Fun times on a Friday night! I just got done watching an hour of the 5th Congressional District "Tea Party" debate over at NBC29. Here are a few "highlights," if you can call them that. Ha.*There were supposedly 400-plus "patriots" at the debate. What is it about these people that makes them any more patriotic than non-tea partiers? Do they get an American history quiz at the door and only are admitted if they get an "A" on it? Whatever.
*Feda Morton claimed that NAFTA was actually concluded in the Bush Administration. Uhhhhh, news flash for Feda Morton: I could have sworn I heard Vice President Al Gore debating Ross Perot on that one back in 1993. :)
*In general, the broken record of the tea party debate was "cut taxes and cut government." Very original.
*Ken Boyd claimed that "cap and trade" was contrary to the "right to work." I believe Boyd mixed "cap and trade" up with "card check." Details, details.
*Another main theme of the debate was union bashing. Shocker, I know.
*The moderator also screwed up the facts, claiming that the EPA was somehow inventing its authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Actually, it was the conservative-controlled Supreme Court which ruled that the EPA had to regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act.
*Environmental ignorance ran much more rampant than that, including the commonly held views that the EPA should be defunded, CO2 is not a pollutant (the vast majority of scientists believe it most certainly is), cap-and-trade (actually a Republican idea, from the Reagan Administration) is all about "controlling you," etc.
*Feda Morton bragged about being a science teacher and then claimed that CO2 is not a pollutant. She should be fired immediately.
*Lawrence Verga didn't seem to understand that the EPA is part of the Executive Branch.
*Favorite philosophers/thinkers among this group included Cicero, Ronald Reagan, Jerry Falwell, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and supply-side economists like Arthur Laffer. Also, "The 5,000-Year Leap," on Glenn Beck's required reading list, was very popular at the Tea Party debate.
*Feda Morton said something about the Republican Party shifting to the left. Did I just miss the last 30 years of American history or what? When on earth did that happen?!?
*All the candidates praised the tea party movement. Verga said the GOP doesn't know what to do with it. Jim McKelvey said the GOP looks at tea partiers as a "bunch of aliens."
*Several candidates took shots at State Senator Robert Hurt (R), who did not attend, for his 2004 vote in favor of Mark Warner's tax reform package.
*Boyd said he had stood up to "liberal persecution."
*At least two of the candidates - Mike McPadden, Ron Ferrin - think that shutting down government is a great idea.
*When it comes down to it, most of these candidates are not willing to live up to their principles when it comes to Social Security. Except, perhaps, for McPadden and Ferrin, who say privatize it.
Check out DemBonesDrew's Twitter feed for more, including the comments, "It seems almost unanimous that McPadden had the best performance in tonights 5th district GOP debate" and "Very surprised that none of the GOP candidates mentioned former Rep. Virgil Goode in tonight's debate."
UPDATE: Results of a straw poll at last night's debate.
"149 Ballots were turned in. 3 contained votes for more than one candidate and so were excluded."
Michael McPadden…..56.2%
Jim McKelvey…………13.1%
Feda Kidd Morton……12.3%
Ron Ferrin……………6.8%
Laurence Verga………5.5%
Ken Boyd………………2.7%
Virgil Goode…………2.7%
Robert Hurt……………0.7%
UPDATE #2: Here's some video of the debate, courtesy of Rick Sincere. Thanks to Rick!
