LibertyEagle
07-30-2008, 06:06 AM
Note: There might also be something in here, towards the end, that we should take to heart in our own efforts, when it comes to talking to people about what is going on in our country.
http://conservablogs.com/muthstruths/2008/07/29/a-few-sparks-in-sparks/
A Few Sparks in Sparks
by Chuck Muth
I attended the John McCain town hall meeting in Sparks, Nevada, this morning and one thing is perfectly clear: The choice between the Republican senator from Arizona and the Democrat senator from Illinois is a choice between substance over style; a workhorse vs. a show horse. McCain’s performance was substantive, but not exactly electric. If you want a “rock star,” go with B.O. If you want rock solid, choose McCain.
A couple other observations:
1.) The potentially future POTUS came to Sparks, Nevada, for a public town hall meeting in what is absolutely, positively a toss-up battleground state - and the state’s Republican governor was nowhere to be seen. Or even mentioned. Even though he lives just 10 minutes away (unless he moved back into the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City without me knowing about it). And unless I’m mistaken (roll the tape), I’d swear that when Sen. McCain thanked various folks who played an instrumental role in bringing him to Sparks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki as GOVERNOR Krolicki. Freudian slip…or just wishful thinking?
2.) A town hall meeting of citizens is generally considered an opportunity for voters to ask a candidate questions which most concern them. So I found it interesting that of all the questions which were asked by citizens, not ONE had anything to do with Yucca Mountain. Contrast that with the press, which not only almost always asks that question, but often makes it seem as if that question is, or should be, the ONLY question asked.
As for the questions asked by citizens, some of the answers would make conservatives happy; others not so. Indeed, there were plenty of issues raised in which the candidate and many Republicans in the audience don’t agree - including immigration reform, campaign finance reform, ANWR, the “Gang of 14” and climate change.
But there was one issue of mutual agreement: Republican President George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress have been spending WAY too much of our money and they need to stop.
The star, however, of the nationally televised meeting, in my opinion, was an adorable little eight-year-old girl who insistently kept her hand up to ask a question until the Republican presidential nominee picked her.
“If you’re elected president,” asked the young lady, “will you raise our taxes?” Applause all around.
“No,” McCain responded emphatically, seemingly putting the question to bed once and for all.
Oh, did I mention that the little darling was my daughter, Kristen?
And before you ask, no I didn’t put her up to it and the question, unlike at Hillary’s town hall meetings, wasn’t planted (though it surely came from her home-schooling lessons). In fact, I was all the way in the back of the room during the entire town hall meeting rocking the baby to sleep. Kristen got herself picked and asked her own question all on her own. And if case you can’t tell, yeah, I’m darned proud of her. Not too many kids get to ask the next president of the United States a question on national TV.
Not to mention one which stirred up a hornet’s nest immediately afterward.
You see, while Sen. McCain answered emphatically “No” when Kristen asked if he would raise our taxes, he gave a much different answer shortly thereafter when asked the same question by members of the media.
“In a brief roundtable discussion with local reporters after his town hall meeting today, U.S. Sen. John McCain was put on the spot to explain the incongruity of statements he made recently about entertaining a tax increase to fix Social Security,” reports Anjeanette Damon on her Inside Nevada Politics blog. “McCain denied his recent comments that ‘everything is on the table’ when it comes to fixing Social Security was a reversal of his position against increased taxes.”
Perhaps I just have trouble understanding straight talk. If “everything is on the table,” that, by definition, means raising taxes is on the table, right? Not according to Sen. McCain.
“I’m not sure you understand where I’m coming from,” Damon said he said. “Where I’m coming from is if you have to fix problems you have to put everything on the table and sit down and negotiate in good faith. . . . Now, I’m opposed to raising taxes. I’m opposed to a lot of things. But everything has to be on the table.”
Huh? OK, call me dense, but I STILL don’t understand where the man is coming from on this one. It’s like being for the war before being against it. It’s like saying he’s against a tax hike before he’s going to be for one. Call me confused.
Damon also reports that Sen. McCain appeared to lose that famous temper of his a bit over the question, saying, “I have never heard a single conservative say to me, ‘Sen. McCain, I’m worried about you raising taxes.’ Now maybe you have. And maybe you you’re one of that conservative group. But I haven’t, so I’m not concerned about it.”
For the record, Senator, allow me to officially state that I am worried about you raising taxes.
That being said, let me also acknowledge that I’m far from the first to express that concern. Indeed, the conservative Club for Growth sent a letter to Sen. McCain just yesterday expressing the exact same concern after the senator made his “everything is on the table” comment regarding Social Security.
Is it any wonder that so many conservatives are still so uncertain or tepid about their support for Sen. McCain, even in the face of a potential Obamanation? Which brings me to this final observation.
At the end of the town hall meeting I chatted briefly with a McCain staffer and offered that I thought the candidate did a great job even though I still didn’t agree with him on a number of issues raised during the discussion. At which point some manly-looking boneheaded McCain supporter interjected her opinion about how stupid any conservative was who might entertain voting for Bob Barr or another candidate in November and that such a vote was effectively a vote for Obama.
I tried to explain that many conservatives were fully aware of that fact but still can’t yet bring themselves to line up behind Sen. McCain. At which point the woman - I’ll call her “Butch” - insisted on the stupidity of such “purist” conservatives.
To which I responded, rather agitatedly, that I, myself, was one of those stupid conservatives and that if she thought calling people stupid was the way to win undecided conservatives such as me over to McCain’s side that SHE was the stupid one. I then had to walk away before losing my own famous temper. I’ve simply never learned how to suffer fools gladly.
Seriously. I had come away with very good feelings about McCain and his performance in Sparks…right up to point where “Butch” decided to insult principled conservatives who have every reason to distrust Sen. McCain on a whole host of issues.
Including, now, tax hikes.
I sure hope Kristen wasn’t reading his lips.
And by the way, the next time some “Butch”-like McCain supporter asks if I’m going to vote for John McCain or some other third-party candidate, I’m just going to respond that “everything’s on the table.”
http://conservablogs.com/muthstruths/2008/07/29/a-few-sparks-in-sparks/
A Few Sparks in Sparks
by Chuck Muth
I attended the John McCain town hall meeting in Sparks, Nevada, this morning and one thing is perfectly clear: The choice between the Republican senator from Arizona and the Democrat senator from Illinois is a choice between substance over style; a workhorse vs. a show horse. McCain’s performance was substantive, but not exactly electric. If you want a “rock star,” go with B.O. If you want rock solid, choose McCain.
A couple other observations:
1.) The potentially future POTUS came to Sparks, Nevada, for a public town hall meeting in what is absolutely, positively a toss-up battleground state - and the state’s Republican governor was nowhere to be seen. Or even mentioned. Even though he lives just 10 minutes away (unless he moved back into the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City without me knowing about it). And unless I’m mistaken (roll the tape), I’d swear that when Sen. McCain thanked various folks who played an instrumental role in bringing him to Sparks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki as GOVERNOR Krolicki. Freudian slip…or just wishful thinking?
2.) A town hall meeting of citizens is generally considered an opportunity for voters to ask a candidate questions which most concern them. So I found it interesting that of all the questions which were asked by citizens, not ONE had anything to do with Yucca Mountain. Contrast that with the press, which not only almost always asks that question, but often makes it seem as if that question is, or should be, the ONLY question asked.
As for the questions asked by citizens, some of the answers would make conservatives happy; others not so. Indeed, there were plenty of issues raised in which the candidate and many Republicans in the audience don’t agree - including immigration reform, campaign finance reform, ANWR, the “Gang of 14” and climate change.
But there was one issue of mutual agreement: Republican President George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress have been spending WAY too much of our money and they need to stop.
The star, however, of the nationally televised meeting, in my opinion, was an adorable little eight-year-old girl who insistently kept her hand up to ask a question until the Republican presidential nominee picked her.
“If you’re elected president,” asked the young lady, “will you raise our taxes?” Applause all around.
“No,” McCain responded emphatically, seemingly putting the question to bed once and for all.
Oh, did I mention that the little darling was my daughter, Kristen?
And before you ask, no I didn’t put her up to it and the question, unlike at Hillary’s town hall meetings, wasn’t planted (though it surely came from her home-schooling lessons). In fact, I was all the way in the back of the room during the entire town hall meeting rocking the baby to sleep. Kristen got herself picked and asked her own question all on her own. And if case you can’t tell, yeah, I’m darned proud of her. Not too many kids get to ask the next president of the United States a question on national TV.
Not to mention one which stirred up a hornet’s nest immediately afterward.
You see, while Sen. McCain answered emphatically “No” when Kristen asked if he would raise our taxes, he gave a much different answer shortly thereafter when asked the same question by members of the media.
“In a brief roundtable discussion with local reporters after his town hall meeting today, U.S. Sen. John McCain was put on the spot to explain the incongruity of statements he made recently about entertaining a tax increase to fix Social Security,” reports Anjeanette Damon on her Inside Nevada Politics blog. “McCain denied his recent comments that ‘everything is on the table’ when it comes to fixing Social Security was a reversal of his position against increased taxes.”
Perhaps I just have trouble understanding straight talk. If “everything is on the table,” that, by definition, means raising taxes is on the table, right? Not according to Sen. McCain.
“I’m not sure you understand where I’m coming from,” Damon said he said. “Where I’m coming from is if you have to fix problems you have to put everything on the table and sit down and negotiate in good faith. . . . Now, I’m opposed to raising taxes. I’m opposed to a lot of things. But everything has to be on the table.”
Huh? OK, call me dense, but I STILL don’t understand where the man is coming from on this one. It’s like being for the war before being against it. It’s like saying he’s against a tax hike before he’s going to be for one. Call me confused.
Damon also reports that Sen. McCain appeared to lose that famous temper of his a bit over the question, saying, “I have never heard a single conservative say to me, ‘Sen. McCain, I’m worried about you raising taxes.’ Now maybe you have. And maybe you you’re one of that conservative group. But I haven’t, so I’m not concerned about it.”
For the record, Senator, allow me to officially state that I am worried about you raising taxes.
That being said, let me also acknowledge that I’m far from the first to express that concern. Indeed, the conservative Club for Growth sent a letter to Sen. McCain just yesterday expressing the exact same concern after the senator made his “everything is on the table” comment regarding Social Security.
Is it any wonder that so many conservatives are still so uncertain or tepid about their support for Sen. McCain, even in the face of a potential Obamanation? Which brings me to this final observation.
At the end of the town hall meeting I chatted briefly with a McCain staffer and offered that I thought the candidate did a great job even though I still didn’t agree with him on a number of issues raised during the discussion. At which point some manly-looking boneheaded McCain supporter interjected her opinion about how stupid any conservative was who might entertain voting for Bob Barr or another candidate in November and that such a vote was effectively a vote for Obama.
I tried to explain that many conservatives were fully aware of that fact but still can’t yet bring themselves to line up behind Sen. McCain. At which point the woman - I’ll call her “Butch” - insisted on the stupidity of such “purist” conservatives.
To which I responded, rather agitatedly, that I, myself, was one of those stupid conservatives and that if she thought calling people stupid was the way to win undecided conservatives such as me over to McCain’s side that SHE was the stupid one. I then had to walk away before losing my own famous temper. I’ve simply never learned how to suffer fools gladly.
Seriously. I had come away with very good feelings about McCain and his performance in Sparks…right up to point where “Butch” decided to insult principled conservatives who have every reason to distrust Sen. McCain on a whole host of issues.
Including, now, tax hikes.
I sure hope Kristen wasn’t reading his lips.
And by the way, the next time some “Butch”-like McCain supporter asks if I’m going to vote for John McCain or some other third-party candidate, I’m just going to respond that “everything’s on the table.”