Political pundits will spin this in a negative way today and for the time remaining up to the mid-term elections. Reid has strongly supported Social Security, been more of a man about it than anyone, and stood up to George Bush, when he suggested privatizing it. Angle’s gaffe was to challenge Reid’s masculinity and this was a miscalculation, an exercise in bad taste. Anyways, it was a lift from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
The debate moderator, Mitch Fox, asked Angle why she has changed her wording on Social Security from ‘privatize’ to ‘personalize.’ Angle changed her term because she says SS is a combination of private and public. She used the example of Harry Reid having a Thrift Savings Account. Basically, Angle advocates investing SS money in the stock market. Reid countered with common sense; both England and Chili depleted their funds by gambling on the stock market.
Angle was playing on voters fears that SS is almost out of money, that 41 billion more is being paid out then is coming in. Reid was quick to point out that we have plenty of time to make up for the 15 to 20 % shortfall in SS revenue. I’m going to say the year 2037 was thrown out there as doomsday, but that could change. The point is, Reid emphasized SS is an important thing to fight for to protect our senior citizens. Angle appeared to be callous and insincere in her forced defense of SS.
On education Sharron is extreme in her beliefs. She wants to eliminate the Department of Education. This means she favors getting rid of traditional programs such as Head Start and Pell Grants, which are scholarships used by millions of poor students to finance their college education. Angle kept mentioning 10th Amendment Rights; she wants to see the federal government get out of the way of education, and send the issues back to the states to deal with.
The largest wound to the feisty and angular Angle, is her vague views on health care. She tends to be sympathetic with huge, cruel, insurance companies. Her line “what we have here is a choice between the free markets and Americanism” is pompous rhetoric that fails to address the shades of grey that reside in the curvilinear realms of health care. The biggest blow to the Red Queen is her cruel belief that insurance companies shouldn’t mandate mammograms or colonoscopies.
All eyes are on the senate election in Nevada. This one is the template for the rest of America. Angle is an apt debater, but the only problem is that now voters are all the more clear on just how extreme she really is. And on SS I suspect she was faking it, softening her wrath and hatred for this ancient tradition of New Deal reform (1933). Reid will be able to hold the line, but only by getting out the vote. I predict that he win by less than 1 % in a state with 14 % unemployment. This is the race to watch.
