California Republican debate transcript

Moderator: How's that different from a national ID card if it works?

Brownback: Because we don't need a new system, and we don't need a new ID.

(Crosstalk)

Moderator: Senator McCain, Senator McCain, are you for a national, tamper-proof ID card?

McCain: That's one of the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. And absolutely, if someone wants to work, they have to have a document that's tamper-proof. And any employer who employs someone else with any other document like a bogus Social Security card or birth certificate should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Moderator: Dr. Paul.

Paul: I am absolutely opposed to a national ID card. This is a total contradiction of what a free society is all about.

Paul: The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government. We don't need a national ID card.

Moderator: Mr. Tancredo, do you agree with the need for a national tamper-proof ID card?

Tancredo: We do not need a national -- I do not think we need a national ID card, much for the reasons that Dr. Paul said. We absolutely need a verifiable Social Security card. They are two separate things. I believe that we can accomplish the former without jeopardizing individuals liberties...

Moderator: But you say legally you have to be who you say you are?

Tancredo: Pardon me?

Moderator: You have to be the person on that card.

Tancredo: That is absolutely what I'm saying. It's got to be verifiable, absolutely.

Moderator: OK, let me go to a question that's more ephemeral and it is passing and it will decided in the next several months. We'll go down the line again. This isn't as much fun as cutting taxes. Do you think Scooter Libby should be pardoned.

Governor?

Romney: I don't think somebody who is running for president, let alone someone who is president, should make that decision until the judicial process is complete. I can tell you that I think it was outrageous for the prosecutor, knowing that Scooter Libby was not the source of the leak, to go ahead and begin interviewing him, gathering information, setting up a case against him.

I think it was prosecutorial indiscretion.

And by the way, the national ID card -- that's for aliens, not for citizens.

Moderator: Oh, you don't want a national ID card, Governor?

Romney: No, it's for those that come here outside the country.

Moderator: Mayor Giuliani, you want it for everyone, right?

Giuliani: No, no, I'm talking about it for people who come into the United States, foreigners, people who come in as immigrants into the United States.

Moderator: OK, that will be tested...

Giuliani: The only way in which you know who they are.

Moderator: That will be interesting how that's tested.

Let me got to senator. Do you think Scooter Libby should be...

(Unknown): Let the legal process move forward, and I'd leave that up to President Bush. And I think he could go either way on that.

Moderator: The judge is going to rule on that case next month and decide whether he will be in prison during his appeal. Would you let it go, let him be imprisoned?

(Unknown): At this point in time, I would leave that up to the president, if at the end of the term, he decides to let him out.

Moderator: You don't encourage him to repeal, to...

(Unknown): I would see willingness to go either way on that, because the underlying facts of this case are ones where there was not a law that was violated. So what they're saying is: OK, you didn't remember right, and that's what you're being prosecuted, and that was what you were guilty for. And, my goodness...

Moderator: Two noes. Two no pardons so far.

Gilmore: First, Chris, I think that, like...

Moderator: Not yet.

Gilmore: Not yet. Like others, I think that we have to deal with these papers, with respect to illegal immigrants, not with respect to all Americans. We should not have a national ID card. We should have that more diffused across the states.

With respect to Scooter Libby, I actually was an elected prosecutor. I handled many cases myself, and I also managed many other cases. The law has to apply within the discretion of the prosecutor.

Now, if the president is going to exercise -- which I have, by the way, done myself, as a chief executive -- pardons or clemency, in this particular case, as high-profile as it is, you have to go to the American people and make your case as to why that kind of discretion ought to be applied. And if he can't make that case, then he shouldn't do it.

Moderator: So we don't want another Marc Rich.

Gilmore: Pardon?

Moderator: Never mind.

(Laughter)

Picking the president — the candidates Click a name below to visit that candidate’s MSNBC page • Joe Biden                 • Sam Brownback     • Hillary Clinton          • Chris Dodd • John Edwards         • Rudy Giuliani           • Mike Gravel              • Duncan Hunter • Mike Huckabee        • Dennis Kucinich     • John McCain           • Barack Obama • Ron Paul                    • Bill Richardson      • Mitt Romney            • Tom Tancredo • Fred Thompson To subscribe to a candidate page RSS feed, click here.

MORE FROM THE DEBATES

The debates Section Front

Clinton, Obama rumble in Cleveland Fineman: Hillary's last stand Clinton, Obama debate in Calif. Romney, McCain clash in California Economy central issue to Republican debate Todd: Let the sunshine in Obama, Clinton clash in fierce S.C. debate Newsweek: Fact-checking the Democratic debate Dem front-runners seek common ground in debate Watching Tuesday's parallel campaign dramas The debates Section Front   Add The debates headlines to your news reader: