In the course of the race to fill the 4th Congressional District seat, I’ve attended several debates featuring Tom McClintock—both in the primary and the general elections. At each of these debates one fact is certainly confirmed; a fact that I’m sure many Californians familiar with McClintock would share: you can’t win a debate with Tom McClintock. Unfortunately for Democrat candidate Charlie Brown, the universal truth of one’s inability to best Tom McClintock’s debating skills was affirmed this evening at their final debate of the campaign. Appearing before a standing-room-only crowd at the Nevada County South Chamber event, both candidates commented that this was the best attended debate thus far in the general election.
Charlie Brown’s opening statement reiterated his campaign’s theme of his 26-year service in the United States Air Force. For those unfamiliar with the 4th Congressional District’s recent history, Charlie Brown challenged sitting Congressman John Doolittle in 2006 and came within just a few percentage points of ousting the incumbent. Focusing on Doolittle’s past connection to disgraced (and criminal) former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and pandering to the veteran vote with his military service, Brown tapped into the disgruntled segment of voters in this district. Now that the incumbent congressman is retiring, and without the Doolittle/Abramoff issue to harp on, Brown has shifted to focusing on his military connection and recycling some of McClintock’s primary opponent’s tired attacks.
By the end of the debate, I think voters in the room were amazed that regardless of the questions offered by the moderator—whether it was about abortion or the economy—Brown somehow connected it to his military service. While no one would discount Mr. Brown’s service to his nation, it leads one to wonder just how strong a candidate he really is if he must focus so much on his service and not on the issues that concern voters.
During the one-hour debate the two candidates sparred over a host of hot topics ranging from the economy to Proposition 8. The first questioned proffered was about federal funding for abortion. A strong proponent of the government abiding by its constitutionally-enumerated powers, McClintock obviously opposes such funding. Building on his comment from a previous debate about human rights beginning “at birth,” Brown explained that he believes abortion is a “medical decision between a woman and her doctor.” He then declared that abortion should be part of medical coverage for women.
As for the massive $700+ billion bailout recently approved by Congress, McClintock expressed his absolute opposition to such government intrusion on the market, while Brown declared that he would have voted for the bailout—“action needed to be taken.” Incredibly, just a few moments later Brown responded to a question about reducing the national deficit by proclaiming he would reduce fraud and waste in government. Maybe Brown wasn’t familiar with the ACORN subsidies and other pork projects that ballooned the bailout bill—he would have voted for—from 3 pages to the size of a novel.
Of course Brown trotted out last weekend’s media report that none of Senator McClintock’s bills passed the legislature last year. (Considering the common sense measures that Senator McClintock introduces every year, it seems obvious that the majority liberal lawmakers and RINO governor would never agree to his ideas.) McClintock responded that during his tenure in the legislature, he has successfully passed many bills and resolutions, but he chooses to abide by Ronald Reagan’s philosophy: “There’s no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”
In 2006, Brown was successful in riding the wave of anti-war sentiment amongst Democrats. So when the Iraq War question was raised this evening, he was quick to bolster his Iraq withdrawal position with a quote from General David Patraeus: “The threat of withdrawal is useful.” But McClintock quickly topped that quote, and summed up this position on the war, with a remark from General Douglas MacArthur: “In war, there is no substitute for victory.” (Note to Charlie Brown: don’t try to “out quote” Tom McClintock.)
Two other debate issues brought glaring attention to the fact Brown is seriously out of step with voters in this district. Brown boldly declared his opposition to Proposition 8’s restoration of traditional marriage—a measure strongly supported in this district. And McClintock couldn’t help but point out that Brown’s adopted a new attitude towards protecting our border from illegal immigrants, when just recently he declared it “unconstitutional” for our soldiers to defend our border. That of course begs the question: Which border should our military be protecting?
On an interesting blogging note, there was a blogger from the Daily Kos in attendance tonight. After the debate, a friend of mine—who is a voter in the 4th CD—approached Mr. Brown to ask him some follow-up questions about abortion and Mr. Brown’s participation in an anti-war protest where an American soldier was hung in effigy. Realizing that Brown was panicked and unable to answer the questions, this Brown lackey intervened and began bullying my friend. For a candidate running on his military background, it doesn’t show strength or leadership to associate with radical anti-war protesters and rely on the Daily Kos to defend him from local voters.