If you will allow me the “audacity of hope,” it is my hope that every voting-age American who did not watch the GOP debate last night will sit down and give it full attention when it re-airs on CNN Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
Watch it, then remind yourself: one of these men might be the next president of the United States.
While the candidates themselves had no control over the questions, and CNN and YouTube vetted them, they were posed by Americans via YouTube video.
It is apparent that, contrary to what I had thought, “God, gays and guns” are still main concerns of those who will vote Republican.
So prevalent was the issue of “illegal immigration,” I found myself thinking of Charlton Heston, staring down at the Statue of Liberty protruding from the sand, and screaming, “You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you!”
Other questions were primarily about God (“Do you read and believe the Holy Bible?” and “What would Jesus do?”), gays, the 2nd Amendment and guns, abortion, torture and 9/11 and the Islamic Jihadist threat to America.
They were about a mindset.
The loudest booing came when Ron Paul attempted to explain jihadists hate us because of our policies toward the Middle East for the last several decades, and when Rudy Giuliani dared to suggest some gun ownership must be regulated.
The one question on Iraq – shouldn’t the U.S. establish permanent bases and remain there indefinitely to protect the region? – created a verbal tap dance onstage.
At times, Ron Paul seemed the only voice of reason, then he had to go and say we have to get government out of our lives, while pointing out the necessity of things only a federal government can do – such as “rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.”
As one post-debate panelist said, “What you didn’t hear was the name George Bush. They are trying to distance themselves from him, yet, with the exception of Ron Paul, they agree with him on almost every issue.”
These issues did not come up: education, health care, energy, global warming, the economy, Iran.
During the post-debate coverage a group of “undecided Republicans” remained undecided, could not pick a debate winner and expressed interest in one overriding criterion: who can beat Hillary Clinton.
I don’t have a problem with that, as I support the one person I believe can defeat this less-than-illustrious field – and restore this nation’s soul.
Watch Saturday night. If you are conservative and Republican or liberal and Democrat, ask yourself if what you see represents your own ideals, your own hope for your country.
This might just be the most important two hours you will spend before Election 2008.
Watch it like your future depends on it.
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demwit
Chronicling the absurd, the obnoxious, the outright lies, the occasional truths and the downright mystical out of the mouths of politicians and pundits.
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- B.J.
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6 comments:
Was the debate not pitiful? As you said, BJ, they failed to discuss anything substantive.
Somebody needs to advise Huckabee on the pronunciation of "irrevocable."
What scares me is that what we may consider "substantitive" may not be part of the new way. I am not one of the voters out there that require that candidates carry on for GW or his vision. But I think I may be a minority. This is the scarey part--seeing if you have a political voice, though you have an opinion. We can't go anywhere but forward though, so I'm glad to see an opportunity for change. I will never forget my fear as I stayed up all night the night GW was and was not elected. After 17 years of prosperity, it didn't look good. Good Luck to us all. Eowyn.
Eowyn!!! Great to hear from you. Our mutual friend, the hobbit, has gone to see about his mom in Arizona and will return home Tuesday. I probably won't post on my blog again until Monday as I have to work on my Christmas mailing. Thanks for reading! By the way, if you want to get around the "anonymous," you can select "nickname" or "other," then go to the bottom of the screen and type "Eowyn" in the place provided. :-) BJ
BJ, I watched this last night also and thought, "Well, that was a wasted two hours." I simply could not believe what I was seeing
and hearing. I kept waiting to hear something of substance that
concerns the American people, the economy, jobs, health care,
global warming, education, rebuilding our infrastructure, bringing our troops home alive and well instead of in body bags or maimed and mutilated for the rest of their lives, etc. Not a peep out of any
of them concerning the troops, their conditions, how many are
100% disabled for the rest of their lives and what it is going to
cost to take care of them. Nor how they come back addicted to
drugs, commit suicide, are homeless, no job--the whole nine yards related to the military. Not a word about how many have gone AWOL because they can't take any more of Iraq.
Not one peep from any of them on the important issues that pertain to the lives of the masses of the people. To me the whole thing was a
sham and so disgusting that it was sickening. I guess I don't want to
believe that people in this nation are as uneducated and dense as
what was portrayed on the airways last night. Enough of this, it still
nauseates me to just think about it. And the audience was full of
this administration's DC hacks, including Karl Rove. Today, when it
was announced that Henry--youthful indiscretion--Hyde is dead, I
thought, so is the rest of that party!
Last night was a further disgrace to our country and its people.
Jan, I had thought the illegal immigration issue had replaced the God, gays, guns and abortion “hot buttons” with the Republicans, and the fact that all are still the primary concerns of so many in our nation struck me as genuinely tragic.
The America people need to see this for themselves – in its entirety, not just looking at individual candidates or focusing on answers to individual questions.
Here are the messages sent:
We are Christians, and we are better than adherents to all other religions.
We were born Americans, and that makes us better than person of any other nationality.
We are heterosexual, and that makes us better than anyone with alternate sexual preferences and lifestyles.
We have perfect families so we can mandate family planning for others.
We are conservatives, and that makes us better than Americans of more liberal thinking.
We are the Party of Exclusion.
At times, the audience didn’t know whether to boo or clap. They booed merit-based scholarships for children of illegal immigrants and cheered the suggestion that children should not be punished for their parents’ crime.
If we wake up the morning after Election 2008 and find out this “America” won, I am afraid our fate is sealed.
Again, in all fairness to the candidates, they didn’t select the questions: those came from Americans.
Where the candidates, for the most part, fell short was in their apparent struggle to appease those of such a biased mindset.
As I think back, GW had goals he wanted to reach that didn't even hint at the endless war and loss of life. He began with a program to end the years of prosperity for the masses and replace control in the hands of employers, government, etc. I couldn't at the time imagine this. But I sure learned over time as so many people lost jobs and so many early retirements came about--without the safety nets of pension or insurance--that the people entering the job market would eventually be a new generation. GW said he wanted to replace control with the employer. Well, then we got to the war . . .The deficit that will control actions for a long time to come. You know, it will take a long long time to correct this situation, not just financially. He's wiped out an era. Replaced it with another era, over time. Laid a lot of groundwork for his "programs" to remain in place. I look for change, but I don't think it's like he will be gone, and we'll all get back to what we see as normal. It's a different world he leaves than that which he entered. ALL we can hope is that the change hasn't gone too far for us to recognize "normal" again. Eowyn--thank you for telling me where Frodo is. Hard as it may be he'd be one sorry pup if he wasn't there.
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