Vice Presidential Debate 0 comments
The Vice Presidential debate was a classic, both candidates hit the stage with style, and charisma. Trying to differentiate their views as well as their party’s views from the other party’s views was certainly not a problem for either candidate to do. Although a lot of beating around the bush, and dancing around the questions took place in this debate, overall both candidates displayed knowledge of their particular position. The first question brought to the forefront, for many is the reason we are in this financial meltdown today, which is the sub prime mortgage lending that took place resulting in millions of Americans being left with no choice, but to fall victim to the hands of foreclosure. Was this the plan by Bush to undue all that President Clinton had done over ten years prior when he made it more affordable for millions of middle class citizens to afford a home? This topic can be debated another time when time is permitted, but for now back to the original topic. Sub prime lending, when asked who were to fault for the collapse, Governor Palin states “darn right it was those predator lenders” with no hesitation or second thoughts. Adding fuel to her burning flame Palin also goes on to say that “we need to demand from Government strict oversight” meaning more government regulation, in our country’s institutions, make a mental note of this because we will be referring back to this later. When Senator Biden, or as Palin puts it “Joe” was asked the same question he refers back to his central running mates views, and says, “Obama for saw the sub prime lending crisis two years ago” never directly expressing his personal views of the subject matter. Biden also goes on to say that “McCain calls for more deregulation” favoring smaller governments, and those governments being rarely involved directly in the so called free market, in my point of view this is a fundamental difference that goes totally against Palin’s push for “strict oversight.”
The next topic of discussion was taxes, Governor Palin was asked the question first what are the tax proposals for health care from the republicans stand point, she starts off fantastic with her slogan saying “Government is not always the solution, in some cases you are the problem,” in this instance I would say she’s the problem, doesn’t that once again go against her stance for big government, or small government involvement? The governor goes on to say that when we give big tax breaks to corporations “we lessen the tax burden” for these companies. Palin also goes on to criticize Obama’s proposal of one trillion dollars in new spending. One trillion dollars is definitely a lot of money for government spending, especially with no set agenda for allocating these funds, but as long as this spending is transparent, and for growth purposes it will still benefit the American people. Biden did not really defend Obama’s point, all he needed simply to say is this economy is stranded on the side of the highway, with no on star system, and needs a jump start. From the tax stand point Biden clings to the term “fairness” claiming that the middle class American is the economic engine of the economy, therefore proposing tax cuts not for the wealthy, but for the working class. From the health care aspect Biden blast McCain’s plan to provide a five thousand dollar tax credit per family which goes directly to the insurance company, but here is the tricky part, in order for McCain to do this he must raise “$3.6 million dollars in order to get that $5,000 tax credit per family”, Biden says, “he is going to for the first time in history, tax employer based health care plans”, which from the get go will raise the cost of doing business for most businesses, and eventually causing companies’ to abandon their typical health care benefit reimbursement plans, and adding an estimated “20 million people” among the ranks of the uninsured unwillingly.
When you don’t know an answer to a question sometimes it is best if you just stay quiet, or make something up that is short and brief, but Governor Palin would beg to differ; when asked when in office what promises can’t she keep Palin responds, “how long have I been at this five weeks… hasn’t been a whole lot I have promised.” Doesn’t that scare you, or at least make you a little bit uneasy from a voters stand point that a person who has a fairly moderate chance of being the President’s right hand man or in this case right hand woman responds in such a nonchalant round about manner? Another very important topic of discussion during the debate was the V.P. nominees foreign policy approach, and there exit strategy for the Middle East. Now this topic is a little touchy, because both Biden and Palin have children stationed in Iraq. Palin stuck to her guns though saying we would be putting up “white flags of surrender if we leave now”, Palin also transitions to the offensive thrashing Obama for being out of touch with the military forces by voting against more military funding, and claiming that the Senator “buckled under political pressure” in voting against the bill, two swift jabs in my opinion at the Democratic Presidential nominee. When prompted for a response to the same question Biden states, that we need to “shift responsibility to Iraq’s” stating that the “U.S. faces a $10 billion dollar deficit each month, while the Iraqi’s receives an $80 billion dollar surplus.” He also goes on to say that “McCain also voted against the bill to supply more government funding for the military because it set a timeline for withdraw”, almost nullifying Palin’s recent remark about Obama regarding the unsigned bill. Biden hits some key notes in his plan for the Middle East when he says coming from the commanding General in Afghanistan “the surge principals used in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan” Biden states part of the solution would be more troops, more infrastructure, and more government developments. Lastly Biden closes off with a breakdown of how the war is going from his point of view, captivatingly put Biden states “the current Bush Administration has spent more in the last three weeks in Iraq, than the entire six and a half years we have been in the war.”
To further conclude this discussion I will wrap this up with some food for thought. First, what are the responsibilities of a Vice President? According to Article 1 section 3 in the Constitution of the United States of America “a Vice President is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or impeachment of the president, should he or she accept the position.” The Constitution of the United States also designated that the “Vice President also serves as the President of the Senate, and may break tie votes in that chamber. He or she may be assigned additional duties by the president but, as far as the Constitution it assigns no executive powers to the vice president, in performing such duties, he or she acts only as an agent of the president.” Another interesting and very redundant safe haven for Governor Palin in this debate was her constant referral to John McCain as a maverick, wasn’t quite sure of what the term meant so I decided to look it up. According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary the term “maverick” is defined as an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party. Considering that McCain has voted ninety percent of the time in line with President Bush, I don’t see that as an independent view, but since we are on the subject of individual views how about Colin Powell’s. When you have a prominent member from another camp vocally expressing his endorsement for a candidate of a different party, without any formidable reason, I would say within that party there is a dilemma. I think the media is glorifying Palin’s dumb downed responses, all of which is taking away from the only true aspect of a speech/debate, and that is the content. If the media would spend less time emphasizing her blunders, funny antics, and selection of words and just like Katie Couric did, force her to answer the questions I think Americas eyes could not stay shut for the final two weeks of this election.
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