Bush vs Kerry: Round II - Town Hall

Watched the debate on CSPAN tonight and was slightly more pleased with the format, with the exception of the glaring absence of my preferred candidate. At least in the town hall setting Bush & Kerry seemed to engage one another - even though, behind the scenes, everything and everyone, I'm sure, went through a rigorous scripting process.

Both candidates were more at ease in this setting and both candidates were showing their strengths and weaknesses - which is good. That's what a debate is for.

Bush is crystal clear in his position and never waivers - he's a strong leader, if not a smart leader, who knows what he believes in - or at least knows how to repeat it over and over again no matter what the pressures are to reconsider his position. He has a very simplistic, black and white, good vs evil duality that's easily digested by people who don't enjoy arguing and those who believe in their heart of hearts that wealthy business owners should enjoy special priveleges and tax exemptions that are not shared by the working class. In other words, Core Repbulicans.

Kerry, on the other hand, covers all the grey areas in an argument that any self-respecting thinker (I'd use the term "intellectual" here, but like "liberal" it's been so demonized by the right) would consider. His mistake, or his burden rather, is that he has to convey complex arguments and concepts to the general public - the same general public who made Jerry Springer, Big Time Wrestling and Rush Limbaugh a smashing success. Legislation is extremely complex and it's too easy for Bush to say Kerry voted for or against some important issue when any given bill is hundreds or thousands of pages long and littered with pork appendages and issues that have nothing to do at all with that bill's title. Try explaining that in a soundbite. It sounds like a piss poor excuse.

But like Bush in the first debate, Kerry started to sound like a parrot with his tedious "I have a plan..." line. But it's obvious, to me anyway, that he doesn't plan on doing much differently on at least two issues. He's going to stay the course in Iraq, while hoping some new European or UN international help will improve the situation. And he's going to continue to allow the exporting of American jobs and the erosion of our standard of living with a fix to pander EVEN MORE to corporations to keep their jobs here. That's bullshit. How long do we have to suck the corporate dick in this country? How many more tax breaks and government giveaways do we have to endure? Don't want to pay your fair share for freedom, Supercitizen Inc.? Then pack your bags and get the fuck out, you traitorous profiteer.

Some things are becoming more clear as the debates continue. It's finally official: George Bush will never admit he was wrong about anything no matter what the evidence is against his position. I think that he thinks that's what makes a good leader; Never show weakness, not for a second. Some of us view that as being less than human, other believe it makes him larger than life.

But Bush cannont reconcile fiscal conservatism, a staple of the Republican Party, and the massive deficit he's running up with tax breaks for the rich. Also, his position on importing pharmeceuticals, the same pharmeceuticals that we're exporting, is indefensible. It's ok for corporations to make huge gains by importing cheap overseas goods and using cheap overseas labor, but it's not ok for the American people to do the same? Bush boasted about his tripling of the National Institute of Health's (NIH) budget. The truth is that the majority of pharmaceutical breakthroughs (i.e. new pills) come from the NIH, are paid for by U.S. taxpayers (i.e. you), and are GIVEN AWAY to the pharmaceutical companies free of charge!!! These companies suck at the Federal tit while they tell you that all those bushels of cash they have go into research when they actually go into those "tell your doctor" t.v. commercials you can't seem to escape.

Are you tired of the revolving door of corporate politics?

Vote neither. Vote niether. Vote Nader!