So thanks to my mother's back issues, I got to replace her on the stage for tonight's senatorial debate between Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME). It was interesting, it was informative (I know hard to believe), and my ass is still numb. The damn thing was televised so I felt obligated to keep still and look pensive. Only allowing furative nose scratches when I was sure the camera was on the person asking the question.
Overall, they both did well, but I will give the edge to Collins, she's on home turf being a good County Girl. I have issues with both candidates, but I will probably go Collins, because she is a moderate and has Maine's people as her focus.
Who is this nut?
- kired
- "You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?" T. Pratchett
2 comments:
In July of 2005, one week after the transit bombings in London, Sen. Collins introduced a measure to preserve minimum grants from the Homeland Security budget to small states. Her measure, which was supported by Sen. Lieberman (every Republican's favorite Independent) and 69 others, was introduced as a countermeasure to an amendment proposed by Sen. Feinstein that would have mandated that 90% of the DHS budget be allocated according to risk assessments. Feinstein's proposal followed recommendations made by Secretary Chertoff and the 9/11 Commission to distribute the funds to communities that faced the greatest rick of attack. Collin's countermeasure only allowed for 70% of the funds to be allocated according to risk assessments and guaranteed more money would flow to places like Wyoming, Maine, Vermont and Kansas rather than to states with obvious targets like New York, California, Illinois. I guess you could say that Sen. Collins has the people of Maine as her focus, Derik, but to me it just seems like she's bringing pork back to what Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin have recently been calling the "real America". How the Republicans have been able to turn security into their signature issue even as they exploit it with a level of cynicism rarely seen in government is truly astounding. At the time her measure was approved by the Senate, I was riding the subway from Brooklyn to Columbia an hour each way to work. On some of those days I rode with NYPD officers wearing body armor and carrying AR-15s. When the people of Maine commute to work underground with heavily armed paramilitary troops, then Sen. Collins can make her claim that "Every state has homeland security needs and vulnerabilities." Until then, she should follow the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and the Secretary of Homeland Security and agree to allocate funds based almost exclusively on risk assessments. [see Eric Lipton, "Senate Democrats Assail Domestic Security Budget," NYT July 13, 2005]
Hi Doug,
Appreciate your comment. I don't share her opinion on that matter. However, Tom Allen's support of Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041) (http://www.uschamber.com/issues/index/labor/cardchecksecrbal.htm) or Card Check bill is a hard pill to swallow. As a small employer who sees the struggle of workers, I don't feel that the passage of such a law would only be in their best interest. I don't believe that my business or my employees could afford the burden of a union. I understand that it is a reaction to the Walmarts of the world, but it would ultimately be to the detriment of many small businesses, which are already on the ropes. I also am amazed that the party which has traditionally been in the worker's corner; is so willing to put them in a position of possible coercion, which the card check laws could create. Nope, gonna have to stick with Collins, but take heart, barring major brain damage, I'm voting for Obama and Michaud.
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