Meanwhile, Back in This Country, The Last Presidential Debate

Meanwhile, Back in This Country, The Last Presidential Debate

By Anthony Wade

Pre-Debate

We have talked about Iraq , Afghanistan , Iran , North Korea , Syria and any number of other countries for the past few months while there was another country that is in desperate need of attention. That country of course would be the United States of America . Bush was quoted as saying recently that some believe that Iraq is on a better track for the future than our own country. That's a toss up but it reveals that Bush has definitely spent far more time and energy on the future and the infrastructure of other countries than our own.

Tonight the agenda turns to domestic issues. You remember them, don't you? The most crucial issues are the economy, jobs (or the lack thereof), healthcare, civil liberties, and homeland security. These are the most important crises facing us right now and George Bush offers little more than the same course. As such, he will want to divert our attention tonight. Every question spent on stem cell research, abortion or gay marriage is another question he does not have to face on his terrible record on what should matter most to you. Before turning to the central problems, let's deal with these peripheral issues.

Stem cell research is certainly a consideration this election but in this world today that should not be what swings your vote. Bush wants the status quo to remain, which is to say that we will not learn anything lifesaving because the 12 lines he currently allows are already corrupted. John Kerry wants to proceed in a sensitive but forward-thinking way. There are currently an abundance of other cell lines which are frozen. They will never have a chance to become a human life; this is a diversion by the GOP. In fact, they will be destroyed or they will be used for the betterment of mankind. Bush wants them destroyed; Kerry wants to see their potential to cure the now, incurable. Staunch Republican, Orrin Hatch has summed this issue up very succinctly, "being pro-life should mean helping the living".

Abortion is the tough one for Kerry. His belief is that while he is pro-life, he cannot legislate morality because of the diversity of beliefs in this country. That argument will not make the religious right happy but there is a great deal of hypocrisy there. Pro-lifers should not be cross enrolled in the National Rifle Association and be pro-death penalty. Pro-lifers should not be supporting a president that is aborting 21 year olds every day on the battle field. Christianity and all religion loses its face when it becomes enraptured in politics, where it does not belong. It is one thing to say you are Christian and quite another to live a Christ-like life. For a longer perspective on this, please see my previous article on this subject The Christian, Pro-Life, Pro-Kerry, Anti-Bush Argument

Gay marriage is the ultimate red herring in this debate. Both candidates actually have the same position, which is that gays should have equal protection under the law, but marriage is a biblical term. Bush pretends that he is for an amendment, but the political reality is that he put forth that amendment when he KNEW it did not have the votes for it to pass. It was a political stunt to rally his base. How can we be sure of this? Ask yourself one question. Why did Bush wait three and a half years to propose it, in the middle of an election season?

Once you strip away the hype of these issues, on the domestic front we have the real meat of what is going on in this country. Economically, this country is a disaster and getting worse, besides the spin Bush puts on it about turning a corner. A non-partisan report released yesterday indicated that more than a quarter of all working families, including 20 million children are considered low-income or poor. There are 2.5 million working families officially living in poverty, earning less than $18,392 for a family of four. What was the president's response to the declining economy? Tax breaks for the richest people in this country. This year alone, the richest 1% of this country will receive 148 billion dollars from this president. If you think that is a smart course of action, then vote for this president. If you think that the rich can afford to sacrifice in a time of war, you should vote for Kerry.

Ronald Reagan once asked the vital question, are you better off than you were four years ago? That is the question that must be answered tonight. Let's put Saddam and bin Laden away for one night and let's turn back to the country we live in.

The Debate

It is almost a shame that John Kerry won the first debate so handily because it lowers the expectation bar so much that as long as Bush does not say something bizarre, he comes off looking good. I think that on style, this debate was a draw, although Bush seemed to be snickering an awful lot, at some serious issues. On substance though, Kerry again scored a victory. Let's look at the substance:

Absolute, Bald-Face Lie of the Night - No surprise, it goes to George Bush. John Kerry correctly pointed out early on in the debate that six months after saying he wanted bin Laden, Dead or Alive, Bush said that he wasn't concerned about bin Laden much anymore. Bush responded by saying, "I don't recall saying that". Well, Mr. President, allow me to remind you. On Wednesday March 13, 2002 , six months after 911, President Bush said the following when asked about bin Laden:

"He's a person that's now been marginalized. I truly am not that concerned about him."

Once again, George W. Bush lying to the American people.

Runner-Up Lie - Bush and Kerry did correct some of the misrepresentations made in the last debate. There was however a continuation of Bush lying about Kerry voting for tax increases 98 times when it was really less than half that, over a 20-year senate career.

The Lewin Group - George Bush cited the Lewin Group as a non-partisan group that supported his assertion that the Kerry healthcare plan would amount to a government takeover. Not so fast Mr. President. The Lewin Group actually found that an estimated 97% of Americans who now have health insurance will simply keep the plan they have, according to projections by the independent, politically neutral health-care research firm. Additionally, the Lewin Group's vice president, John Sheils, disputes the Bush claim:

I don't see how, in Kerry's plan, decisions on medical procedures would be made in Washington under any circumstances, under any proposal.

Nice try Mr. President.

The Liberal Charge - The new strategy from Bush is to say the word liberal every other word. Bush is constantly charging that Kerry is a "tax and spend liberal". The striking comment, made more than once tonight by Bush, was a need for "fiscal sanity". These are the facts. George Bush has not vetoed one spending bill or any bill in his entire presidency. In fact, just last week the GOP passed an obscene "sprawling" corporate tax bill. Here is what was approved:

Corporations and farmers received 145 billion dollars in subsidies

27.9 billion for corporations who earn profits abroad

101 million dollars for NASCAR race track owners

44 million dollars for importers of Chinese ceiling fans (Home Depot is a large Bush donor)

Republican Senator John McCain has called this bill, "a disgrace". The fact of the matter is that George Bush has ruled with fiscal insanity. He has no credibility left to stand on when he questions votes cast by Kerry 20 years ago. John McCain has also been quoted that the GOP run Congress spends money like a drunken sailor and that Bush "shares the blame for not using his veto power". What is more important to you? The fact that John Kerry voted for the Clinton tax cuts that reinvigorated the economy or the fact that George Bush has behaved in such a fiscally irresponsible manner that his own party distances themselves from him. They both should and Bush loses on both sides.

The Record on Veterans - Bush claimed, "veterans getting very good healthcare under my leadership". Unfortunately for the president, he can run but he cannot hide. Here are the specifics:

In January 2003, rather than seek additional funding, the VA instituted a new policy that blocked approximately 164,000 middle-income veterans from enrolling in the VA health care system. VA Spokesman Jim Benson said the "temporary adjustment" was needed to relieve a "strain on resources" caused by increased demand.

Bush's 2005 budget will institute a new annual $250 enrollment fee and an increase in prescription drug co-pays from $7 to $15 for middle-income veterans. In 2003, Bush tried to pass the same charges on middle-income veterans, only to be rebuffed his own Republican-led Congress. And in December 2001, Bush more than tripled the prescription co-payments for non-service-connected veterans from $2 to $7.

At a time when demand for VA health care is at its highest point in history, the White House guaranteed "the waiting list for medical care will be reduced from its high of 300,000 to zero in early 2004." Waiting lists may indeed decline if middle-income veteran health care recipients decide not enroll in the VA health care system and others drop out due to the new proposed user fees. VFW Commander-in-Chief Edward Banas said, "The budget seeks to drive veterans from the system by realigning funding, charging enrollment fees for access and more than doubling the prescription drug co-payment." DAV and AMVETS estimated that more than 500,000 middle- and low-income veterans would be forced out of the VA medical system, leaving many without access to affordable health care.

That is the truth behind the rhetoric.

It's The Tax Lies Stupid - Bush actually had the gall to say that, "most of the tax cuts went to the middle and lower class". This is patently false. As I have pointed out, the recent "middle class" tax cut actually saw 44% go to the top 20% of wage earners with the middle 20% only seeing 10%. It is a lie, period and we cannot afford to fall for it anymore. The top 1% this year will see 148 billion dollars in tax breaks. If you think that is ok, during a time of war, with a 500 billion dollar deficit, then you should vote for Bush. If not, Kerry should be the choice.

The Cheney Family Hypocrisy - A valid point brought up in the debate was the fact that Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian, and as such Kerry doubted she felt that she "chose" to be gay (which was the question Bush avoided answering by saying I don't know). First, after the debate Lynne Cheney apparently blasted Senator Kerry about bringing her daughter up. This is the same Lynne Cheney that recently destroyed 300,000 parent guides because they referenced national standards and did not pay enough attention to American historical figures, such as Robert E. Lee.

Memo to Lynne:

Your daughter is gay. Your husband quietly goes along with the president as he is against gay rights and wants to amend the constitution. Deal with the hypocrisy before you start trying to comment politically.

The second person who was "offended" was Pat Buchanan. This is a man who Dennis Miller once said was "so homophobic he blames global warming on the AIDS quilt". What he chose to not address in his outrage was the blatant hypocrisy that Cheney brings to the issue. Try to be intellectually honest Pat.

Joe Scarborough also objected and said that " middle America was offended". Stop the insanity Joe. For those of you who don't know, Scarborough was a republican Congressman before becoming a faux journalist. Joe said, "Make no mistake; John Kerry was trying to embarrass the president". No Joe, he was trying to point out the blatant hypocrisy of a vice president who supports anti-gay legislation while having a gay daughter.

Was it a tactical error, maybe. Was it unseemly, no. What is unseemly is to have an administration that wants to amend the constitution while the vice president has a gay daughter. What is worse though is to have partisan forces posing as journalists, or commentators try and shape the most minute issue, to take away from the real issues affecting us all. More on this later.

Uhhm, Mr. President, That Wasn't The Question - Continuing the trend Bush has to not actually answer the question we saw an interesting answer to the question about whether there should be a raise in the minimum wage. Bush's response never addressed the actual question instead he went into a bizarre filibuster on his education plan, No Child Left Behind. Somewhere out there were millions of unemployed Americans who went, huh? This is a stark example of how out of touch George Bush is with the American people. There are millions of people in America living in poverty and the answer from Bush to solve their problems is to talk about an unfunded mandate that addresses school children. Way to connect George.

Similarly, when asked about affirmative action, Bush again returned to education, somehow drawing a parallel between the two that simply does not exist.

Bush also evaded the direct question about whether he would overturn Roe V. Wade. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Pell Grants - Bush once again showed that he is out of touch with the needs of college students in this country. When the subject of Pell Grants came up, Bush defended his record by saying that a million more Pell Grants had been handed out under his administration. Problem? That is because more people qualified for the program, indicating an increase in the poor. Additionally, the point made by Kerry was that the $5,100 limit has not been met PER Pell Grant. George Bush did not seem to grasp this and returned to trumpet the one million number as a positive, when it reveals a downturn in the economy and doesn't address the fact that he has reduced the AMOUNT of a Pell Grant.

What Happened to the First Four Years? - In Bush's closing statement Bush repeated over and over what he intends to do with the next four years. Hey George, what happened to your first four years?

The Repeated Lie About 1.9 Million New Jobs - Bush consistently points to the fact that the economy has created 1.9 million jobs over the past 13 months. Let's put this in the context of the truth. What he is omitting is that he needed to create 1,950,000 jobs during that span just to keep up with the new job seekers entering the job market (150,000 per month). That means that he has actually created 50,000 new jobs to address the unemployed over a 13 month period which only amounts to 3800 new jobs per month. That is not a sign that the economy has turned a corner. It is not a sign of a strong economy. In fact, here are the reactions of prominent economists to the latest jobs report:

"Only the most ardent optimist would put a positive spin on this pattern of job creation," said Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg.

"This economy is still some 700,000 jobs short of the level prevailing in March 2001 and the average gain since employment bottomed has been 125,000. A typical employment rebound at this stage of the cycle is generally over 300,000 per month.

"Overall, the September employment report is disappointing," said Marie-Pierre Ripert, US economist at CDC IXIS.

"Even if it draws a better picture of the labor market, it nevertheless does not change the fact that the US economy has experienced a jobless recovery."

"This supports the story that there is slow job growth," said Dick Rippe, economist at Wachovia Securities.

Don't believe the hype. Don't believe the spin. The bottom line is you know if this country is on the right economic track. It clearly is not.  

The Spin

To hear the pundits spin this is an exercise in finding some way to say anything positive about Bush. Realizing that Bush does not perform well, they casually say that Bush is not a debater, and Kerry is more cerebral. Then they move forward to say that Bush relates better to the people though, inferring that the people are somehow not cerebral enough to understand the issues but "boy they'd like to have a beer with Bush". That is inherently insulting.

Continuing the insults, it was stated that Kerry possessed, "too many statistics" by Rudy Guliani. The former Mayor went on to say that people don't relate well to that. Let me see if I got this straight, Bush cannot get his facts straight and Kerry not only knows job-loss stats for the country but also for the state in which he is debating in and he is criticized for it??? What does that say to the intelligence of the American people, or more appropriately how the republicans feel about your intelligence since that is how they choose to frame the issue?

What in the heck is Ben Ginsberg doing on a panel to objectively discuss the debate? Ginsberg is a republican election lawyer whose only function throughout these debates is to pimp for Bush. I have not heard Ben Ginsberg say one negative thing about Bush during the entire process, covering all three debates. It does a disservice to Americans who are looking for new stations to properly hash out the details. MSNBC needs to be a better steward of the truth. Ben Ginsberg needs to be removed from any future panels.

Chris Matthews actually said that Bush appeared controlled and disciplined??? I saw a president who was laughing and snickering at a lot of serious issues. I saw a man who certainly was not jumping around and acting as mean as he did in the second debate. He also did not scowl through the entire debate like the first, but controlled and disciplined? I am amazed that the talking heads expect so little from the president. If John Kerry scowled the way Bush did through debate number one or ran over the moderator as Bush did in debate number two, that would have been the whole story. Bush, gets a pass.

The majority of the panel discussion afterward on MSNBC surrounded the one comment Kerry made about gay marriage, when he mentioned Cheney's daughter. In a hotly contested debate that addressed many crucial issues to all Americans including jobs, healthcare, and homeland security the first hour and a half of post debate coverage dealt with one sentence, about gay marriage. This is called framing the news. If the pundits can get you talking about gay marriage and the irrelevant comment about Lynne Cheney's daughter then you won't be talking about the real issues, and as a result, Bush wins. When people want to talk about this one comment, we need to direct them back to reality.

There was no knockout punch thrown tonight. The online polls however, score another clear Kerry victory. The MSNBC poll, with over 770,000 votes cast scored this debate 71% to 29% for Kerry. The CNN poll, with over 550,000 votes had it scored 61% to 39% for Kerry. Even the biased Fox News poll had Kerry winning 53% to 46%, with over 280,000 votes cast. CBS online poll had the debate 85% to 15% for Kerry and their poll of uncommitted voters gave Kerry the edge 39% to 25%.  

Kerry appeared presidential, had a far better grasp of the facts, yet again. This debate was about domestic issues. John Kerry wants healthcare for all Americans. He wants to cut the deficit in half to grow the economy, like was done in the 1990s. He wants to strengthen our homeland security and bring the world back to our side on foreign concerns. All Bush can say in response is "how is he going to pay for it?" Bush's plan is more of the same. He has had four years and he has nearly crippled this country. He has lied with impunity and our kids have died because of it. He has alienated us from the world and handed out billions of dollars to his campaign contributors.

Meanwhile, back in this country we need to again ask the question that Ronald Reagan once asked. Are you better off than you were four years ago? Is your job better? Is your healthcare better? Bush tells you all the time that he put more money in your pockets with his tax cuts. What he is not telling you is that he took the money out of your other pocket, with higher gas prices, state taxes, milk prices, energy prices and a host of other charges. The economy is not just about taxes, it is more holistic. Four years ago we had a 500 billion dollar surplus. Now we have a 500 billion dollar deficit. Four years ago we were safer. Bush pounds home the fact that no attacks have happened under his watch but if you remember, we have had only one attack in our entire history. That attack happened under Bush's watch while he was ignoring presidential briefs about bin Laden planning to attack this country, using airplanes. Bush's War in Iraq has actually spurred the growth al Qaeda, not stunted it. Four years ago an average American made $9,000 more per year. Four years ago, seems so long ago.

To borrow and update a Reagan quote, "A recession is when your neighbor loses their job, a depression is when you lose your job, and a recovery is when George W. Bush loses his job". Nineteen days to go, let's start the recovery.

Anthony Wade is co-administrator of a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites.  A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

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