Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman said Friday that he
believes it is important to draw a strong contrast between himself and
fellow candidate Mitt Romney.
“I believe it will be a two-person race in New Hampshire, and I believe
Mitt Romney will be one of them, and it’s important to compare and
contrast at this point,” Huntsman said on Fox News. “It’s important to talk about flip-flops on
life, flip-flops on guns, flip-flops on taxes, flip-flops on healthcare
reform.”
Huntsman’s campaign has consistently focused its strategy on the New
Hampshire primary, which takes place Jan. 10, 2012.
The former Utah governor told Fox News that Romney’s proposal to cut
the federal debt panders to voters by not including significant
entitlement reforms or changes to the Defense Department budget.
“I don’t want to pander, I’m not going to talk about not including
everything in entitlement reform that needs to be on the table or not
touching the Department of Defense,” Huntsman said.
When pressed on whether he believed Romney was in fact pandering,
Huntsman said, “Listen, there’s no question about that.”
Romney explained his plans for tackling the U.S. debt and spending in an opinion piece Thursday in USA Today.
He cited the repeal of “ObamaCare,” cutting family-planning programs,
eliminating Amtrak subsidies and ending certain foreign aid as examples
of ways he would reduce spending.
Here’s what he had to say on reforming Social Security and Medicare:
Reforms should not affect current seniors or
those near retirement, and tax hikes should be off the table. However,
the retirement age for younger workers should be increased slowly to
keep up with increases in longevity. And Social Security benefits for
higher income recipients should grow at a slower rate than for those
with lower incomes.
Tomorrow’s Medicare should
give beneficiaries a generous defined contribution and allow them to
choose between private plans and traditional Medicare. And lower-income
future retirees should receive the most assistance. I believe that
competition will improve Medicare and the coverage that seniors receive.
