In an effort to create a more intellectually stimulating environment around my little corner of the blogosphere, I completely wiped clean my social calendar last Friday night, and stayed home to watch the first of a couple debates between U.S. Rep. Mark Green, and incumbent Governor Jim Doyle, the two candidates running for governor of this, The Great State of Cheese, in November.A more accurate story would be that there was no poker game, I was too tired and lazy to go out anywhere else, and I just wanted a forum in which to use the word "gubernatorial" in some sort of context.
And it would be hard to use a term like "intellectually stimulating" in response to what I saw from the two candidates for an hour on Friday night.
Doyle talked about how he wrangled a $3.2 billion deficit when he took office, and how he's balanced every budget since he's been governor. Green claimed that's not true, overusing the phrase, "...the sad reality of it is..." at least a half dozen times in the first half hour, in response to Doyle's claims of his work as governor.
Then Doyle was forced to use his own valuable time to state that it is true, and back and forth they went. Blah blah blah.
Green stated that taxes are just too high, and that he'd work to eliminate wasteful spending and slow the growth of government. Gee, doesn't he sound like a...a...politician? Let me guess, he ended the night by shaking hands and kissing babies, right?
If I'd have had the chance to be one of the guest questioners on the panel, I think my question would have gone something like this: "Gentlemen, seeing as how the tax burden in this state is so great, and how the number of new jobs created in the last three years is somewhere between 4 and 150,000, and how we may...or may not...have improved education in recent years, could I umm...could I maybe have two new contestants to choose from in November, please?"
Near the end of the debate, Green laid the schmoooze on pretty thick, too. "In my travels during this campain, I...fell...in love...all over again...with Wisconsin. I love this state!" (be sure...and pause...after...nearly every word...for dramatic...effect.)
The sad reality, Mr. Green, is that you've got no chance of getting my vote in November. Not even if you promise free lollipops and beer for the length of your term.
But I'll probably tune in for the next debate on Oct. 20.
(You didn't find too many hard facts contained in this blog entry, did you? Now you know how I felt for an hour on Friday night.)
Go ahead, you know you wanna say it: gubernatorial.
"Politicians are people who,
when they see light at the end
of the tunnel, go out and buy
some more tunnel."
—John Quinton
Chalk up a vote for Doyle. Add a third for my wife as well.
ReplyDeleteI am naive when it comes to most matters involving gun control, and am indifferent to the NRA, but you asked if I cared to debate, and I usually do.
ReplyDeleteI think we had a brief conversation along these lines while driving up to your hunting land back in 2000 before Bush/Gore took the national stage, didn't we?
I guess I can only ask that, if Gore had become president, or if you moved back to Wisconsin and had to live under Doyle's "regime," how many of your hunting rights would have been or currently be compromised? Would some of the hours that you've spent hunting in the last several years have been taken away from you?
And I'm not asking that to be snippy, I'm asking it as a legitimate question, albeit a very simplistic one.
I've always been a little awestruck at the outdoorsman's lifestyle, and while I think Ted Nugent might be a wee bit over the edge, I've got a boatload of respect for the passion he shows when talking about how he lives his life.
Your tales of the hunt always impress me, MC, and I've enjoyed the "fruits of your labor" on more than one occasion, thanks to your willingness to share. So I am by no means anti-outdoorsman.
On Jim Doyle:
"Jim Doyle was an early public supporter of the proposed constitutional amendment to hunt, fish and trap. Doyle sees this not only as a protection for the sporting public, but also as needed protection for animal and fish habitats."
(same Web site.)