Red State / Blue State | An election season blog

In the December 2001 edition of the Atlantic, David Brooks wrote an essay titled "One Nation, Slightly Divisible," in which he suggested that America is divided largely into two political cultures, one "red" and one "blue." His idea is based on those electoral maps in 2000 that colored majority-Republican states in red and majority-Democratic states in blue. Brooks' witty essay pictures the red-state voter as trending rural, a salt-of-the-earth type, concerned with individual liberty and family values, whereas the "blue" voter trends urban, more of a book-reader, a Beltway-savvy intellectual, the environmentally conscious soccer mom or dad.

Cliches? Maybe. But Brooks does have his finger on two very strong currents in the American votership. It's not that Pennsylvania is a "blue state" or Alabama is a "red state." It's that our two political cultures don't talk to each other much, or even know much about each other. To bridge that gap, we've brought together two "red" voters - John Franklin and Cynthia Sneed - and two "blue" voters, Terri Falbo and Timothy Horner. Each week, they'll ponder and debate the issues arising in the election campaign. The hope is that they'll model an intelligent discussion, a great big conference room where red and blue sit down together.

Joe Franklin, Red Stater

What did you think of the debate on Friday night? We're not asking for a winner or loser necessarily, although you may name one. What were the high points? What were Bush's best moments? Kerry's? Should this debate - should any debate - sway the votership?

President Bush performed better in this type debate than in the first debate. Sen. Kerry is, without a doubt, a polished debater. Both Kerry and Bush slanted the facts too many times to mention. After looking at factcheck.org, I thought maybe they both should have been polygraphed or given the truth serum prior to the debates.

Factcheck.org said that Kerry's statement That No Child Left Behind being underfunded by 28 billion dollars was an opinion and not a fact. No Child Left Behind funding has increased by 2.7 billion or 12 percent since the law was enacted.

Kerry claims that 1.6 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of the Bush administration. Labor statistics reveal that the figure is closer to 585,000 jobs lost (one third of Sen. Kerry's claim). This figure could be less, as jobs are growing at 100,000 per month.

I was expecting more on domestic issues, but the war in Iraq seemed to dominate the debate. President Bush noted that Kerry had supported the war until Howard Dean's campaign began to gain momentum. Bush asked, "How can he lead the county in a time of war when he changes his mind because of politics?" Later in the debate, President Bush said, "It's a fundamental misunderstanding to say the war on terror is only against Osama bin Laden."

This corresponds with statements Bush made shortly after 9/11. At that time, he said we would go after the terrorists and the countries that sponsored and harbored them. This would take time.

I was disappointed that responses to the questions appeared unrelated. A question about the war got a response about jobs and health care. Kerry was more adept with these unrelated answers, but maybe that's better debating.

The following comments made by the participants are misleading:

1. President Bush's comment on the child tax credit being increased was not correct. The credit was increased from $500 to $1,000 - not increased by $1,000.

2. Bush's drug discount is not working as he implied. Millions have not signed up for the card.

3. Kerry's health-care plan would not cover all Americans, but rather it would extend coverage to 24 to 27 million Americans not now covered.

4. Kerry's comment on windfall profits for drug companies was not a fact.

5. Kerry's comment on the Duelfer Report, stating that it showed that United Nations sanctions against Iraq were working, was not accurate. The report did not draw such a conclusion.

6. Kerry's statement that Gen. Shinseki had been forced to retire after disagreeing with the administration over troop strength in Iraq was wrong. Gen. Shinseki announced his retirement long before the disagreement.

Several times Sen. Kerry spoke of reaching out to the allies, building alliances. He said, "We're not going to go unilaterally as the President did." These statements conflict with his remarks on North Korea.

In closing, Sen. Kerry stated, "I'll never give a veto over American security to any other entity - not a nation, not a country, not an institution." If he waits for France or Germany or other countries who deal under the table with regimes like Saddam Hussein's to join his global coalition, he might as well give them that veto.

Both candidates distorted facts and confused opinions with facts. Perhaps for future debates, we could give the candidates the questions in advance. At the debates they would be wired for electrical shock. If the candidate distorted the facts or misplaced the truth, the moderator, with the press of a button, could jog his memory. If the first shock failed, he would get a second that would knock his socks off.

posted at # 9:00 AM