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| WV Senate debate C-SPAN 8 pm ET, Robert Byrd's seat in forum [FedUp-Old]
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Quote:Live Coverage begins with the West Virginia U.S. Senate debate between Democratic Governor Joe Manchin, Republican John Raese, Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson and Constitution Party candidate Jeff Becker. This is the only scheduled debate prior to Election Day, November 2. The candidates are running in a special election to fill the remaining two years of the late Senator Robert Byrd's Senate term. http://c-span.org/Quote:Manchin's problem is that voters like the way he's performing as Governor, but don't want to give another vote in the Senate for the Obama Administration. Unfortunately for him, there's a way for voters to do just that -- by voting for Raese. This is increasingly reminiscent of Kerry/Weld in Massachusetts -- voters liked Weld and didn't really like Kerry, but decided to keep Weld as Governor and send Kerry back to Washington. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/.... |
Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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C-SPAN having feed problems, but it has started.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: What positive changes will you make for West Virginians?
Gov. Manchin: Put special interests aside, look at the challenges ahead. Gov for 6 years and that's what I did. We need to bring this country together. Dems and Repubs put their party first, special interests second and the people third. This is wrong.
Becker: Get back to our founding principles. Dec of Ind. Renewed interest in American civics, history (seems lost for words, long pauses) The Constitution was a compact of states...
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Becker: The Senators need to be working more with the state legislature.
Johnson: Lack of fairness in our election process. Tremendous need for public election financing.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Raese: I don't know how we couldn't be negative in this country with the unemployment situation. It's unacceptable. People are agitated and angry. I want to bring back capitalism and free enterprise. My forte is creating jobs. But Obamacare and cap and trade and card check and TARP and stimulus are programs we need to change.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: Public dollars for WV if elected?
Raese: Earmarks create career politicians. Is that the best answer for the problems of WV? I don't think so. When you give a man a fish... Gov has limited powers.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Manchin: Infrastructure. WV being a rural state, water, sewage, broadband, the free enterprise system won't help us there. There must be a partnership.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Johnson: This country is an amalgam, a melting pot of race and religion and ethnic background and who we are. We have socialistic constructs as well that are intrinsic to our identity. Police, fire, military. These are not capitalistic.
Becker: My only concern is that with earmarks, we have candidates using that as a way of vote-getting. Imagine if we went back to repealing the 17th Amendment as Zell Miller suggested, so earmarks would not be used for votes.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: What would you do to reduce the federal defecit?
Manchin: Same as I did as governor. Start bringing unfunded liabilities under control. Balanced budget except in cases of emergency or an act of war. The debt that we're amassing right now is unconscionable. We've been disciplined in WV.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Raese: I would concur with a balanced-budget amendment but Manchin is for stimulus in this country. $700B of failure. If this is his idea of a way to cut spending, this is odd to me.
Manchin: I'm not blaming Bush or Obama for this free-for-all, but we need to stop it. I've been criticized for not spending the stimulus quick enough, but we're shoring up here, because we knew it wouldn't last forever, and we don't support the second round of stimulus.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: Tax cuts.
Raese: I'm for the tax cut across the board and making them permanent, not just extending them. We're going into a lame duck session, and that's concerning. It's the largest tax increase in the history of the US.
Manchin: I don't think during a time of recession you mess with the taxes or increase any of the taxes. We have cut taxes in WV $235M in 4 years.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Johnson: I'm adamantly against the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and I see different options. First is our bloated military spending, 1 in 3 dollars to the DoD. This is a very serious issue when we have no conventional enemies. Have not declared war since WWII. What has happened in the last 20 years with the derivative market? $700T? Greater than global GDP? 1% transaction fee at the front and back would = universal health care, which is a Constitutional right.
Becker: Art. I Sec. 8 limited powers. Most federal departments are not authorized by the Constitution, so we need to phase them out. 1994 Contract with America was a lie. Not they blame the Dems. Now there's the Pledge for America...
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: Coal mining. Cap and trade.
Johnson: In favor of restriction for carbon emissions, but not starting on that level. Whole new unregulated market for giant corporations? Huge drain on American coffers and worldwide. Stop mountaintop removal immediately and transition away from burning coal.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Raese: I oppose cap and trade. It's about controlling manufacturing in this country, not the environment. All the oceans in the world emit and evaporate much more carbon than is man-made. Global warming, especially man-made global warming, is a myth, and I don't believe in that myth. We need to find more coal and more accessible coal.
Manchin: Obama is dead wrong on cap and trade. It would be our ruin. But coal has built this country. If you want security in this nation, you have to stop going overseas to buy oil.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Johnson: Coal-for-energy model is not required. Go solar. Go geothermal.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: What solutions do you offer for the state and the country for when the coal runs out?
Raese: 200 years of reserve in this country. So the real question is the global warming myth. Manchin does.
Manchin: I think coal is in its transition period, 30-50 years. China is using a lot of coal, so is the rest of the world. And it's cheap.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: What more would you have Congress do to protect coal miners?
Manchin: Safety is paramount. How do we have any safe workplace? Investigation is ongoing of Seago. Ventilation, etc. we have charged and challenged every miner to take control, to make sure you're in a safe workplace. We have a hotline.
Johnson: (Cut off before the current question.) 200 years is minus the exponential function. The future starts the moment we walk out of here. How about proper application of regulation? Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 provided proper ventilation but we didn't follow it. Its author has endorsed me. Deep mining is safe if it is done properly.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Raese: I agree with Manchin that we have to wait until the investigation is complete before we have a plan of attack, but I agree with Obama's direction away from coal. I find it odd that I'm in the business, family business for 97 years (coal and limestone mining) but we're never asked what we would do on safety. I find that odd.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: Afghanistan.
Becker: WTC7 was 2 blocks away from the Twin Towers, away from any debris. 5 pm, James Stanley, BBC was standing there reporting that WTC7 collapsed when it was still seen over her shoulder. 20 minutes later it did collapse. Insurance policy... order to "pull it" (controlled demolition)
(So Becker's a troofer.)
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Manchin: I support the Commander's decision for the buildup. We must support our troops. You have to listen to your front-field commanders. We can all speculate, but we have our men and women in harm's way, and they don't always return.
Raese: I think Manchin may have it a little bit wrong. McCrystal only got 70% of requested troops. Obama didn't listen to his generals. You have to do it 100%. My philosophy is, We win, you lose.
Johnson: This is all the pursuit of empire. Dangerous folly. We have crumbling infrastructure. We should not be in these excursions abroad. We're giving up our civil liberties in the process.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: Why repeal Obamacare?
Raese: I don't like socialism. Doctor-patient relationship creates the best healthcare system in the world. But under Obamacare, which Manchin has always supported, you have a patient-bureaucrat relationship. 20 new taxes, 189 new federal agencies, new federal powers. I'd like to repeal all of it. Pure unadulterated socialism. Worst bill that's ever come out of Congress.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Manchin: I'm not prepared to scrap the entire bill. Parts need to be changed. We've never passed a piece of perfect legislation, but children need to be covered. Ditto cancer patients, etc. The filling of the donut hole. Lots of good in the bill that Dems and Repubs agree with. So you don't start by repealing everything. Working people need basic healthcare.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Q: What parts would you repeal?
A: 1099 provision. Mandates. Abortion firewall.
Becker: Skyrocketing insurance costs from the McCarran-Ferguson Act, exempting insurers from the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Time to repeal it, there are attempts, Leahy, etc. Price-fixing by insurers.
Johnson: Stunned that this is characterized as socialism. It's capitalism on steroids. Penalty for paying to a private corporation. It's not socialism by any stretch of the imagination. Drafted in secret like Cheney's energy bill.
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Johnson has said twice now that sloppy penmanship kills 7K Americans per year.
Q: Any issues you support that would be cause for Democrats to support you?
Manchin: Social security. We should prioritize and fix it and keep it public. I also believe in the minimum wage. I believe in Medicare.
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