McMahon and Murphy finally talk about the issues.

Who would've guessed that on a late Sunday morning in October the Senate race in Connecticut would really begin? WFBS hosted the first televised debate with Dennis House moderating and featuring a  well respected panel of  journalists that included Angela Dias, of WTIC Radio, Mark Pazniokas, from the Connecticut Mirror and Fran Schneidau from WCBS News Radio 880. As of  this last week both candidates are in a dead heat.

Photos courtesy of WTNH

 

The debate on Sunday was an all out barrage of policy differences, accusations, and rhetoric but for the first time in this campaign Connecticut voters actually got to see the two candidates speak on their own and challenge each other and answer the panel's questions.One of the most compelling questions was from Pazniokas. This having to do with press access to both candidates and the transparency of their campaigns when it comes to providing press conferences or even the candidates daily schedules, which neither post on their web sites.This issue being one of the most disheartening aspects of this Senate race. McMahon began by defending the structure of her campaign and stated  she  enjoys the face to face meetings she has with voters on a daily basis. In this response we heard one of McMahon's most revealing statements when she said this about her wanting to run for the Senate. "In a Congress where we have so few people who come from the public sector."  It might be news to McMahon but now more than  half of the members of Congress are now millionaires. In Murphy's response he committed his first pivot of the debate by not answering the question, instead using his time to drawn contrast between him and McMahon. Pazniokas had to ask Murphy  once again to answer the question in which he said he does work with editorial boards and often answers questions from the media.

What  followed next was Murphy's unabashed accusation that McMahon's plan on her web site is simply not her own by saying "Entire paragraphs and entire sentences" were "lifted from the House Republican website, the Cato Institute,". He went on  to say  "It's a plan that was essentially written by people in Washington who have ideology as their primary concern." McMahon clearly stunned turned  directly to Murphy and pushed back hard " Congressman Murphy shame on you. You have just  accused me of  plagiarizing my plan." McMahon then when on to say "You know very well that my plan is my own. I have sought the expert opinion of those outside to get the brightest and the best, and every word of that has been cited, either in the online plan or in print."

 For may Connecticut voters, and the writer of this blog, when you have checked McMahon's plan in the recent past on her web site none of her plan was cited at all.
 Later in the day this story exploded into a even bigger issue as it was being reported that the McMahon campaign had earlier in the week released the edited text of an email exchange with a Huffington Post reporter and Cory Bliss of the McMahon campaign. This in reference to the McMahon plan not being properly being cited on her web site. The information is now cited.What was omitted in the released email was the previous un-cited web pages that reporter Amanda Terkel included in her original email to Bliss.

One has to just ask McMahon with her tens of millions of dollars she has already spent on her race, how could citations be over looked?  Coincidental McMahon  vast wealth afforded her the opportunity to place full color full page ads in numerous Sunday morning papers.The ad in sarcastic details compares Ferrus Bueller's Day off to Chris Murphy's six years off in Congress. Ironically none of the committee attendance records from three different Congresses are cited at all in the print ad.
Are we seeing a trend here?
This is a copy of the newspaper ad on McMahon's Facebook page.

 

The debates did provide  plenty of details,contrast, and zingers between the two candidates and is worth watching here. Connecticut voters need to determine what is more important for our state. Candidates controlling the narrative and ignoring the issues and the  press in possibly the worst Senate race in Connecticut's history or do the voters want bothMcMahon and Murphy to honestly talk abou the issues and prove to  voters who will be a greater advocate. The one who will go to Washington and be a partner with our other sitting Senator to work and fight for all the residents of our state.
The next four weeks will be one wild roller coaster ride here in Connecticut.
Hopefully the  voters will demand more in this race from each of the candidates in both substance, action and simply telling voters where they will be appearing each week.

Jack Welch diatribe an accident or GOP narrative?

Ponder this.
Why in the world would Jack Welch come out and go on a diatribe about the LBS unemployment numbers yesterday? Especially after Romney did so well in the debates?
I will present this idea.
Romney came off as a moderate in the debate, yes a moderate. The last year he has tried to plead the case to his own party that he is " conservative" enough and has said whatever he needed to say and waffled on a variety of issues to support this ideology that now dominates the GOP and win the reluctant support of his party.

Even as late as after the GOP convention conservative writers were slamming the Romney campaign.

It is clear at this juncture in history the people of America do not want a extremist from the right or left in the White House so Romney did what he had to do to appeal to that moderate middle away, as he did in Massachusetts to become Governor, and on Wednesday night he did it quite effectively too.

Now less than forty right hours after Romney’s post debate glee in walks  Jack Welch. The perfect and respected former CEO of General Electric. His career at the Fairfield, Connecticut based General Electric epitomizes the best and worst in America Corporatism. He  is revered as much as he once was feared but after what happened yesterday on  numerous cable television shows you have to wonder why in the world he would say this? Of coarse this was proceeded  by his tweet heard around the world, which he posted five minutes after the data was released, accusing the Obama Administration of manipulating the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment numbers. The very same data that the nation has  relied on for decades.Granted there is legitimate criticism and there may need to be  reform but it was actually  during the Richard Nixon administration that  they did manipulate the BLS data and changes have been made to protect the integrity of the  data and how it reaches the oval office.

Bloomberg news last night  had this headline about Welch's claim "Welch Conspiracy Theory on Jobs Data Not Tied to Reality."

So why would Jack Welch say something as absurd as this? A well respected, and equally hated, American business icon?  If you were to visit  the Romney campaign rallies yesterday many in attendance in  were in agreement with this latest conspiracy theory allegedly created by the hands Barack Hussein Obama's Chicago cronies, and now being championed by  the likes of Jack Welch.

That is where the problem begins within the Republican party. There have been numerous and successful attempts to discredit this current Administration from the the Reverend Wright statements, to the birther movement, to accusing Obama of being a Muslim and socialist. Shallow theories that regardless how often and how well they were debunked this narrative has  stayed with a  growing number of American voters. It was only six months ago that Donald Trump was reeling about the birther issue.

Fast forward to a moderate sounding Mitt Romney on Wednesday night. Not exactly what the extremist or the teaparty wings of the GOP wants to hear. It was like seeing a developing Scott Brown who has now become the second most bipartisan Senator and guess what?  He blew up his teaparty allegiances months ago and they are  both from Massachusetts. A sheer coincidence?

This  sounds more and more like a  kick  back by the extremists conservative base to maintain and appease their "liberty" fighting, fear obsessed folks who are threatened by any reach of the Federal government into their lives, especially when it comes to healthcare and taxes. You can only wonder what Mitt Romney is now thinking? On one hand he is simultaneously trying to appeal and be liked  by moderate voters, and on the other side he has to please the real drivers of the GOP, the powerful and wealthy elite of the tea party, and  maybe Jack Welch comments are the warning shot to Mitt Romney not to go to far to the middle?

It is yet to be told but just the silence from actual  Republicans leaders is curious to say the least on these comments. Either way it is painfully clear that Jack Welch is more than willing to take some  shots for his team and fall on his own sword as he  tries to defend a position that he himself said " I have no evidence the numbers were doctored."

Look for him on the next season of The Apprentice as it will be his only legitimate next career move.