"Pander-Fest" Democratic Debate at Howard University


I was going to write about the latest Ann Coulter "kerfluffle" with Edwards, but I caught the Democratic debate on PBS, and wrote some contemporaneous thoughts. I'm bundling them into a post, so forgive the disjointed nature of the commentary. I want to get back to analyzing Ms. Coulter's latest column.



The debate was held at Howard University, a historically Black college. Tavis Smiley was the moderator, and he did a good job of it. The format was three questioners, with one minute responses from each candidate, with Tavis having discretion to alter the format.



When introducing the candidates, several people in the crowd shouted "Obama!" Several of the candidates cited Obama as an example of the "progress made" by Blacks in the US, during the debate.



Candidates who used the word "Black": Biden and Mike Gravel, who actually said "Black African Americans." It should be a minor thing, but there are many who dislike the word "Black" used for Americans of African descent.



Gravel was awesome; a wild card in this group. He and Kucinich were the only ones who didn't seem to pander to the crowd.



On AIDS, Gov.Richardson said "We have to use needles." He also referred to American Blacks as "Africans," but these were simple slip-ups, I think. Kucinich wants to "take the profit out of health care (I'm paraphrasing)," and Gravel went him one further, calling for an end to the "war on drugs," a theme he pounded all night, to a chilly reception.



Hillary came off strong on the AIDS question, and Biden disclosed that he and Obama both have been tested for AIDS. Obama jumped in after Biden's comment, saying that he and his wife got tested while visiting Africa.



Sen. Edwards railed against the 15% capital gains tax rate. Do tell, how much of his income falls into that category? All of the candidates supported taxing the rich more. Gravel said it would never happen, calling for abolition of the income tax. Hillary proposed raising the cap on Social Security taxable income, citing Warren Buffet, who wants to pay Social Security tax on his full millions of dollars of yearly income. The current cap on Social Security tax is the first $95,000 of personal income.



I saw Hill taking notes during Gravel's denying of "outsourcing" as a problem. She said it was, especially for NY. She didn't say that NY's outsourcing problem is to other US states, not India or Mexico. Kucinich wants to cancel NAFTA, WTO, and use environmental, and human rights standards to determine our trade policy. A wacky idea, but it sounds good to any "compassionate" person.



Hill wants a "no-fly zone" in Darfur. Biden wanted ground troops, if that fails. All of the candidates agreed with the "NFZ" prescription, except Gravel, who said "We need a president with moral judgement. Most of the other candidates up here have shown that they lack that."



I wouldn't go that far, but it was quite the pander-fest. I didn't scratch the surface of the hypocrisy in evidence. There were some good points made, as well, even by Hillary, as I stated above. I can't pick a winner, though. It was just too much out of my frame of reference.



I'll explain that in another post, but I'm looking forward to comments on my commentary.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Biden Record, and the Democrats Who Supported It, Pt. 4: How Biden Blew Up the Economy With Inflation

   The US economy is in chaos. This is not "spin," or "opinion," but a fact. Some people aren't feeling it as hard as others, because they were well-off before the inflation started. Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come, and it will affect those "well-off" people, to a greater degree than it does currently, as the recession sets in. It also will present a crisis for government, as the interest rates for the chronic borrowing that sustains all of their largesse double, triple, or even quadruple. How did we get here, after what was shaping up as a robust recovery from the pandemic response inspired recession?    When Pres. Biden was elected, almost every policy that had been in place was reversed. We've looked at the disatrous results of this on the southern border , but what's happened to our economy has impacted many more Americans. It started out on day one, when Biden killed the KeystoneXL pipeline, followed by freezing new federal leases ...
Read more

HATE FROM THE MOUTHS OF CHILDREN: AUTUM (AUTUMN?) ASHANTE AND THE GAEDE TWINS

Image
AUTUM ASHANTE LAMB AND LYNX GAEDE I hate to have to write this, but it has to be written. Beautiful children's minds are being corrupted with racial hatred, and their parents are profiting from it. The Gaede twins have a pop band, and Miss Ashante is a poetic prodigy. The parents promote their children's careers. These young girls are the true victims of racism, because they are predestined to continue this cycle of hate. Autum Ashante (-or is it spelled Autumn Ashante ?) is a 7-year old child, home-schooled by her parents (according to the NY POST -free registration required- see below for more on this). I heard it reported on MSNBC that they are members of the Nation of Islam, but I can't confirm that elsewhere. This young lady gave a recital of her poem, "White Nationalism Put U in Bondage." Some excerpts: "Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse."..."They took the gold, the wisdom and all the storytellers. They took th...
Read more

The Biden Debacle Part II

  In my previous post, I wrote about Pres. Biden's disastrous policy at the border, as well as it's impact on the spread of COVID. I also noted his false promise of bipartisanship, and embrace of the far left agenda. This post will deal with some of that agenda, including it's impact on the economy, law enforcement, race relations, education and the military. They're all interconnected in no small way, and Pres. Biden is making a mess of them all. With the left wing ascendant in his own party, he has found it easier to go along with them, rather than work with Republicans, even when they propose policies that a majority of Democrats support. The economy was recovering before Biden assumed office, and yet he continues to push a long wish list of leftist policies in the name of "recovery." The extension of unemployment benefits is a good example of how they can backfire. While he denies that the extra payments were keeping people from returning to work, the sta...
Read more