The GOP debate: Said/Not Said
First off, I didn't watch the debates except for maybe twenty minutes of the five o'clock junior leaguers, but those twenty minutes convinced me that I wasn't going to miss much by doing what I really wanted to do that night. I don't think I could handle two whole hours of "here is why you need to love me and only me". Besides I've been following them for awhile so I had a good idea of what was going to be said. I just wanted to know what was or wasn't talked about.
Of course the most talked about country was Iran, it was mentioned 25 times. All but one of the candidates have said if elected they'll rip up the nuclear deal. It's a nice talking point for them but in reality it's total BS. First of all, it will go into effect. Congress can bluster, scream and stomp their feet all they want but there's not enough votes there to override a presidential veto. Secondly (and they are aware of this) five other major countries have signed onto this deal and these candidates can rip it up and burn it or whatever and it doesn't matter, sanctions imposed by the US are of little consequences to Iran if they're not imposed by those countries also.
Although not a country, ISIS was mentioned 23 times and was called the greatest threat to stability in the Mideast ever seen. (actually I thought we had already won that title but that's an equation for a different blog). While the rest of the world sees the rise of ISIS for what it really is, the 1,383rd year of the conflict between Sunnis and Shias, these candidates see it is a conflict that requires American involvement. Over half of them have said they're willing to let US soldiers die for this and the the others are willing also, they just don't want to say it. If ISIS is such a threat to the stability in the Mideast why haven't major powers over there like Saudi Arabia, Oman, or Qatar stepped up to rid this scourge from their region? The plain and simple answer is they're Sunni countries and would like nothing more than to see ISIS topple the Shia government the US put in place in Iraq.
Clinton/Obama was mentioned 44 times but that's to be expected. But what was a little unexpected is that Obama beat out Clinton 23 to 21. Apparently the memories of 6 1/2 years ago evades them and they still think gas is $3.79, unemployment is 9% and soldiers are returning in flag draped coffins. But in all fairness the people who are filling their campaign coffers are requiring those memory lapses.
Taxes (28 mentions), jobs (26) and economy (21) were also big topics and rightly so but what wasn't spoke of is that taxes are low: http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-income-taxes-on-middle-income-families-remain-near-historic-lows, there's been 64 straight months of jobs growth and the GDP has averaged a 3.96% growth since 2010. What wasn't mentioned regarding the economy was income inequality and the minimum wage, two pressing issues.
Immigration (18) and border (20) also got a lot of mentions but instead of undocumented immigrants streaming across the Mexican border the truth of the matter is there are now 1 million fewer undocumented people in this country than there were 10 years ago. In 2005 there were an estimated 12.5 million and today its 11.4. Of that 11.4 million, 5.9 million are Mexican, and that's down from 7 million in 2009. (From the WSJ, hardly a liberal mag: http://www.wsj.com/articles/undocumented-immigrant-population-levels-off-in-u-s-led-by-mexican-decline-1416330120). I'm sure that they also didn't mention that of that 11.4, 8.1 million of those who work pay taxes. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/04/16/Study-Finds-Illegal-Immigrants-Pay-118B-Taxes. More and more employers are wanting the tax breaks they get from having pay-rolled employees and requiring their undocumented workers to get ITINs from the IRS. This way they get the tax breaks but the employees are all essentially sub-contractors. The IRS doesn't care who owes the money and if the taxes become delinquent they just go back to the employer and have them withheld from future pay.
The ACA was never mentioned but Obamacare was 8 times, which is actually pretty good. They don't want to talk about the fact that states who fought the ACA and refused to expand Medicaid have over three times more uninsured than states that did. As an example, Texas currently has 20.8% of its population uninsured, Ohio now has a 6.1% uninsured rate.
There was no mention of all the terrible things that have happened because of the marriage equality ruling. (Too bad they haven't heard about that cat who married a human.) No mention of guns, or the student loan problems. And no mention at all of global warming.
Those "no mentions" weren't by accident. Those are some things Fox doesn't want their candidates to talk about. Granted four of the candidates have openly come out as non-scientists and carry an "I don't know" card as a badge of honor, the rest of them believe that the 97% of the scientific community who warn of global warming, organizations like NASA, NOAA, the US Navy, the National Academy of Science and many other prominent researchers, are perpetuating the biggest hoax known to mankind and spreading fear and anxiety to justify their budgets. They don't want their candidates to mention such nonsense in front of millions of people.
So no word on global warming but at the end they did find time for a question about God, just not the right question. A better question would be, why would God tell six different candidates to run for President? Inquiring minds want to know.
Oh yeah, Ronald Reagan was mentioned six times, any other former President named Bush, zero.
Of course the most talked about country was Iran, it was mentioned 25 times. All but one of the candidates have said if elected they'll rip up the nuclear deal. It's a nice talking point for them but in reality it's total BS. First of all, it will go into effect. Congress can bluster, scream and stomp their feet all they want but there's not enough votes there to override a presidential veto. Secondly (and they are aware of this) five other major countries have signed onto this deal and these candidates can rip it up and burn it or whatever and it doesn't matter, sanctions imposed by the US are of little consequences to Iran if they're not imposed by those countries also.
Although not a country, ISIS was mentioned 23 times and was called the greatest threat to stability in the Mideast ever seen. (actually I thought we had already won that title but that's an equation for a different blog). While the rest of the world sees the rise of ISIS for what it really is, the 1,383rd year of the conflict between Sunnis and Shias, these candidates see it is a conflict that requires American involvement. Over half of them have said they're willing to let US soldiers die for this and the the others are willing also, they just don't want to say it. If ISIS is such a threat to the stability in the Mideast why haven't major powers over there like Saudi Arabia, Oman, or Qatar stepped up to rid this scourge from their region? The plain and simple answer is they're Sunni countries and would like nothing more than to see ISIS topple the Shia government the US put in place in Iraq.
Clinton/Obama was mentioned 44 times but that's to be expected. But what was a little unexpected is that Obama beat out Clinton 23 to 21. Apparently the memories of 6 1/2 years ago evades them and they still think gas is $3.79, unemployment is 9% and soldiers are returning in flag draped coffins. But in all fairness the people who are filling their campaign coffers are requiring those memory lapses.
Taxes (28 mentions), jobs (26) and economy (21) were also big topics and rightly so but what wasn't spoke of is that taxes are low: http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-income-taxes-on-middle-income-families-remain-near-historic-lows, there's been 64 straight months of jobs growth and the GDP has averaged a 3.96% growth since 2010. What wasn't mentioned regarding the economy was income inequality and the minimum wage, two pressing issues.
Immigration (18) and border (20) also got a lot of mentions but instead of undocumented immigrants streaming across the Mexican border the truth of the matter is there are now 1 million fewer undocumented people in this country than there were 10 years ago. In 2005 there were an estimated 12.5 million and today its 11.4. Of that 11.4 million, 5.9 million are Mexican, and that's down from 7 million in 2009. (From the WSJ, hardly a liberal mag: http://www.wsj.com/articles/undocumented-immigrant-population-levels-off-in-u-s-led-by-mexican-decline-1416330120). I'm sure that they also didn't mention that of that 11.4, 8.1 million of those who work pay taxes. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/04/16/Study-Finds-Illegal-Immigrants-Pay-118B-Taxes. More and more employers are wanting the tax breaks they get from having pay-rolled employees and requiring their undocumented workers to get ITINs from the IRS. This way they get the tax breaks but the employees are all essentially sub-contractors. The IRS doesn't care who owes the money and if the taxes become delinquent they just go back to the employer and have them withheld from future pay.
The ACA was never mentioned but Obamacare was 8 times, which is actually pretty good. They don't want to talk about the fact that states who fought the ACA and refused to expand Medicaid have over three times more uninsured than states that did. As an example, Texas currently has 20.8% of its population uninsured, Ohio now has a 6.1% uninsured rate.
There was no mention of all the terrible things that have happened because of the marriage equality ruling. (Too bad they haven't heard about that cat who married a human.) No mention of guns, or the student loan problems. And no mention at all of global warming.
Those "no mentions" weren't by accident. Those are some things Fox doesn't want their candidates to talk about. Granted four of the candidates have openly come out as non-scientists and carry an "I don't know" card as a badge of honor, the rest of them believe that the 97% of the scientific community who warn of global warming, organizations like NASA, NOAA, the US Navy, the National Academy of Science and many other prominent researchers, are perpetuating the biggest hoax known to mankind and spreading fear and anxiety to justify their budgets. They don't want their candidates to mention such nonsense in front of millions of people.
So no word on global warming but at the end they did find time for a question about God, just not the right question. A better question would be, why would God tell six different candidates to run for President? Inquiring minds want to know.
Oh yeah, Ronald Reagan was mentioned six times, any other former President named Bush, zero.
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