B
Bruzilla
Guest
I sat through the entire Dems debate... er... I mean "forum" at the AFL-CIO last night. Apprently labeling the event as a "debate" would invoke the belief that the AFL-CIO was a partisan operation because it was sponsoring a political event for only one particular party. In order to maintain the appearance of being non-partisan there was a joking comment from the president of the AFL-CIO that President Bush had been invited to the "forum" but had declined. But other than the fact that all nine Dems took turns answering questions posed by a moderator, and argued who's plans were the best, the event looked nothing at all like a Democratic presidential candidate debate.
Here's what I learned from the experience:
1. George W. Bush is the cause of everything that's wrong in the US and the world.
2. Anything that Bush hasn't gotten around to screwing up has been screwed up by John Ashcroft.
3. Amazingly... Dick Cheny is not responsible for anyone's problems.
4. The business ethics problems at ENRON, Global Crossing, World Com, etc., all started immediately after George W. Bush was sworn into office. Up until that second they were strictly following all business regulations.
5. The Democrats will get tough on businesses by: forcing manufacturing companies to return to the US to make stuff; forcing businesses to comply with tough new environmental standards; forcing businesses to pay employees more money and offer better benefits.
6. The Democrats promised to make sure all Americans earned a good livable wage. What exactly a "good livable wage" is going to be after all of the cost inflations from item 5 above come into play was not defined.
7. Gun control is a taboo subject.
8. Crime control is a taboo subject.
9. All of our public education problems will be solved when the next Dem president dumps a lot more money into teacher salaries.
10. Dems are 99% opposed to school voucher programs. The last 1% is comprised of Joe Lieberman who said (over a chorus of boos) that he's wanting to have a limited test of voucher programs in inner cities (boos), that will be funded by an unknown source and won't take away money from any public schools (boos), and after the tests are over he'll listen to what the parents think make the private schools better than the public ones, and incorporate those improvements into the public schools. Hey! I'm serious! I'm not making this up! It was amazing watching a politician gore himself right on the stage just because of a few boos from the crowd. He literally turned into a human waffle right before my eyes.
11. There will be no more "Right to Work" states if a Dem is elected. If 50% or more of a business's employees want to unionize, they can. And the other 50% who don't want a union will be forced to join or look for another job.
12. In the debate, the Dems created the uneasy marriage of education and homeland defense. They were treated as the same topic, but when answers were offered the candidates only talked about education and next to nothing about homeland security. I guess this way they could say that they covered the homeland security topic but not have to actually say anything about it.
13. People making over $80,000 a year need to pay more payroll taxes in order to keep social security solvent.
14. The US tax codes need to be made more "fair" by forcing the "Rich" to pay more.
15. There's some disagreement over retirement ages. Dennis Kucinich wants it rolled back to age 65 because "by age 65 most people just want to quit." Harry Dean wants to raise it to either 67 or 70 depending on who's talking (Kucinich said that Deans wants 70, and Dean denied it.) There was no comment from the seniors about "wanting to quit" at age 65.
16. Universal heathcare will become a reality if any of the nine candidates wins. Who will pay for it is a bit vague at the moment, along with how it will be implemented. The overall view is that "Universal healthcare" translates to providing heathcare to anyone who cannot afford it now... which translates into those who can afford will keep paying and will also pay more to cover those who can't.
17. Trickle-Down economics are evil, and the only way to get people back to work and save the economy is to invest in businesses and give them tax breaks to encourage expansion and growth, and to offer businesses... wait a minute... isn't that just the trickle-down theory in a different suit? Instead of giving tax breaks to individuals for them to invest, the breaks will go to the companies the individuals own. No wait... that can't be right... then the rich guys who own the companies will be making even more money! I guess the Dems haven't thought things out that far yet. They need to develop a magic plan that will allow businesses to grow and pay some of their employees lots of money, and generate lots of tax revenue, but won't allow the rich owners to make an extra penney. There must be a way!:razz2:
18. Despite the fact that every person on the stage is worth a fortune, they all wished to let the "average" person know that they are with them, they understand their needs, and they are no different from the hard working middle-class of America. Then they got in their limos and left.
Here's what I learned from the experience:
1. George W. Bush is the cause of everything that's wrong in the US and the world.
2. Anything that Bush hasn't gotten around to screwing up has been screwed up by John Ashcroft.
3. Amazingly... Dick Cheny is not responsible for anyone's problems.
4. The business ethics problems at ENRON, Global Crossing, World Com, etc., all started immediately after George W. Bush was sworn into office. Up until that second they were strictly following all business regulations.
5. The Democrats will get tough on businesses by: forcing manufacturing companies to return to the US to make stuff; forcing businesses to comply with tough new environmental standards; forcing businesses to pay employees more money and offer better benefits.
6. The Democrats promised to make sure all Americans earned a good livable wage. What exactly a "good livable wage" is going to be after all of the cost inflations from item 5 above come into play was not defined.
7. Gun control is a taboo subject.
8. Crime control is a taboo subject.
9. All of our public education problems will be solved when the next Dem president dumps a lot more money into teacher salaries.
10. Dems are 99% opposed to school voucher programs. The last 1% is comprised of Joe Lieberman who said (over a chorus of boos) that he's wanting to have a limited test of voucher programs in inner cities (boos), that will be funded by an unknown source and won't take away money from any public schools (boos), and after the tests are over he'll listen to what the parents think make the private schools better than the public ones, and incorporate those improvements into the public schools. Hey! I'm serious! I'm not making this up! It was amazing watching a politician gore himself right on the stage just because of a few boos from the crowd. He literally turned into a human waffle right before my eyes.
11. There will be no more "Right to Work" states if a Dem is elected. If 50% or more of a business's employees want to unionize, they can. And the other 50% who don't want a union will be forced to join or look for another job.
12. In the debate, the Dems created the uneasy marriage of education and homeland defense. They were treated as the same topic, but when answers were offered the candidates only talked about education and next to nothing about homeland security. I guess this way they could say that they covered the homeland security topic but not have to actually say anything about it.
13. People making over $80,000 a year need to pay more payroll taxes in order to keep social security solvent.
14. The US tax codes need to be made more "fair" by forcing the "Rich" to pay more.
15. There's some disagreement over retirement ages. Dennis Kucinich wants it rolled back to age 65 because "by age 65 most people just want to quit." Harry Dean wants to raise it to either 67 or 70 depending on who's talking (Kucinich said that Deans wants 70, and Dean denied it.) There was no comment from the seniors about "wanting to quit" at age 65.
16. Universal heathcare will become a reality if any of the nine candidates wins. Who will pay for it is a bit vague at the moment, along with how it will be implemented. The overall view is that "Universal healthcare" translates to providing heathcare to anyone who cannot afford it now... which translates into those who can afford will keep paying and will also pay more to cover those who can't.
17. Trickle-Down economics are evil, and the only way to get people back to work and save the economy is to invest in businesses and give them tax breaks to encourage expansion and growth, and to offer businesses... wait a minute... isn't that just the trickle-down theory in a different suit? Instead of giving tax breaks to individuals for them to invest, the breaks will go to the companies the individuals own. No wait... that can't be right... then the rich guys who own the companies will be making even more money! I guess the Dems haven't thought things out that far yet.
They need to develop a magic plan that will allow businesses to grow and pay some of their employees lots of money, and generate lots of tax revenue, but won't allow the rich owners to make an extra penney. There must be a way!:razz2: 18. Despite the fact that every person on the stage is worth a fortune, they all wished to let the "average" person know that they are with them, they understand their needs, and they are no different from the hard working middle-class of America. Then they got in their limos and left.
