We laud both Gore and Bush for displaying intelligence in the issues and for eloquent deliveries of their platforms. Most people expected Gore to have a grasp of the issues. Therefore, he gets no additional points for this. However, viewers were pleasantly surprised to see that Gov. Bush had an excellent grasp of the issues as well as details to his plans and visions. This gives Bush an additional point, because people expected him to fumble with words and display ignorance. So far, Bush is up by one point.
All throughout the evening, Bush continued to emphasize his desire to deflate big government and give power back to the people. He stood by his responsibility theme. Bush sees an America in which people would and should take responsibility for their actions. Gore, on the other hand, presented a scarier picture to the voters. He used scare tactics to show the voters that unless they voted for him, Medicare and Social Security would be cut, education would suffer and so forth.
He also used the classical form of class envy, constantly referring to tax cuts for the wealthy. Furthermore, he painted corporate America as evil big business.
Thus, he basically reaffirmed the notion that he was for big government, which would combat “big business.”
Regarding tax cuts, Gore favored targeted tax cuts, in which the “middle class” receives cuts. Under Bush’s eloquently proposed plan, all taxpayers would be eligible for tax cuts. Gore threw out the class envy card as he tried to make it seem as though Bush’s plan would favor the only the wealthy. However, Bush stated again and again that his plan includes all Americans who pay taxes. That’s right. All taxpaying Americans are included.
When it was all said and done, I was none too impressed with Gore. I know that in this life, there will be the wealthy and the poor. If I am in the poor class, how do I benefit if a “wealthy” person takes a heavy blow from taxes? Do I delight in punitive taxes for the wealthy? No. It doesn’t affect me. I don’t care if the wealthy get a tax cut as long as I’m included. Under Bush’s plan, all Americans benefit. I will benefit now. If I acquire wealth over the years, I will still benefit.
Regardless of what the pundits say of the debate, most of us will claim that it was a tie. Adding the point discussed earlier puts Bush up by one. Thus, he is declared the winner. Watch next week’s debate for more campaign excitement and decide for yourself.