The Republican candidate forum
Posted: Monday, October 29, 2007
There are people like John McCain in this world and then there are the rest of us. McCain is one of the few presidential candidates of any party who can truly be called a genuine American hero. What he and fellow Vietnam vet Bud Day endured as pilots who had their planes shot out from under them and then as POWs in the “Hanoi Hilton” is more than most of us can imagine. The fact that McCain lived to tell about the “thousand acts of courage” he witnessed by those he spent time in captivity with is a tribute to his patriotism and dedication to his fellow soldiers.
John McCain is the reason I went to the “Republican Candidates Forum” last week at the Orpheum. And while I can’t speak for anyone else, I’m guessing he’s a big part of the reason why the two-person “forum,” originally planned as a nationally televised debate among all or most of the Republican candidates, drew as many people as it did.
The other candidate was Mike Huckabee. With all due respect to the smooth-talking former Arkansas governor, no combination of Huckabee and Republican candidates other than McCain was going to get me away from the World Series on television. Not Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani whose “scheduling conflict” was probably making time to watch his new favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Hmmmm, Rudy spent all those years as mayor of New York rooting for the Yankees and suddenly he claims to be cheering on the arch-rival Red Sox? I don’t suppose it has anything to do with Boston being so close to NEW HAMPSHIRE?
If it had been Huckabee and Romney or Huckabee and Tancredo or worse yet Huckabee, Giuliani, Romney, and Tancredo well let’s just say there ain’t enough booze in Momo’s to get me through that one. Besides, Tancredo, who represents Colorado in the House, proposed a bet with Romney that if the former Massachusetts governor’s favorite team (funny how everyone’s a Red Sox fan these days) beats the Rockies in the World Series, Tancredo will drop out of the presidential race. Well, at the time of this writing it looks like we won’t have ol’ Tommy to kick around any more.
But I digress. My point is that John McCain saved the day, er night, last Thursday. It was McCain who suggested that rather than have each of the two candidates speak separately, as was planned in the wake of all the other Republican candidates declining to come, they should sit together at the same table on stage and conduct their town hall meeting. It made for a somewhat entertaining, if at times predictable, discussion of the issues primarily health care and financial security.
While Huckabee told corny jokes, engaged in well-worn “fair tax” rhetoric and seemed to be taking credit for the work of Arkansas governors that preceded him, McCain showed a keen grasp of certain issues and a self-deprecating sense of humor. When IPTV moderator Dean Borg began to repeat a question for McCain that Huckabee had been asked moments earlier, McCain interrupted, “You don’t have to repeat the question, my attention span isn’t that short.”
McCain was impressive when he talked about how Republicans must reach across the aisle and work with Democrats in Congress to get problems solved, citing his own work with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.
He even talked about the example set by Democratic President John F. Kennedy when talking about the importance of communicating with the American people on urgent foreign policy matters, saying that if elected president, he would hold at least one press conference a week to keep the public informed about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A thinly veiled jab at the Bush administration’s cloak of secrecy and mismanagement of both wars.
McCain struck out though when he said he supported Bush’s veto of SCHIP as well as his plan to privatize Social Security which failed because the American people overwhelmingly rejected it. This was, after all, the main focus of the forum and strikes at the heart of the political differences many of us have with the man. I sincerely admire McCain’s straight talk. I just don’t agree with enough of it at this point to say I’ll cast my vote for him.
But that’s a year away. What really mattered last Thursday was that he honored his commitment to be a part of the discussion in Sioux City. Thanks for coming to the Orpheum, Sen. McCain. It was an honor to be in the same room with you.
Paul Guggenheimer is a free-lance writer and radio and TV personality from Sioux City. You can write to him in care of The Journal or at lvrcomments@hotmail.com.
John McCain is the reason I went to the “Republican Candidates Forum” last week at the Orpheum. And while I can’t speak for anyone else, I’m guessing he’s a big part of the reason why the two-person “forum,” originally planned as a nationally televised debate among all or most of the Republican candidates, drew as many people as it did.
The other candidate was Mike Huckabee. With all due respect to the smooth-talking former Arkansas governor, no combination of Huckabee and Republican candidates other than McCain was going to get me away from the World Series on television. Not Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani whose “scheduling conflict” was probably making time to watch his new favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Hmmmm, Rudy spent all those years as mayor of New York rooting for the Yankees and suddenly he claims to be cheering on the arch-rival Red Sox? I don’t suppose it has anything to do with Boston being so close to NEW HAMPSHIRE?
If it had been Huckabee and Romney or Huckabee and Tancredo or worse yet Huckabee, Giuliani, Romney, and Tancredo well let’s just say there ain’t enough booze in Momo’s to get me through that one. Besides, Tancredo, who represents Colorado in the House, proposed a bet with Romney that if the former Massachusetts governor’s favorite team (funny how everyone’s a Red Sox fan these days) beats the Rockies in the World Series, Tancredo will drop out of the presidential race. Well, at the time of this writing it looks like we won’t have ol’ Tommy to kick around any more.
But I digress. My point is that John McCain saved the day, er night, last Thursday. It was McCain who suggested that rather than have each of the two candidates speak separately, as was planned in the wake of all the other Republican candidates declining to come, they should sit together at the same table on stage and conduct their town hall meeting. It made for a somewhat entertaining, if at times predictable, discussion of the issues primarily health care and financial security.
While Huckabee told corny jokes, engaged in well-worn “fair tax” rhetoric and seemed to be taking credit for the work of Arkansas governors that preceded him, McCain showed a keen grasp of certain issues and a self-deprecating sense of humor. When IPTV moderator Dean Borg began to repeat a question for McCain that Huckabee had been asked moments earlier, McCain interrupted, “You don’t have to repeat the question, my attention span isn’t that short.”
McCain was impressive when he talked about how Republicans must reach across the aisle and work with Democrats in Congress to get problems solved, citing his own work with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.
He even talked about the example set by Democratic President John F. Kennedy when talking about the importance of communicating with the American people on urgent foreign policy matters, saying that if elected president, he would hold at least one press conference a week to keep the public informed about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A thinly veiled jab at the Bush administration’s cloak of secrecy and mismanagement of both wars.
McCain struck out though when he said he supported Bush’s veto of SCHIP as well as his plan to privatize Social Security which failed because the American people overwhelmingly rejected it. This was, after all, the main focus of the forum and strikes at the heart of the political differences many of us have with the man. I sincerely admire McCain’s straight talk. I just don’t agree with enough of it at this point to say I’ll cast my vote for him.
But that’s a year away. What really mattered last Thursday was that he honored his commitment to be a part of the discussion in Sioux City. Thanks for coming to the Orpheum, Sen. McCain. It was an honor to be in the same room with you.
Paul Guggenheimer is a free-lance writer and radio and TV personality from Sioux City. You can write to him in care of The Journal or at lvrcomments@hotmail.com.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 2 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
Richard perkins wrote on Jan 5, 2008 8:02 PM:
We wouldn't be facing increased costs every year, if these issues were resolved !!!!! "
Jeff. wrote on Nov 2, 2007 6:43 AM: