Today was the first Sestak-Weldon debate. I learned that General Clark was right last week when he said to stay out of bursting radius of Curt Weldon. Curt sounded like Quincy: You don't know anything about Delaware County! Do we think Weldon is related to Jack Klugman?
Now, I don't know who asked for this, but it sure seemed like a REPUBLICAN thing to me. The debate was preceded by a luncheon. They took away all our food AND drinks before the debate started so we couldn't "make any noise." Somebody, and I don't know which side, turned the wait staff into a bunch of little Hitlers. I thought we were going to have to stage a protest in order to be able to keep paper cups of water. They even took away the signs that said which table was which. I guess they were worried that we might all rise up and start throwing signs at Weldon. It just seems like typical Bush-ese to turn "everyone could hear better if lunch was finished before the debate started" into ripping cups of water out of old ladies' hands.
I've never been to a debate before, so maybe this is typical, but I didn't like the threats. I just think saying that if we broke any of the rules, we'd be escorted out and our candidates would be embarrassed by us was going too far.
OK, now onto the debate itself.
Opening statements: I really don't remember much of the opening statements, except that Curt Weldon claimed, "I know this county like a glove." Well, hopefully, he knows the county better than he knows his metaphors.
Question 1: yada yada yada Iraq War yada yada yada
Joe called the war a tragic misadventure and criticized Curt for voting with Bush and for not having finished the job in Afghanistan. He then turned it into a domestic policy question by saying that all that money we're wasting over there could be spent on real security: homeland security, health security, education security, job security. He also said that 2 days cost of Iraq would secure our ports for a year.
Curt said "cut and run" only twice, which I think was a point in his favor. He admitted that war is always a failure of diplomacy, but then tried to blame it all on Sadaam and Sadaam's failure to comply with the U.N.'s 19 resolutions. Never mind that there were no WMD (oh, wait, does Curt even admit that yet???). Curt also accused Joe of having changed positions on the Iraq War because he did not immediately resign his commission when the war started, so therefore, he must have been in favor of it. And Curt said the decision about when to pull out of Iraq should be left to the generals.
Question 2: yada yada yada Illegal Immigration yada yada yada
Weldon: Clinton was wrong to "wave a magic wand" and let 4 million illegals off the hook. Curt actually sounded reasonable in his arguments on this for the most part, which is unfortunate because I don't think he is reasonable. But what he said was that first we have to secure the borders. Then we can have a national debate over what to do with the people who are already here illegally. He kept saying that. I guess that's because it's the only reasonable thing he has to say about the topic being that he was in favor of the House bill.
Sestak: Started by countering Weldon's remarks about how Joe should have resigned his commission if he didn't agree with Iraq. Joe's argument there was excellent--it's unconstitutional to have military control of the military; there's supposed to be CIVILIAN control; he basically said to Curt, "Don't push your responsibility off on me or on the generals in Iraq." For immigration, he said that instead of building some stupid wall which we already have part of (and he unfortunately didn't mention how many people have died in the desert because of that wall) we should have unmanned planes patrolling; unmanned planes could tell whether something was a coyote or a person who needed to be intercepted. And he brought up how the number of illegal immigrants has gone from 3.5 million to 11 million under Weldon's tenure.
Question 3: yada yada yada yada yada yada yada Opportunities for Women yada yada yada
Joe had to ask like 3 times for this question to be repeated because it was so complexly worded. Joe told some stories about his sisters and some women under his command. He promised to vote for any bill that made for more opportunities for women. He accused Curt of voting against mammograms.
This is where Curt lost it. He started ranting about Joe and Cheyney University and African American students and how Joe's only advice to them was that they should "protest more." I swear, I thought the next line out of his mouth was going to be, "Some of my best friends are black." Then he went on to claim credit for himself and 30 other Republicans for the Family and Medical Leave Act. Finally, his head exploded and he started quizzing Joe on whether he knew the names of leaders of local community organizations like he did. At this point, the moderator interrupted and sent Curt back to his corner.
Question 4: Public Transportation
Well, Curt talked all about highways...hmm...
Joe brought up the bridge to nowhere and how these things must be discussed in the public light, but mostly he talked about how we need a comprehensive plan that takes public transportation, energy, and the environment into account. And WE MUST HAVE INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
Question 5: Where they are from (candidates' "roots")
Joe was indignant (but not quite indignant enough IMO) about how Curt is trying to turn Joe's military service into a liability by saying that he's not really from this district because he hasn't "lived" here. Joe also got in a good shot about how Curt had criticized him for having his daughter's brain cancer treated outside the district; Joe said that indicated that, "Curt has been in Washington too long." Joe said he's in this race for change. We can do better. "This is not excellence."
Curt bragged about his volunteer firefighting. And he said he started out poor and would be poor when he leaves Congress. As an example, he indicated that he and his wife had to sell their beach house in order to by all the land they wanted in Delaware County. (No, I did not make that up.)
Question 6: What about the proposed FAA changes that will bring air traffic over the district
Curt said that this is about fighting the establishment and he's good at that. For example, he just fought to get the Marines the proper helmet inserts. (Note to self--3 years too late???) He talked about how he fought for Boeing to get the V22 produced. And he fought the CIA (LOL!!!)
Joe answered that he wished Curt would have fought Rumsfeld about going to Iraq. And Joe argued that it was Jack Murtha who deserved the credit for the V22. Joe also brought up that Boeing's jobs are down 33% since 1998. Back to the FAA, Joe asked where Curt was in 1991 when this whole issue started. Where was he when 27 meetings were held about it over the past 15 years?
Question 7: Education
Joe pointed out that PA has the highest cost of higher education and that Curt has just voted for the largest student aid cut. He, of course, mentioned the unfunded NCLB and drew an analogy to the Iraq War and the way this administration didn't put in as many soldiers as the generals asked for either. They're not putting the resources behind what they do. He said their stance on education is a "posture not a policy."
Curt went berzerk again. He couldn't believe that Joe was claiming credit for the V22. (Actually, I think Joe was saying Murtha deserved the credit, but Joe should be more careful on that point.) Then he said it was "gobbledy-gook that he'd cut student loans." And then he attacked Ed Rendell. Apparently, Curt forgot that he was running against Joe Sestak and not Ed Rendell.
Question 8: Should immigration be handled on a local level like in Hazelton (??? was that the name of the nutso town?)
Weldon: No. It's a federal issue. Bush is dead wrong on it. (Yea! At least he's capable of saying that.) If locals want to do something, they should work on convincing the Senate to agree to the House bill.
Sestak: (Replying to Weldon's earlier remarks): "Have you been effective? You're entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts." And then he pointed out how Weldon HAS cut education funding. Sestak agreed that immigration is a federal issue and that we must first protect our borders.
Closing Statements
Joe: We need someone who's honest, not someone who is superglued to the President in Washington and then come home and claim to be "independent." (Note: Weldon's signs say "Curt Weldon: Independent Fighter for US!") We need someone focused on true national security: health security, education security, financial security. He brought up a cute example that Weldon's tax cuts resulted in a half a tank of gas for someone who makes $40K and a Lexus for millionaires. He thanked us for letting him serve us in our Navy, and he asked us to let us serve him in a different way now. We need a change--a new direction.
Weldon: He really babbled about how important he was to the district and mostly how he deserved this seat because he'd lived here so long. He claimed he was a uniter not a divider and that he was being targetted by all the librul groups. He also said something about getting the pagans out of Marcus Hook (which is the town he's from). I have no idea what that's about. Anyone know? Oh, I've just been informed that the pagans are a motorcycle gang.