My last post on the debates (probably)

[vovat]

So, I've now watched all three presidential debates. I finally got to see the infamous "Want some wood?" incident, and hear about "battling green eyeshades." Other favorite Bush-isms from the second debate included "These aren't makeup numbers" and his mention of support for a "hydrogen-generated automobile." Bush apparently wants Supreme Court Justices who will interpret the Constitution without taking their own opinions into account? (Um, how can you interpret something without having an opinion on it? And, for that matter, what does the Pledge of Allegiance have to do with the Constitution?) He also said that the world would be better off if Saddam were still in power. And was he winking to someone after talking about Medicare, or was that just a blink or a nervous twitch?

In the interest of fairness (or, more accurately, just because it amused me), I'm also going to mention a Kerry slip-up from the third debate. He said something like, "It's against the law to hire immigrants illegally." No, really? {g}


I thought both candidates talked about God too much. At least Kerry seems to understand the concept of separation of church and state, though. Bush, for all his talk about how people should be respected whether or not they believe in "the Almighty," is clearly using his religion to shape his policies on gay marriage and abortion. When Kerry talked in the second debate about how he couldn't base national abortion policies on his own religious beliefs, Bush said something about how he had trouble deciphering it. What an idiot. It was while answering the same question that Bush tried to reduce abortion to a simple yes or no issue. I agree with Kerry that it isn't that simple. That's another problem I have with Bush-style conservatives. They want to reduce everything to simple black-and-white issues. Saddam is bad. Abortion is bad. America is good. Jesus is good.

Along the same lines, "liberal" is apparently a bad word, while "competitive" is good. Funny, since I think pretty much the opposite.

According to Bush, if you don't have a job, you should go to community college. Well, guess what? I have a Master's degree, and, while I like the jobs I have, I'm not making a living wage. Plenty of other people with Bachelor's degrees or better are out of work. And Bush thinks people are suddenly going to get jobs with only an Associate's? Besides, that's only half the issue. What about blue-collar workers, or people seeking working in other fields that don't require a college education? Is Bush doing anything to improve their conditions, raise their wages, or help the unemployed ones to find new jobs? Not as far as I know. College is not a magical ticket to employment, and Bush doesn't seem to realize that. I guess it's just part of his utter disregard for anyone who isn't rich.

Bush's thoughts on health care are pretty much the same way. We can't have government-sponsored health care, because that would lower the quality. Well, hey, I guess that's a possibility for the people who can afford top-quality health care now, but what about those of us who don't have ANY health care at all? The ability to choose your own doctor or insurance plan doesn't do much good when you can't afford any of them. And his statement about the American health care system being the envy of the rest of the world is total bullshit. I've heard it's better in most of Europe, and I don't believe the garbage Bush is trying to feed us about Canada using harmful drugs from Third World nations. I'd be willing to bet that most Americans would only benefit from universal health care. But no, that would be SOCIALISM, which would result in Stalin coming back to life and taking over, or something.

And, as a final note, what's with Bush constantly repeating that we've captured or destroyed 75% of Al Qaeda? How does he know that? Isn't it a SECRET organization? Something tells me fuzzy math and "makeup numbers" are at work here.

Comments

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

College is not a magical ticket to employment, and Bush doesn't seem to realize that.

Yeah, he won't shut up about education. While education (hm, much like "freedom") is fine and dandy, it is not the instant fix-it to everything, plus of course the fact that his plan has really not worked... but he thinks if he repeats those words enough times in response to every question, then people will ignore everything else.

I did think it was funny how Bush kept calling Kerry "the liberal senator from Massachusetts" like it was a dirty word. I guess to the Bushies, it is, but it seems like you'd want to try and bridge the gap more. I'm trying to pretend that that's why Kerry talks about God and not allowing gay marriage and hunting and other Republican-friendly stuff. :)

I think the "some wood" thing is the only debate "incident" I didn't see or even hear much about...

[countblastula.livejournal.com]

>I think the "some wood" thing is the only debate "incident" I didn't see or even hear much about...

Did you see this?

[3x1minus1.livejournal.com]

best icon evvvvvar.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "education" is very much a buzzword for Bush. I guess it's something that's hard to argue with, sort of like "support our troops." The devil is in the details, though, and Bush likes to avoid details.

It really seems like the conservatives have defined the playing field for the debates and such, which is kind of odd, since I think more Americans are registered Democrat than Republican. When Bush accuses Kerry of being liberal, instead of saying something like, "Thank you! I take that as a compliment!", he talks about how labels don't matter. Which I generally agree with, mind you, but I do wish he had pointed out that being liberal isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As for God, Kerry has made it clear that he's a devout Catholic, but he's not going to let his religion rule the United States. I kind of wish they'd leave God out of the debates entirely, but I was impressed by Kerry's comments about separation of church and state (even if Bush wasn't). It's kind of ironic that it's the Protestant candidate who's totally anti-abortion, but fundamentalist Protestants are often just as strict on this issue as the Catholics, if not more so (even though I don't think the Bible says anything either way about abortion).

[3x1minus1.livejournal.com]

i've had my air america station on all day (heh) and ed schultz was talking about this community college business. i get the impression bush said that in regards to people losing their jobs to outsourcing, which is even worse. :p grrrr.

[revme.livejournal.com]

I have always hated the "...but...but... that's SOCIALISM!" argument, because while I assume the folks who use it figure that there's Nothing Worse Than That so Nothing More Needs To Be Said, it's not really enough for the rest of us. Since there's some bits that make sense.

Anyway, though it was kinda funny, when Bush said that, I was all "You know, after Canada..... and Scandinavia.... and Cuba[1]..."

[1] A while ago, Michael Moore's show TV Nation did the Health Care Olympics between the US, Canada and Cuba. On the TV show, Canada won, but in his book "Adventures in a TV Nation", he revealed that Cuba actually won, but NBC freaked out at saying that and forced him to change it to Canada. I think Cuba might still have come in second on the TV show, though, but it's been forever, and they haven't put it out on DVD yet, which is sad, since I always thought TV Nation kicked Awful Truth's ass.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I get the feeling that a lot of the people who are brainwashed by the "socialism=bad" propaganda are the ones who would actually benefit the most from more socialistic economic policies. I remember riding a bus during the Clinton administration, and overhearing the driver complaining about how Hillary Clinton was a socialist. I don't know what the health plan is like for bus drivers, but I tend to doubt it was that much better than what he would have gotten if they had instituted Hillary's plan.

Anyway, though it was kinda funny, when Bush said that, I was all "You know, after Canada..... and Scandinavia.... and Cuba[1]..."

But you can thank your lucky stars we don't live in Paraguay!

[onib.livejournal.com]

I loved, in the last debate, how Bush would get a question and then ramble some nonsense for a while before finding a way to draw it back to a subject with which he was comforable. The education solution to job loss was a fine example. So, Bush's response to someone who's had their job outsourced overseas is that they should go to a community college to train for a "21st century job," whatever that is, and that they should accept that their former company is doing America a favor by firing them and becoming more competative.

My favorite exchange from the last debate was (to paraphrase):
Kerry: President Bush broke his promise to the American people by not funding No Child Left Behind at anywhere near the level he told us he would.
Bush:Only a liberal Democratic Senator from Massachusetts would think that increasing funding for education by 50% isn't good enough.

Um, that's not what he said. He said you made a promise and didn't follow through. And if 50% is sufficient, then why did you initially say that you would fund it at a higher level than that.

*sigh* I'm so ready for this whole process to be over, but terrified of what the turnout just might be.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Remember when, during the second debate, a woman asked Bush about three mistakes he'd made during his term, and he spent most of time talking about what he thought he'd done RIGHT? To be fair, I'm sure most of us have dodged a question or answered a different but similar one when put on the spot like that. The thing is, I think I, personally, would have more respect for someone who admitted he didn't know the answer to a question than for someone who answered with unrelated but ostensibly positive stuff ("No more Saddam! Free democratic elections in Iraq! Wait, what was the question again?"). Maybe I'm unusual in this respect, though.

As I mentioned in my post, I'm annoyed at how people seem to think "competitive" is a good word. I guess it's seen positively because competition can keep prices down, but it also results in companies going out of business and employees being fired.

[onib.livejournal.com]

I remember that. A great question for someone who never admits to doing anything wrong! He thinks if he rambles on about a lot of other things you'll forget what the question was in the first place.

I also love the fact that he is asked to name 3 mistakes he has made, and the only true answer he gives is a vaugely worded statement about people he appointed that he turned out not to like. Isn't it great when the only mistake you can think of is that other people failed you? I so agree with you - a person gains so much respect in my eyes when they admit to a mistake or to not understanding a question rather than blaming others or rambling on about some unrelated thing.