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

[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.