My Take on the 10/24 Madrid-Wilson Debate: Wilson Lies With Authority

Much has already been written about this week's KOB-TV debate between Dem challenger Patricia Madrid and Repub incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson. Most of it has been spin, and many claim it was a draw based on sometimes superficial analysis. In my opinion, much too much attention is being paid to style over substance. Yes, Madrid was nervous at times and made some rhetorical gaffs (as did Wilson). There were some pregnant pauses and stumbles over words. But are those really important factors when making a choice in a race with critical local and national implications?

Personally, I came away thinking Madrid made many strong points to bolster a case for a change in direction, a vote for a fresh approach to the problems we face. In contrast, I think Wilson mostly showed off her ability to lie with a straight face, to lie with authority. She relied heavily on a tactic many Republican Bush apologists are forced to use these days -- trying to cover up massive policy failures with rah rah rhetoric disconnected from reality. Is it really a point in Wilson's favor that she can be poised and aloof while regurgitating pre-packaged deceptions? My contrary analysis is a little long, but I hope you'll hang in there with me.

Wilson Defending Bush
Wilson peppered her responses with many oft-repeated Bush-Cheney-Rove talking points. She was good at it, as most robotic reciters of Repub spin are. This means nothing, except that Wilson is good at memorizing and recalling the points on which she'd been drilled by her handlers -- regardless of their truthfulness. Even worse, her main focus was on defending what has become essentially indefensible -- Bush's failed agenda, including his seriously flawed policies on the war, the Medicare drug program and tax cuts for our wealthiest citizens.

Oh, we are making "great progress" in Iraq, according to Wilson. She warned, ominously, that If you vote Democratic you are voting for "higher taxes and a weaker national defense." Only a vote for her would bring a "strong national defense and strong economic growth."

With more and more evidence emerging daily about the chaos and disfunction in Iraq, does anyone really believe we're making great progress? Does anyone really believe Dems want to raise taxes on everyone because we admit we need to pay for the trillions in war spending by cancelling the Bush tax breaks for our wealthiest elite? Does anyone really believe that a vote for a Democrat means a vote for the terrorists because Dems are uninterested in protecting us from future attacks? I guess Wilson forgot that the latest comprehensive intelligence analysis found that the war in Iraq is actually making us LESS safe, not safer. Getting us involved in a deadly quagmire is hurting us, not helping us. Illegal wiretapping, debased torture techniques and tossing our Constitution and the Writ of Habeas Corpus to the winds isn't something to brag about.

Trying to Turn the Tables, An Old Rovian Trick
Wilson also employed the now traditional Rovian tactic of trying to turn a competitor's strengths into his or her biggest liabilities. You saw it in action with the Swiftboating of Kerry and Max Cleland. For months now, campaign contribution data has been published that documents how much money Wilson has taken from those involved in one of the most notorious and blatant pay-for-play schemes ever uncovered. She's been the recipient of large donations from politicos and PACs enmeshed in the Abramoff scandal, including Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay and others.

You can match her votes for massive subsidies for energy corporations and a flawed Medicare drug program that lavishes unnecessary millions on the big pharmaceutical companies with large campaign contributions from these interests. Wilson even received more than any other individual from the disgraced Mark Foley. So what does she do? Wilson accuses Madrid of the very kinds of transgressions that she herself has committed. Wilson actually had the nerve to state that "No one buys access in my office." Right, Heather. And the moon is made of green cheese.

Wilson Doesn't Lie, Except When She Lies
Wilson also fell back on one of her favorite lines: "I will not lie... cheat... or steal." She uses this all the time referring to the Air Force honor code, which she allegedly follows. Unfortunately, the record shows she lies all the time. For instance, even though she knew key pieces of pre-war intelligence were incorrect -- like the claim that aluminum tubes found in Iraq were meant for nuke processing -- she told the Albuquerque Journal in May 2003 that "no intelligence was incorrect." Depending on when she's been asked, Wilson has claimed she decided to vote for the Iraq invasion because of intelligence about Saddam's a) biological weapons, b) nuclear weapons capabilities, c) chemical weapons, d) not nuclear weapons but only biological weapons, e) other combinations of these factors. She just can't seem to make up her mind.

The Flying Smallpox Revelation
Perhaps the oddest claim made by Wilson in the debate was that there was a 50-50 chance that Saddam Hussein had smallpox he planned to deliver via drones, and that this was the "secret" reason she voted for the war. There have been numerous reasons cited by BushCo and their supporters to defend invading Iraq, but I've never heard this one, have you? Gee, I hope the national media is all over this revelation! Who knew?

Bottom Line
Voters in CD-01 have a real choice this election. They can either vote for someone who's cool as cucumber while lying about critical issues, or someone who's willing to confront the lies and failures and help move us in a new direction. Framed in these terms, it's not a hard decision, is it?

Some of my favorite Madrid debate zingers:

George Bush has been an unmitigated, abject failure, and Heather Wilson has been with him every step of the way.

My opponent ... bears particular responsibility for the failed intelligence on the run-up to the war [because Wilson served on the Armed Forces Committee]. For leading us into a war on failed manipulated intelligence, my opponent deserves to be fired.

I wish that George Bush and Heather Wilson would have relied on the military going in [to Iraq] because they were advising not to go in in the first place.

So far, we've lost 2,803 men and women in Iraq. And I checked that ... before I came. 'Stay the course' is not a plan. Paralysis is not a plan. 'Wait for the next president to deal with it' is not a plan.

Negative ads are really a reflection of what's at stake in this race— and what's at stake is power in this country, power in Washington. And the reason that my opponent is spending millions of dollars to ruin my reputation is because those people do not want to give up power.

We need to look at the profits insurance companies and HMOs are making in this country. They are sandwiched between the patient and the doctor and they are bleeding the system dry.