Wednesday Night Fights...

I was not able to view the entirety of the Democratic Presidential Candidate debate last night, but when I first turned it on I knew it was going to be interesting.

1) Bosnia – Apparently, the question was directed at Senator Clinton and her somewhat fictional account of her trip to Bosnia back in the 90s. “We were under sniper fire…We had to run…No welcoming party…” etc. Video taken by CBS shows that Senator Clinton was exaggerating just a little bit. Look it up and be prepared to laugh if you haven’t seen it already.

Of course, Clinton replied with the usual politician response that everyone makes mistakes here. Obama backed her up by pointing out that the cameras and tapes are rolling everywhere they go and, as humans, they are going to make mistakes. One must not forget, though, that Hillary told this story several times to several different audiences.

2) Obama was asked about his association with a former member of the Weathermen. If you don’t know who the Weathermen were, they were a far left domestic terrorist group during the late 1960s and early 70s that bombed government buildings and protested the Vietnam War. Anyways, Obama served on board of the Woods Fund of Chicago with William Ayers, who is quoted as saying, ''I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough.''

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63

Mr. Ayers also contributed to Obama’s campaign. When this was brought up by Hillary in the debate, Obama replied back that President Clinton pardoned two former Weathermen prior to leaving office in January 2001. Which one is worse? You decide. The funny thing is that both of these candidates are covered in dirt by their dealings with those members of the Weather Underground.

3) Next, Obama said that he would raise the capital gains tax. Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous both pointed out that government revenue increases whenever the capital gains tax decreases. Obama really didn’t have a good response to that besides something along the lines of, “We’ll look into it.” The problem with capital gains tax is that it taxes for inflationary gains. The numbers all say that decreasing capital gains tax is good for the economy. Besides, a tax on capital gains that is affected by inflation stinks.

http://www.house.gov/jec/fiscal/tx-grwth/capgain/capgain.htm

4) Clinton: “I think that this is the first time that a President has gone to war without paying for it.”

Hmm…The government’s not trying to sell bonds like crazy, no one is planting Victory Gardens, I haven’t seen any recycling drives lately…Oh, wait! Look at this chart!

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODJjN2ZlNDJlMDZmNDFiNTk2OGRmMmQwZmQ5YmY5MGY=

And this article!

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007/03/2545232

By the way, it’s not the President’s job to run the economy. Anyone who blames the state of the economy on the President needs a civics lesson.

Both Obama and Hillary said that they would try to fix the problem with the economy, with special emphasis on the housing market. Yet, neither one of them proposed how they were going to do it. It was the usual “go to my website” fluff.

These two need an economics refresher…

5) Guns. I love ‘em. The Second Amendment says I can have ‘em. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama failed to either fully agree or disagree with the D.C. Gun Ban. Clinton also said that she would reintroduce the absurd Assault Weapons Ban that reigned during her husband’s terms. First, liberals can’t seem to grasp the fact that criminals, those who are already set on breaking the law, aren’t going to give a hoot in hell about a gun control law. They are already breaking the law, why should another law stop them from using a gun? Instead, these laws are taking guns away from the citizens who use them lawfully and they won’t be able to defend themselves! Second, the target of the Assault Weapons Ban is not “assault weapons”, it is guns in general. Clinton cited the danger posed to our police forces when criminals have these “assault weapons”. Like I said, nothing is going to stop a crook from having one in the first place. If Senator Clinton knew the facts about guns and really cared about protecting police, then she would issue a ban on hunting rifles. An AR-15 (M16) owned by a civilian is nothing compared to a hunting rifle owned by the same. AR-15s shoot a varmint round: .223. In reality, the only major difference between an AR-15 and a .22 rifle is that the velocity of the AR-15 round is 3,000 fps. That’s it. If you want something that is designed to kill with one shot and cause as much damage as possible, you are going to use a hunting rifle, not a stupid AR-15. It’s that simple. It’s like putting a ban on 9mm pistols simply because the military uses them while leaving .45s outside the ban.

Senator Clinton also expressed that as President she would push for better tracking of illegal guns. Think about that and tell me if that makes sense. We can’t even track an illegal immigrant in this country, how on earth are we going to track an “illegal” gun?

6) On the topic of Affirmative Action, Senator Obama stated a couple times that race is still an issue in our society. I would just like to say that if Obama cares so much about race issues in America, he needs to remember a man by the name of Jeremiah Wright.

7) Both Senators Obama and Clinton stated that we need to look into the oil market to see if there has been any market manipulation concerning gas prices. Does supply and demand maybe ring a bell? Also, Senator Obama stated in one of his radio ads that Exxon is making $40 billion in profits while our prices still go up. Anyone who isn’t foolishly paranoid of this fact is smart enough to realize that those numbers do not reflect Exxon’s gains after regular business costs (maintenance, paying workers, new technology, etc.). To put the blame on the oil company simply because it’s making money is not a capitalist attitude; it’s more socialist than anything else.

Senator Clinton also proposed that we as the U.S. should stop putting oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and leave that extra oil in the market so as to reduce international prices. How on earth is the normal SPR supply going to reduce international oil prices enough where the sacrifice of neglecting the SPR will be worth it?

8) When asked if a direct attack on Israel by Iran should be taken as an attack on the US, neither candidate had the guts to say either yes or no. They both stated that such an attack would have serious implications, but they did not say that we as the US should interpret an attack in that way. On the topic of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the candidates presented ideas for diplomatic discussions and talks with Iran. Neither mentioned military action against Iran. As I sat watching the debate, I kept thinking of Neville Chamberlain before WWII.



Thoughts?