PBS Republican debate missing something
Posted on September 28th, 2007 at 11:36 am by Ethan BoivieNamely, the big 4 candidates: Giuliani, McCain, Thompson, and Romney. The hosts and candidates at the “All American” forum at Morgan State did spend good amount of time
addressing those absences in the beginning, highlighted by Sam Brownback’s suggestion that everyone in, say, South Carolina, register Republican for the sole purpose of casting a primary vote for one of the 6 candidates that bothered to show up to speak to the heavily African-American audience.
Most of the questions involved race, and some candidates highlighted race, while Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Alan Keyes insisted that the issues were not about race, but about problems inherent in the tax, welfare and criminal justice system which were harmful to the poor, and thus, disproportionately harmful to minorities. Onto the highlights:
Ron Paul was met with roars of applause ever time he spoke. He stated that the employment disparity (i.e. that more white high school drop-outs are employed than black graduates) was a direct result of the minimum wage law, and that before it, there was no such disparity. Likening them to Prohibition, Dr. Paul called for a repeal of the drug laws, and cited them as reasons for some alarming statistics: though blacks are 14% of drug users, they make up 36% of those arrested for drugs, and an astonishing 63% of those who are put in jail. Paul also called for an end to the war in Iraq and a repeal of taxes.
Alan Keyes, as loquacious and eloquent as ever, was constantly being cut off by the moderator for going over his alloted time. Keyes preached morality, marriage, family and a return to God-fearing ways which were threatened by the “hedonism” of today’s society. On the issue of residents of DC not being able to vote, he simply said “They can move!” One interesting proposal Keyes suggested was that for its members, each community should have a large role in the justice system, which sounds too much like a system that results in honor killings.
Predictably, Tom Tancredo blamed every problem on illegal immigration, though he railed against the welfare state which is doing more to keep poor people poor rather than help them improve their situations. In a moment that Stephen Colbert would be proud of, Tancredo stated that people in DC can’t vote because DC is not a state.
Duncan Hunter had good moments and bad. He cited the absurdity that one can not purchase health care across state lines, and said he would be more supportive of suffrage for DC residents if DC would recognize the second amendment. On the other hand, Hunter stated that young blacks needed to be shielded from pornography, and when asked what he would do to improve/fix the criminal justice system he failed to respond, subsequently adding that the right to a trial by jury was great. He also related that his 6-year-old grandson has been stumping in the classroom for him.
Pity poor Sam Brownback who, given his place on the podium, always had to wait for the cheers for Ron Paul to subside before he could speak. Brownback said the government should apologize for slavery and segregation. He said the US should intervene in Darfur by providing food and medicine, but not provide troops. Brownback idea the US should simply support the AU troops makes little sense, as they are there while the genocide continues.
Mike Huckabee advocated a creation of drugs courts, to provide rehab and an alternative to prison for those convicted of non-violent crimes. Then, when asked about whether the US should intervene in Darfur to prevent the continuing genocide, he said that we needed to end abortions in America. Quite a leap.
Thanks to vocal readers (BoruJudasDedrich) who demanded this coverage.
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“Thanks to vocal readers (BoruJudasDedrich) who demanded this coverage.”
Thank you very much.
I liked the way Morgan State kept the podiums up for the 4 missing Pubs. It really represented how chicken Giuliani, McCain, Thompson, and Romney are. Some Blacks like to think the empty podiums represent how Pubs have been harsh to minorities, but both the Dems and Pubs have worked equally hard screwing over minorities.
BTW: I must mention how Keyes (Black) sortof tried to justify why the big 4 weren’t there. What a GOP puppet.
Anyway, I’m really glad they weren’t there though. It gave me a chance to really hear the other candidates. Though I’m a stanch Paul supporter, the others impressed me…except Huckabee (but he impressed me in other debates).
The minority-based questions were tough. They often started with a debatable statement, and then they basicially asked the Pubs how they would end some symptom of racism (employment disparity, academic disparity, Darfur, etc.).
Some Pubs just kissed @ss (e.g., Blacks make the US great, the US should apologise for slavery, etc.), but mostly the Pubs (following Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, and Alan Keyes’ lead) gave the audience the hard truth: welfare and the culture it has created and is being maintained, moral decay in the family, illegal immigration (which does have a part), etc.
Though I must say some of the answers were pretty lame: minimum wage, porn, abortions.
Keyes had an interesting idea. Bring back the community justice-of-the-peace. Perhaps the success of Judge Mathis and the slew of other judge shows is due to people’s desire for local justice.
My wife is Black and votes mostly Democrat, but she sat riveted by the debate, shushing me, and cheering many times at the Pub answers. She liked all of them except Huckabee. Huck wasn’t so bad, but he just “sounded fake” and “couldn’t answer the questions well”, according to she-who-must-be-obeyed.
Personally, I like having a minority-issues debate because I like having themed debates where we can get to the nitty-gritty of the candidates’ stances. I wish there was a middle-east debate, an illegal immigration debate, an economic debate, etc.
You can view the entire debate here:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/special/forums/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_1_allamericanpresidentialforums_2007-09-28
Ron Paul had a off night. He had a Mike Dukakis moment with his first question (Why was he there. How did he feel about those who didn’t make it.)
– because I was invited. He needed to show empathy like Mike “save a baby, fry a criminal” Huckabee.
He talked about things like Real ID but didn’t go into the reasons that it was bad (loss of privacy, more likely to arrest the wrong people etc.) He just said not a federal role but OK for states. If it is bad at the federal level, IMHO it is bad at the state level to.
I hope the next debate he can just be himself and educate us on what freedom really means.
I can’t disagree with DhaMan.
Still Ron Paul easily had the most audience response…and got into his groove about half way through and, thus was able to get some of his points across.
Ron Paul’s ideas are definately out of the norm, which is really the reason for his success. Still those that only watch him on this debate would have a hard time understanding his stances.
Still, most people who discover and research Ron Paul end up rootin’ for him…so the more exposure the better.
BTW: On 9/24, Ron Paul launched an online $500,000 ‘end of quarter’ donation drive. That’s six days to raise $500,000. His supporters did it in three…so Ron Paul (with pushing from supporters) changed the goal to $1 million…and that was reached two days later.
It can’t be that Ron Paul really has real supporters…it must be online spammers…WHO RAISED A MILLION IN FIVE DAYS. I didn’t know spammers could show up to win nearly half the straw polls or give up a million on request.