Republicans adopt hardline position for presidential race

TAMPA, the United States - US Republicans Tuesday laid out a hardline policy platform at its quadrennial convention here, pledging to repeal President Barack Obama's health care reform, ban abortions, reject gun control and bolster the national defense.

Warning that "American Dream is at risk," Republicans promised to "begin anew, with profound changes in the way government operates; the way it budgets, taxes and regulates."

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, head of the party's 110-member platform committee, said the ambitious blueprint, which projected "a sea change" in the way that the government works, offered "a solution for workers without jobs, families without savings and neighborhoods without hope."

On job creation, the central theme of this year's presidential race, the Republic Party said it would create jobs through boosting economic growth, instead of using subsidies and spending to create temporary jobs.

It rejected tax rises and pledged to extend the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 pending reform of the tax code, and back constitutional amendments to balance the federal budget.

Republicans vowed to repeal Obama's iconic health care reform, while proposing "a plan based on improving health care quality and lowering costs and a system that promotes the free market and gives consumers more choice."

The party also voiced its long-standing opposition to same-sex marriage, reiterated its anti-abortion stance, and rejected funds or subsidies for health care.

On immigration, it rejected any form of amnesty for illegal immigrants, while supporting the states, including Arizona and Alabama, in imposing tough measures against illegal immigrants. It is also against federal funding to universities that provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants.

Despite a series of tragic incidents involving guns, Republicans insisted on their opposition to any legislation that will restrict the gun rights and vowed to reject the attempt to restore the assault weapon ban that expired in 2004.

On defense, the Republican Party supported "the concept of American exceptionalism - the conviction that our country holds a unique place and role in human history."

It criticized the Obama administration for its "weak positions" toward rivals and reduction in military spending, vowing to restore "as a principal objective the deterrence using the full spectrum of our military capabilities."

Democrats on Tuesday immediately slammed the Republican platform, with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was in Tampa, blasting it as too "extreme" on issues such as abortion and immigration.