In response to a diary on Bearing Drift, I posted this comment which I wanted to share and expound upon here. Essentially, the diary asserts that Deeds' strategy in this race will be based entirely upon bashing former President Bush and his policies.As I recall, it was McDonnell who made this about national politics. He can’t have it both ways by now saying national politics don’t matter, when it was McDonnell who talked non-stop about congress and little about Virginia in the first debate.
The only thing that I’ve seen from Deeds in regards to President Bush is that, in the last debate, McDonnell said the Bush economic policies “worked too well”. I, for one, would like to see Deeds talk about the McDonnell-Bush connection on a deeper level. In February, McDonnell hired Ed Gillespie to chair his campaign. Here's a short bio of Gillespie from Politico:
Ed Gillespie has worn a lot of hats throughout his career: chairman of the Republican National Committee, counselor to President George W. Bush and co-founder of the lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates. A longtime Washingtonian — he graduated from Catholic University — his bosses have included Dick Armey, Haley Barbour, John Kasich, Elizabeth Dole, George Allen and Bob McDonnell.
Ed Gillespie - lobbyist, former RNC Chair appointed by President Bush, and later White House Counsel to President Bush beginning in 2007, and Karl Rove's replacement. This is significant. Who you put around you as a candidate reflects a fair amount as to your beliefs, judgement, and how you would govern. Picking a "loyal Bushie" to chair your campaign sends a clear signal as to your intentions once in office.
Democrats came into office this year to a $1.3 Trillion dollar deficit, which was accrued by the Republicans. The total budget deficit appears to be around $2.3 trillion this year. This would indicate that with more time on the job this year, President Obama's iniatives and the stimulus bill will have accounted for less than half of the total deficit this year.
Democrats do not want to take away the secret ballot. Democrats are voting for card check as another option in addition to the secret ballot. To say that Republicans are protecting unions rights is a blatant lie. In fact, anytime a Republican says they are protecting unions, who they also blame for destroying America’s competitiveness, is a blatant lie. Republican’s can’t have it both ways. This has an interesting tie-in to health care. At every turn, Republicans claim that ADDING choices for consumers or workers that want to unionize actually takes away choice. As far as card check is concerned, workers wishing to unionize currently have one option - the secret ballot. Card check allows for a second option should workers prefer to use card check before a secret ballot. The worst part of the Republican argument in this matter is the false reasoning presented for voted against card check. Republicans claim to be standing up for workers, while limiting choice and allowing a healthy environment for union busting by companies like Wal-Mart, which provides few benefits, who fire anyone attempting to unionize.
And health care nationalization? The fact is free market principles, which the Republican party espouse so highly and claim it can be made to work for all, explicitly forbids that from actually happening. A for-profit company cannot cover all Americans AND receive the highest possible profitability, which shareholders demand. It is simply impossible. A simply supple demand curve would show that these companies can ONLY be highly profitable by not covering those who need care. To the insurance company, the payments to hospitals are ‘costs’. And companies make money by cutting ‘costs’, not encouraging them by signing up those that need care and cost more. Only the government or an extremely large NGO could cover all Americans. The free market, sadly, cannot.
