NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, GANSLER WON FIRST DEBATE HANDS-DOWN!

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT,
GANSLER WON FIRST DEBATE HANDS-DOWN!

BROWN DOES NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN MISSING $250 MILLION FROM THE
HEALTH EXCHANGE DEBACLE, OR TO  WHY HE  HAS DONE NOTHING ABOUT RISING
UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS, JOB CREATION, POVERTY -  CLAIMS MARGINAL EDUCATIONAL
MAKES LUDICROUS CLAIMS ABOUT EDUCATION, LECTURES  AN ALREADY CONTRITE
GANSLER ON HIS PARENTING SKILLS, AND SHINES AS UTTERLY INEPT.




                                                                                 

Some folks think BROWN or MIZEUR won this debate.  I could not disagree more. Make no mistake about it.  DOUG GANSLER who has always been the most experienced candidate with the strength needed to really turn Maryland around without a doubt won this round hands-down. This after being dragged through the mud about nonsensical character issues which were the equivalent of malcontent sniping, except that those doing the sniping smeared the reputation of a distinguished public servant by fixating their attention on a teen beach house party in Delaware and other absurdities, all of a personal nature - none of which should ever have been aired in public, let alone with the utmost hypocrisy beaten deader than the deadest horse because apparently real news - like the Lt. Gov. refusing to account for where the $250 Million plus went in setting up the defunct and  useless exchange he was responsible for/then he wasn’t responsible for/now he and a lot of people are responsible for - simply does sell newspapers.  So in the grand muckraking tradition of the of The Sun, reporters intrude and make big public scene out where they do not belong, imply and vilify all manner of the ludicrous and hypocritical nonsense --all I can say is that it is a good thing that no one was smoking any of the now decriminalized marijuana at that party.  And all the girls had their tops on.  There is hypocrisy and plain BS all over this incident.  First, I seriously doubt that very many parents have not ran into this situation at least once on their own with their own children?  I wonder how if you were the parent in Doug’s position, after a 30-plus year public record which clearly attests to the Attorney General’s charr acter, to have your “parenting skills” dragged through the mud like this?  Nevertheless Doug Ganler was man enough to admit he could have and should have done better and none of us, not even him, is perfect.  Now what to heck are millions of people doing in between him and his son making judgments they have no Chistian (or any other religion that I  of) business making.  May we move on, Ms. Cox?

$250 Million was spent and who was responsible -especially when the Lt Governor first claims he was the chair, then claims he wasn’t the chair, stonewalls attempt after attempt to discuss the exchanges, conducts all business behind closed doors, produces a now universally agreed totally failed system that is the subject of both a federal and state audit, contracts “the fix” which is bringing in the Ct. exchange behind closed doors, and still passes the buck  every chance he gets - while simultaneously claiming that this whole undertaking is a great  accomplishment on his part - is hardly “quarreling or pointing fingers.”

Heather Mizeur knows full well that much of what is at debate here is the experience and qualifications each of these two men have and how that qualifies them to be governor.  These areas ipso facto become fair game for in-depth analysis and examination and there is nothing at all childish going on here.  This is in fact a bona fide debate and these matters are very much at the heart of what it is that is being debated:  who is the best qualified most experienced candidate?

Heather has no claim to experience but make no mistake about it.  Despite taking the High Road, being a bit too quixotic and a little naive, Heather Mizeur is a force majeure and is  going to increasingly be a major player and I would predict on the national stage.  As for the High Road, I for one just don’t like seeing the government involved in deriving income from pot.  Frankly I think pot is a relatively harmless drug.  However, for generations it has been used as bait and switch by networks for far more serious drugs mostly cocaine, heroin, and  chemicals.  I for one am not real crazy about driving down a one-way street at night single lane, deep ravine both sides, and suddenly having an oncoming car lights out approaching at 90 mph with some driver higher than the Himalayas.  I have problems with that.  I also have problems with pizza shops with hydroponic gardens on the rooftops opening across the street from every elementary school in America.  Most of my friends probably would be surprised to hear me say this unless they know me well but I just plain don’t want the government involved in the business of making money off the sale of pot   That said, because O”Malley has already ipso facto decriminalized small amounts.   Maybe I am just old-fashioned about this (like I am gamboling which I also still oppose on line offline - whatever.)

Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that DOUG GANSLER was the indisputable winner last night.  He was succinct, sometimes a  little sound bite-driven, yeah, but succinct; direct, on target;  polite, matter-of-fact.  GANSLER further showed that he has a sense of humor about himself.  He doesn’t believe he is perfect.  He evidenced compassion, sincerity, and a genuine motivation for public service.  He even quipped that his wife often told him he should get “a real job” (something no one seems to have heard) but here he is “running for this” (he didn’t call being governor a real job again).  Anyone who really listened to Doug and heard him as a person “got” this - and after knowing Doug know for seven years rather remotely for the most part, the one thing I can tell you that has always drawn me to him is the fact that here is this guy, he is the Attorney General of the State of Maryland, which in case you had not gotten it already you did if you listened to him last night is ONE H*LL (pardon my French) OF A B*LL-B*STIN JOB.  Everything legal that the State does - from the legislatures to the policemen on the beat - is ultimately coming back to you!  For all intents and purposes, you are the prosecutor for the People but you are also the voice of the executive side of the law - you must make the call as to whether the State is acting within its bounds legally.  Yes, of course - you get a big staff to manage and help -- but trust me:  this is not an easy job.  Most Attorney Generals I have encountered take themselves a bit too seriously, but Doug is different. There is Doug the Attorney General who goes into action the moment a sniper starts to fire or some rapes someone or an elderly person is attacked - and then there is the other side of Doug, the really charismatic sincere very likable guy who was your best bud back in grade school who jokes with you, tells you what time it is, makes you laugh - and Is not afraid to say “I am wrong.”

When Doug spoke about his son and the teenage beach party with the underrated drinking, that was the DOUG GANSSLER we herd last night. Whereas ANTHONY BROWN is still only admitting to being responsible for wasting $250 MILLION with a lot of other folks.  Nothing sincere there. (And BROWN really cares about those people?  I think not.)

BROWN made several other announcements that left me speechless: 

First he said that eliminating 2 percent of the corporate tax would stop all the gains, which are modest at best, made in education in Baltimore.  Is he saying that the only way for children to learn is to throw money at the educational system?  Because if he is, BROWN has some really fundamental misconceptions about what is involved in learning.  One of the most important things involved in learning is PLAY.

Second BROWN floored me with the most incoherent and seriously deficient understanding of the simplest course in macroeconomics (like  MACRO 101 from Community College, not Harvard).  He made no attempt to deny any of the accusations of inaction on his part with respect to job creation over the past 8 years.  Brown made no attempt to defend the ridiculous unemployment numbers he has been quoting for a while and/or ludicrous poverty statistics for Baltimore County.  Brown did not even attempt to explain how under his term in office the jobs and poverty situation had gotten worse by nearly 10 percent. 

Instead, BROWN proposed his fix:  BROWN is implementing a Commission.  (How many hundreds of millions of dollars will this Commission waste and is it also meeting behind closed doors?  And who is in charge of this Commission?  If it fails?  If it succeeds?)  The Commission is to report back recommendations on what to do by 2016.

That is the economic relief that the people of Maryland can expect from ANTHONY BROWN. 

He promises you he absolutely is not going to cut the corporate tax rate to make our state competitive with neighboring states.  But he is going to give you a Commission.

So that is the third thing that I learned about ANTHONY BROWN last night:  that he is completely out of touch with the degree to which people in this State are in misery with the harms his particular regressive tax tax tax policies coupled with a total failure to create jobs is causing right now out there to millions of Marylanders who have suffered more of O’Malley and Brown than they can stand.

BROWN simply does not “get” it.  He does not understand that people all over the state have lost their jobs, businesses, homes, and are hungry right now, that they are continuing to do so at a rate which increasing alarmingly, and that if they wait until 2016 for the beginnings of real solutions, chances are they will be gone or dead

And that is the fourth thing I learned about ANTHONY BROWN last night.  He cannot defend the record he has.  He has no real solutions now.  He wants to buy time he does not deserve because he has had more than ample time to do something.  And lastly, ANTHONY BROWN doesn’t really care about Maryland or the people of Maryland - regardless of what county they are from, what color they are, what creed - not even a hoot.  Because anyone who did would never have the audacity to offer the answers he does (or rather doesn’t) and just plain ignore the fact that 47 percent of the people are ready to just up and leave.

ANTHONY BROWN’S got his. 

That is all he cares about. 

There is no question who won the debate last night.  The only candidate who really does care about all of the people of Maryland, who really doesn’t even need to be in this race, except he feels drawn to serve.  It is fundamental to his faith, to his core being. DOUG GANSLER.  He may not say what you want to hear.  You may not like what he says sometimes.  But I will tell you this, he says what he thinks.  And he definitely cares about all of the people of Maryland

 For someone who is supposed to pose such a serious challenger to DOUG GANSLER, BROWN certainly came across as inept - not even in the same league as GANSLER certainly not skilled enough to govern. If so much of this campaign not been fueled by viciously skewed attacks on the part of Erin * and The Sun, one would feel sorry for BROWN. Compared to GANSLER'S strong performance, BROWN seemed almost pathetic.