is Hillary talking about how she feels so qualified to be president. She knows all the secrets the good ol'' boys use to manipulate voters. Smoke and mirrors secrets and now she''s an expert in being president. I don''t know who should be more feared, her or the people buying this garbage.

[incog-nito]

This is exactly why Bush is such a great president. Why? Because if you ask him the same question, I bet that he cannot come up with a single mistake he ever made in his life.

[samthetvcat]

We''''re staring down the barrel of the primaries and we still don''''t have clear cut answers or out right plans on how Hillary plans to pull the rabbit out of the hat.
Posted by likeitis5050

I checked out Hillary''s website and her healthcare plan is basically to force companies who offer insurance to their employees to pay tax on that cost. I guess it''s now eligible for a tax deduction, and since something like 60% of employees are covered through work that''s supposed to provide enough income to partially subsidize the other 40%.

The achilles heel of that plan though is that it assumes corporations won''t alter their behavior once the financial incentive to provide health care is taken away. If corporations make an across the board decision to get out of the practice of providing health insurance to their employees, then the collective financial burden on individuals and/or the government is going to be in the (hundreds of) billions. It might also depress wages if corporations instead decide to pass on the added costs to employees via fewer/lower raises or increased workloads for non-hourly wage earners. Or it might lower the quality of their existing coverage.

Because as it is, the soaring costs of health care premiums have supposedly cause many companies to stop providing it to their employees.

I mean I don''t know how the other candidates'' plans stack up against Hillary''s but this one doesn''t seem very realistic . . . will have to do more research tomorrow . . .

[samthetvcat]

I just found an article about some guy who did some number crunching for an analysis of the effect of repealing the tax credit such as the one Hillary is proposing, and he estimates that about 164 million people would lose coverage under a plan involving revocation of the corporation subsidy for health care coverage.

So supposedly the idea of taking away the corporate tax deduction is supposed to be to ''streamline'' the system and make it purely consumer-driven. So when Hillary says that "over half the savings come from the public savings generated from Senator Clinton%u2019s broader agenda to modernize the heath systems and reduce wasteful health spending" what she''s really saying is that she''s hoping that once companies cut us loose and we are forced by her law to fend for ourselves and our own healthcare, she''s hoping the sticker shock will motivate us to get off our duffs and exercise to lose weight and lower our blood pressure and reduce premiums that way.

I think that''s what she was saying with her plan . . .

[vet_sk]

We need fresh blood in the Whitehouse. Hillary votes for the war and then just last month voted to call the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist Unit. Then days later she tells the president that it does not give him the authority to invade/bomb Iran. Don''t you think she should have thought about that before?

Then she sits ont he senate intelligence committee and had access to the NEI that tells us that Iran stopped their nuclear enrichment program in 2003 but acts like she didn''t know.

She''s a loss and a total insider. The only reason they say Obama does not have enough experiece (although he has far more elected service then Hillary) is that he not yet an insider who will make the rich richer.

[robertkjjj]

Let there be no mistake: this is a weak group of Democrats, and they are fighting among themselves so much that they will become even weaker. I have correctly predicted the nominees and the winners of the last 10 Presidential elections, and although predicting for 2008 is tough, I''m going to now predict the race for next year. For Republicans, I see Mitt Romney getting the nomination. He''s the best speaker, best debater, and most intelligent of the bunch. Rudy will burn out. Rudy has too many skeletons and a temper. Huckabee has too little name recognition and his last name is killing him; sounds too much like a hillbilly. Thompson is lazy and too slow. Ron Paul: you got to be kidding. For the Democrats, it''s more a process of elimination: Obama? Sorry, but there is simply no way mostly-conservative America will nominate a black man named Barack Obama; not seeing this happen at all. Edwards? Too wimpy and whiny; he looks and talks weak. All the others are not well known and have incredibly small numbers. Clinton looks like the one who will stay on top. For the 11/08 general election, it will be Romney vs. Clinton. Look for a brutal summer and fall next year of Hillary vs. Mitt. Because Hillary is a polarizing figure, and there are over 20 million Americans who have said they will not vote for her no matter what, I see Romney winning a very close one in the general election, with about 5-to-10 more electoral votes than Hillary. The next President will be Mitt Romney.

[rarely-watch]

I tuned in to the first of the "10 questions" segments and didn''t see Ron Paul''s picture.
I can''t believe that CBS would ignore the guy who is tied with McCain in Iowa and ahead of Huckabee and Thompson in New Hampshire. (with more contributors than McCain and Huckabee combined)

[mudrose-2009]

Can we dispense with the mia culpa c/rap?

[kissamaarse]

One that will definitely come back to bite:
Huckabee released the rapist Wayne Dumond, and Willie Horton, er, I mean Wayne Dumond went on to rape and murder at least one more woman. Huckabee, like Bush, wasn''t a very good one-term governor, but all the hyprocritcal religious right cares about, just as they did with Bush, is that Huckabee is against abortion, is for school prayer and vouchers, and bows his head to Jesus. (That would be the blue-eyed Germanic Jesus, not the actual swarthy desert Jew.)

[hayalayea]

CBS:
Didn''t you miss something (or someone?)
Ron Paul.

Why would you exclude him (and others like Tancredo..)?

Why not step ahead of other news sources and actually include Ron Paul. He''s got a passionate following, something no other candidate can claim to the same degree. We, his passionate followers, would love to see him given the opportunity to appear on television like the other guys.

So next time, please include Ron Paul. Myself and millions others will be waiting!

[jfk19631]

Can you tell me why Ron Paul was excluded from your "Questions for Candidates" series? He is a top candidate...at least with millions Americans.

[wayfarer02]

I''m not the first to comment on the lack of Ron Paul in this story. Really, the presumtion that Katie''s stupid self indulgent question is only worthy of the "front runners" is insulting. The manipulation of the electoral process by the media is so blatant. Because they (the media) choose to exclude candidates from the conversation, no matter how retarded it is, they devalue those people in the eyes of the American public. Hey CBS, talk to everyone, or talk to no one. Try to not be so obvious in showing your corporate run media bias for a change.

[cassihayden]

Stop trying to blind Americans. Ron Paul is a leading candidate. Include him! The least you could do is try and give equal airtime to ALL candidates and let the people decide for themselves.

[cassihayden]

Stop trying to blind Americans. Ron Paul is a leading candidate. Include him! The least you could do is try and give equal airtime to ALL candidates and let the people decide for themselves.

[mattcbsmatt]

Candidates Reveal they think illegal immigration is legal?
Even though there is a hint in the phrase illegal immigration. : )

[mattcbsmatt]

Which presidential candidate can answer this very difficult question? Is illegal immigration, illegal?
Even though there is a hint in the phrase illegal immigration. : )
And of course the courts do not know and I guess even the Supreme Court does not know.
Excuse me I am about to have uncontrollable explosive diarrhea verbally : )

[mattcbsmatt]

Which presidential candidate can answer this very difficult question? Is illegal immigration, illegal?
And of course they do not know or can not understand it.
Even though there is a hint in the phrase illegal immigration. : )
And of course the courts do not know and I guess even the Supreme Court does not know.
Excuse me I am about to have uncontrollable explosive diarrhea verbally : )

[amichel1]

I''m very concerned about the omission of Ron Paul. He has the highest number of individual donors, the highest number of active volunteers, the most support on college campuses, the most support on the Internet, is the leading Republican fundraiser this quarter, holds the GOP record for most funds ever raised in a single day, and is a 20 year veteran of the United States Congress. Given all this, the fact that CBS News omits Ron Paul from a list of *10* candidates seems patently unfair. It is also self-destructive for CBS News to actively exclude him given the demographics of Ron Paul supporters (on average, they are more technologically savvy, higher income, younger, and more passionate media consumers than the supporters of the other candidates). When CBS News, for reasons known only to itself, effectively tells these attractive media consumers that their huge grassroots campaign doesn''t really exist, these media consumers turn to other sources for news, and CBS news hastens its own decline in viewers.

[bohummer]

I am hoping CBS has a very good reason why Ron Paul is not a part of your 10 questions piece. Surely this is not another big media ploy to push legitimate and popular (at least with voters) candidates out of the picture so that only corporate sponsored politicians have free air time. Surely not CBS, any comments CBS?

[wayfarer02]

amichel1 I feel your pain!! CBS and other mainstream news outlets will never acknowledge the Ron Paul Revolution, because he does not serve corporate media interest. It should not suprise us that he is not included, but we can''t help feeling infuriated. This is a prime example of why and how grassroots campaigns are born, build and take effect. We can not rely on these traditional news media sources to be truthful and fair, they have too much to lose. Stick with public news sources like NPR and other public broadcasting sources, they''re a little less bias.

[chilly123110]

From personal experience I have always found the best way to learn about a person (Candidate or otherwise) is to ask them tough personal questions. To let them respond and while they answer read their response, their body language, eye contact and last but not least the content of their response.
I think there should be more one on one question and answer sessions and less debate. I think America should have the opportunity to read a candidate from specific Core Value Questions (CVQ''s) that cut to the integrity of a persons being.
When one answers a specific CVQ with a political/work/business response and not a personal/from the heart & soul answer, I see that as a subconscious defensive disguise to protect ones vulnerability. And in that person I see a flawed character and a person who should not be considered a candidate to be the leader of the United States.
The CBS Evening News and Katie Couric are doing what needs to be done with all political candidates, now and in the future, especially those running for the President of the United States. Good job!

[pawfelts]

Looking forward to Ron Paul''s answer.

[mjpinson]

If Ron Paul is not on CBS News then I see no reason for me to be on CBS News. Get a clue CBS

[solon81]

How were the top ten chosen? Everytime I see a new poll the numbers change. The following link is to a page that has a list of poll results.

http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/candidates/index.html

[prinzowhales]

Another DATING GAME question and answer period...the propagandists are trying to humanize the candidates...make them likeable...make you see them as people...familiarity doesn''t always breed contempt...it usually brings a kind of acceptance and congeniality...Hitler was a master at that kind of schmoozing while at the same time keeping dramatic distance as the ''Leader''. Colour TV and the lack of dramatic backdrops don''t help these candidates...they forever look like they have just, or are getting ready to open a shopping center.

[poliincorect]

I like Ron Paul and will vote for him during the primary. Katie needs to include him on the additional question and answer segments. Ron Paul calls for protecting borders, ending welfare, and closing the IRS. How can you go wrong with that? Katie, you need to meet with him tonight and record his answer for Wednesday''s question, play his answer and include him in tomorrow night''s new question and answer too. Are you taking the CNN/You Tube route and depriving the American people from hearing from the person we really want to hear from, Ron Paul? And he wants to get out of Iraq just like the TV liberals do. Also, Ron Paul is higher in the polls than Fred Thompson so what gives? Why is Thompson on and Paul not?

[poliincorect]

I like Ron Paul and will vote for him during the primary. Katie needs to include him on the additional question and answer segments. Ron Paul calls for protecting borders, ending welfare, and closing the IRS. How can you go wrong with that? Katie, you need to meet with him tonight and record his answer for Wednesday''s question, play his answer and include him in tomorrow night''s new question and answer too. Are you taking the CNN/You Tube route and depriving the American people from hearing from the person we really want to hear from, Ron Paul? And he wants to get out of Iraq just like the TV liberals do. Also, Ron Paul is higher in the polls than Fred Thompson so what gives? Why is Thompson on and Paul not?

[fairandbal]

Other major news organizations are reporting that Bush knew that Iran had stopped it''s Nuclear weapons program in August, but still was telling is they had the program.

Why is the MSM continuing to support Bush''s lies and drive toward another war? What is the MSM trying to hide? It''s close ties to the GOP and the white house. The MSM is not independent folks, it''s a tool of the GOP!!!!

[fairandbal]

What''s with all the Ron Paul fanatics out tonight? Ron Paul is having his paid staff infiltrate the blogs again? Give it up folks!!!

[poliincorect]

Sorry fairandbal. I swear that I am not a Ron Paul staffer. Just a guy who wants to clear away media smoke.
"Let the sunshine in." Let Ron Paul in through the smoke.

[taylpatr]

Why is it that when a Democrat is caught in a scandal(ala Bill Clinton)he is a "disgrace to America", while, when a Republican is caught in a scandal(ala my own senator, Larry Craig)he becomes an "embattled politician."?So much for the myth of the "liberal media." JESUS WAS A LIBERAL!Anyone else get it?

[tjarcher2]

I am so pleased to see this type of discussion take place, Katie & CBS "Hit a HomeRun" with this concept.
I look forward to keeping tuned in, the depth of question ~ as variety of perspectives & answers certainly separate the people from the politicians...
Wouldn''t it be something if policital debates could be as raw and truthful? Hmm..

[vet_sk]

Why is CBS wasting time on a story like this when the President is caught again trying to lie us into another war.

[adian1-2009]

You see? That''s why I''m for Hillary. While she is soft on herself in her answer, the truth is that in her answer there is no shallowness. But look at all the others. All of them hypocrites and shallow. Biden seems not to remember the thing he became famous for: plagiarism. Romney makes good the opportunity for spreading his demagoguery. Obama goes back to when he was a teen in alcohol and drugs, but he puts aside most recent mistakes. Come on! What a bunch of hypocrites!

[hillaryin08]

God I hope George strikes Iran soon so I dont have too.

[greatdrivew]

President Bush %u201CMULLS%u201D SUSPENDING 2008 ELECTIONS:

(Speetbaawl, TX)%u202612/06/07 8:54am EST%u2026In a surprising announcement Thursday morning, President George W. Bush, flanked by Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Michael Makasey and U.S. Army General David Petraeus, announced, %u201CWe%u2019re at war people, and in war times, the President has powers, war powers, and as Attorney General Makasey will soon confirm, one of them war powers is suspending elections.%u201D

President Bush added %u201CI%u2019m ordering the reupdeployment of 400,000 National Guard troops, hereafter to be referred to as the Constitutional Guard, to be deployed to multivarious hot spots throughout Blue States.%u201D Holding-up a photo of Pervez Musharraf, President Bush stated %u201CPakistan is the model for our new homeland.%u201D Chuckled Bush, %u201CWhat do expect? Republicans need time to find new candidates %u2026 my God, have you seen em, they make Brownie look good.%u201D