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October 17, 2012

Candidates Spar over Unemployment, Economic Policy 
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Tuesday night marked the first presidential debate moderated by a woman
in two decades. Contraception and other so-called women's issues were
featured more prominently than in the first debate. The candidates also
sparred over unemployment and taxes.

Mitt Romney: "The president's policies have been exercised over the last
four years, and they haven't put Americans back to work. We have fewer
people working today than we had when the president took office. If the
— the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent when he took office; it's
7.8 percent now. But if you calculated that unemployment rate taking
back the people who dropped out of the work force, it would be 10.7
percent. We have not made the progress we need to make to put people
back to work. That's why I put out a five-point plan that gets America
12 million new jobs in four years and rising take-home pay."

President Obama: "Governor Romney says he's got a five-point plan.
Governor Romney doesn't have a five-point plan; he has a one-point plan.
And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different
set of rules. That's been his philosophy in the private sector; that's
been his philosophy as governor; that's been his philosophy as a
presidential candidate."

 

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