Many, many years ago when this writer was a young teenager there was a saying, "Second verse, same as the first, instead of getting better its getting worse." Saturday nights republican debate brought back memories of that saying and was a reminder how and why little progress has been made by the republican party under its conservative ideology.
The candidates answers on the economy, job creation, unemployment, foreign policy and deficit spending was the same verse we heard before that has failed big time. Trickle down economics tax cuts that favor business and the wealthy are still being pushed, the same policies that destabilized the middle east are still being proposed and Ted Cruz's attempt to give President Reagan credit for the release of the American hostages in Iran failed the test of historical facts.
Rubio made a point of saying free enterprise was the greatest economic system in the world and that government should stay out. But the fact of the matter is free enterprise has been dead in America for a long period of time. Why? Well because of corporate welfare the free enterprise system has lost its reason to compete and competition is what free enterprise is all about. Rubio and his friends in congress have destroyed the free enterprise system.
And of course the republican candidates keep repeating the same verse about corporate America being over taxed. Yet year in and year out the IRS reports that they pay an effective tax rate of between 12-13%. That is the same number that Mitt Romney reported on his tax when he was the republican nominee in the 2012 election. The ABC moderators let all that slip by like a bunch of dumb bunnies.
The other sad verse the viewers heard was the seven year old standard republican ditto head pronouncement that President Obama has ruined the country, etc, etc, etc. Saturday nights debate had the least candidates on the debate stage, a situation that should have allowed more quality questions with more quality answers, but all this writer heard was, "Second verse, same as the first, instead of getting better its getting worse."
To bad the moderators and the candidates had such little respect for the debate process and the American people.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
