Well, that tears it

[teddywolf]

I really don't like Carla Howell. (she's the Libertarian candidate, for those of you who don't know)

I'm watching the debate for Massachusetts governor right now. This is the first and probably the only one where all five candidates are on the ballot. The format is that the moderator asks a question, each candidate gets 1 minute to respond, and at the end each candidate can fire bits back and forth.
Each time it's come back to this woman, she has started with, "Small government is beautiful" and the tax cut she wants to push through. It hasn't mattered what the question is, that starts her answer. It's like she can't address the question, just her issue.

I consider myself partly libertarian in that I do believe that the smallest effective force needed to get something done should be the maximum force used - but the key is effective force and getting it done, which is closer to a Green attitude. I do not want to wait for market forces which have historically proven to not do the job to suddenly turn around and do it - I'll be waiting a long time.

So, my brief about each candidate via their party:
The Libertarian is monotopical. While she talked about private sector always doing better than public she didn't say how. I also find it completely laughable that all public sector employees are paid double their private sector counterparts. I find it even more laughable that when she was asked about charitable donations she'd made she counted an immediate family member as a charitable donation. Charity begins at home but that's re-diculous.
The Democrat is floundering in debate with the Republican. She talks tough about what she'd like to do but she can't back it up with enough concrete examples. She talks about cutting waste - OK, she does OK on that but not as well as she's trying to say.
The Republican talks about how his last few years of work were charitable. I have never heard of the Olympics as a charity. His approach to integrating foreign language students is sink-or-swim, and he proposes that when given that choice every child will swim. Idiot.
The Green talks about the numbers - taxwise she's talking the same way Clinton did, more like a Democrat. She wasn't particularly objectionable and she was intelligent but she seemed to lack some understanding of some larger issues. She at least didn't try to wave the same chart all over the place all the time.
The Independant... she was the least polished of the five on debate style. But of the bunch of them she seemed to be the most common-sensical. She didn't talk from a platform and she talked as a human.

So to echo what's been said for time immemorial in these kinds of politics, I will say this about the Independant and to a lesser extent about the Green: She seems decent, pity she won't win.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

As far as Romney, the Republican goes: I thought that the question he answered best was the "what did you do for charity" one -- but the fact that he *could* do things like "donate his entire salary from the Olympics to charity" shows to me that he's not even in the same world as the rest of us. I'm really happy for him that he can do things like that, but can a man who can afford to pass up a couple hundred thou *really* understand what sorts of choices the rest of us make?

[cheshyre]

I really don't like Carla Howell.
...
Each time it's come back to this woman, she has started with, "Small government is beautiful" and the tax cut she wants to push through. It hasn't mattered what the question is, that starts her answer. It's like she can't address the question, just her issue.

I felt the same way. You could've put a parrot on stage in her place and wouldn't've seen much difference.

I find it even more laughable that when she was asked about charitable donations she'd made she counted an immediate family member as a charitable donation. Charity begins at home but that's re- diculous.
I was also amused that she counted her work for the Libertarian party as her primary charitable work.


The Republican talks about how his last few years of work were charitable. I have never heard of the Olympics as a charity.
And, of course, he has so much money already that he can just donate several year's salary without pain.
Idiot.
Agreed. Both with your comments on Romney and with the other independent candidates. In the end, I'm probably going to support the Democrat, just to ensure Romney doesn't win.

Keller asked some good questions. I was shouting the answer at the TV when he asked the question about how much unemployment people get. [Actually, it's 50% of salary with a MAXIMUM of $512 per week, and only 26 weeks (plus possible extensions) Since everybody else guessed too high, I wished he would've followed up to ask them how people are supposed to live on that.]

I've posted my comments on the debate on my journal, if you're interested. But I think I've mostly rehashed them here.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

In the end, I'm probably going to support the Democrat, just to ensure Romney doesn't win.

I know where you're coming from, but isn't it a sad state on democracy when you are actually voting for someone not because of them but to prevent someone else from winning? It's what Aaron Sorkin called "the lesser of 'who cares?'" in the West Wing's 2nd Season opener.

An experiment I'd like to see (but probably too large scale to implement) is a mock election where there's no chance of any of the candidates being elected, but where people would vote according to the candidate they really wanted rather than because they figure the alternative hasn't a chance of winning or because they want to stop someone else. I wonder what the distribution would be like on that one, because I've heard often enough from my friends, "I would have voted for so-and-so if he had a chance in hell of beating the Democrats," or words to that effect.

[gingicat]

Thanks, sweetheart, this is a *far* better summary of the debate than the Glob gave.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Ehh, Glob stands for Glob-ular when it comes to debate summary :-)

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

I also find it completely laughable that all public sector employees are paid double their private sector counterparts.

Yeah, that doesn't seem to jive. I mean, when's the last time you heard of an overpaid grade school teacher?

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Ah, depends who you ask ...

(stuck in a classroom with screaming kids all day! should get combat pay!)

... though the junior-high teachers are the ones I really feel for.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Okay. I ask people who know what they're talking about. People who have been grade school teachers, for instance. The people who teach our children during the most important formative years and yet don't have enough money to live on, let alone build towards a secure financial future or retirement.
Two groups of people you can't pay well enough at any price: public school teachers and cops.