Charles Gibson, the ABC World News Tonight anchorman, quizzed the Republican candidates about their changeable politics on Saturday night. After asking about their principles, he then interrupted former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani when he tried to put himself in the tradition of Ronald Reagan.
Here’s an excerpt from the ABC News transcript:
GIBSON: Let me interrupt you for just a sec, because, with all due respect, many of your fellows here on this stage have said you’d had to moderate an awful lot of your views to get within the mainstream of the Republican Party, and that you don’t believe now what you believed when you were a mayor.
Governor Huckabee, you’ve been accused of having been a tax-and-spend governor when you were in Arkansas and changing your beliefs now.
Governor Romney, I don’t have to go into how many times they’ve told — called you a flip-flopper in terms of issues and what you believed as governor of Massachusetts.
Congressman Paul, with respect to you, I don’t know that you’ve changed much, except your party…
(LAUGHTER)
… because you were a Libertarian when you first ran for
president.
Senator Thompson has been accused of running on a more
conservative record for president than when he was in the Senate.
And, Senator McCain, you’ve been accused of moderating your views on the Bush tax policies in order to get into the mainstream of the party and on immigration, to moderate your views.”
