Debate à Trois: Dent Answers, Callahan Evades, Towne Unrealistic

When I attended Friday night's LV Tea Party meeting in Palmer Township, what surprised me most were the 300+ other morons who skipped a night of high school football and bar-hopping to listen to - ugh - politics. Well last night, a similarly large crowd was on hand for the three-for-all among LV Congressional candidates at Lafayette's Oechsle Hall. Although an "overflow room" accommodated many of the people who simply were unable to squeeze into the auditorium, the video failed for all but the last 15 minutes of the debate. Amazingly, many of them stayed anyway for this exchange, sponsored by the LV League of Women Voters and the College Hill Neighborhood Association.

Thankfully, instead of subjecting hopefuls to irrelevant queries posed by some officious know-it-all, the LWV actually posed questions prepared by the vox populi. If the tenor of those questions is any indication of how other voters feel, Callahan is in trouble. Questions focused on items like the budget, tax cut extensions, bail outs and national debt. Callahan was asked whether he'd vote for Pelosi as Speaker. Candidates were even asked to explain "why Americans are so disaffected?" Obama was never mentioned. Only one question was posed about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, our forgotten war. Those were mostly Republican questions.

All three candidates seemed comfortable in this small room, and much of the tone was conversational instead of rhetorical. In fact, Congressman Dent was asked to speak up. He was clearly the best informed of the three, which is no surprise because he's the incumbent. He spoke off the cuff, rattling statistics with ease while Callahan looked at prepared notes and tried to answer every question with his five-point jobs plan. Dent embraced his controversial votes, while Callahan never addressed his own deficit problems in Bethlehem. One leads from the front. The other takes up the rear.

Despite looking like a mortician in search of a cadaver, independent Jake Towne was very well-informed ... I think. He sounded good, but his solutions are completely unworkable. For example, when asked about extending Bush tax cuts, Towne answered he'd just abolish the income tax. That's nice, but he's running for Congressman, not King.

Now I'm a Charlie Dent supporter, but I'll let you in on asecret. I expected him to lose tonight. Callahan is a smooth talkin; man. Dent, for all his brilliance, tends to talk too fast and goes into so much detail that he can and has lost people. But tonight, he was relaxed, spoke more slowly, and only sounded like a wonk once. He tagged Callahan when the Bethlehem Mayor ducked a question about Speaker Pelosi, and ripped into him pretty effectively over Bethlehem's $8.5 million budget deficit last year. Callahan, who kept falling back on his five-point jobs plan, really blew it at the end of the night, confusing different items on what he called a "real simple plan." I have a separate video of that above this post.

That might come back to haunt him.

Dent & Callahan Agree the Race is About Jobs
Dent: "The issue in this election is going to be jobs. Absolutely, jobs. The question is, who has the right approach to creating jobs. Do we want the policies that we've seen coming out of Washington, policies that he [referring to Callahan] supports? Stimulus, health care, that are taking us in the opposite direction? A stimulus plan that borrowed too much, spent too much, created too few jobs, promised an 8% unemployment rate that is now 10%? Health care laws that provide incentives for people to cut payroll ... ? Fundamentally, this is going to be about - do we want the private sector to drive this recovery or do we think that more federal spending, more government, will drive this recovery? And that is really the fundamental difference between myself and my principal opponent. ... "

Will Callahan Vote for Pelosi as Speaker?

Instead of answering, he plays dodgeball.

"I don't know who's going to be running for Speaker of the House when I'm elected to Congress."

Dent tags Callahan for ducking yet another question.



Dent: "That's the most important vote that's gonna' be put up in the new Congress. Who's going to be the next Speaker? That is the most important vote. And he wouldn't tell you how he's going to vote. I will tell you I will vote for John Boehner. ... That's a very critical vote. I think we've had enough of the Pelosi-led Congress. $4.4 trillion in base-line spending. That is simply outrageous. You vote for Nancy Pelosi, I guess that means you vote for card check, taking away the rights of workers. I guess it means you vote for Stimulus. It means health care. She's contributed money to your campaign. I mean, please, this is a very big deal. This is the biggest vote and my opponent has been refusing to take positions on some of the biggest issues of the day. I thought that was a softball question. There should be an answer. Yes or no, not this obfuscation. I think that's outrageous."

Callahan Hammers Dent Over Bailout Vote, Insisting Dent is a Tool of Wall Street

Callahan: "What you gotta' realize here is the bailout was bad enough, an $850 billion, no-strings attached, bailout. When it was $700 billion, I'm going to read a quote from Congressman Dent when it was $700 billion. He said, 'This bailout plan would have exposed taxpayers to a risk of $700 billion to buy toxic assets at inflated prices. Wall Street would benefit at the expense of the taxpayer, and that's not acceptable.' So if he felt that way about a $700 billion bailout, what made him vote for the $850 billion bailout? I don't know the answer to that. But what I do know is that Congressman Dent was part of the Congress that deregulated Wall Street, that led to the need for an $850 billion bailout, and then, every opportunity Congressman Dent has had to put any curbs, any kind of safeguards, and kind of transparency on how those TARP funds were spent, to curb CEO bonuses, millions of dollars of your taxpaying dollars, going to failed CEO bonuses, he said No to that. But he's also accepted over $300 thousand from Wall Street and banking interests. So perhaps that may have something to do with the $850 billion, no-strings attached, bailout."

Dent explains his vote in support of a bailout, a vote that incidentally was also cast by then Senator Barack Obama.

Dent: "You have to look at it this way. In September and October of 2008, our economy was on the brink. Many major financial institutions were on the brink. It was creating such a problem that people were calling me, running to their local community bank, pulling money out, because they were afraid of what they were reading about the major institutions. We had to stop the panic. The credit markets were contracting. It was creating very real issues for the economy and for real people, very real people. My opponent here - his campaign said he was for the troubled asset recovery program - this was 18 months after the law was enacted. Then he said he was for one version, then he was completely against it.

"Now, you have to make decisions, and I have to make them before the votes.

"The bottom line is the financial services infrastructure of this country was at risk. We could not allow runs on banks. We could not allow for that type of collapse.

"Look at it this way. If the electric infrastructure of this country were to fail, you would expect the utilities to restore power but you would also expect the federal government to step in because if we lose power, we're all out of business. Good operators. Bad operators.

"If people can't get money out of the bank with their ATM card, we're in big trouble.

"Bottom line is, that was a loan. That money is being repaid ... . Every last cent of that TARP should be used to pay down the deficit. My opponent has supported a second stimulus, or son of stimulus bill, that would take repaid ... monies and use it for stimulus. That is an enormous mistake. That money should be used as promised for deficit reduction."

Callahan can only smile while Dent talks about Bethlehem's budget woes.

Dent: "I'm glad we're being instructed by Mayor Callahan on deficits given the sad state of fiscal affairs in Bethlehem right now with an $8.5 million deficit that their auditors - their independent auditors - have revealed for all of us to see. It's so bad that one Democratic City Councilman has said this is a financial disaster. Don Cunningham has said the City is operating in the red and with 0 cash reserves. So I don't think we need to be instructed by the Mayor on how to fix the deficit given his mismanagement of the City's finances.

Towne was there, too.

It's hard for me to give Jake Towne much emphasis. He knows he'll be losing this race. His solutions are unrealistic. But it's hard to disagree with his closing remarks.

Towne: "Your parties have betrayed you. Your parties have lied to you. Your parties have let you all down."

Let's all jump off a bridge.

Dent claims Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan has been one of his supporters.


Dent: "One of the nicest compliments I received about my services is from John Callahan. He said, in 2005, 'Anyone who doesn't think a freshman Congressman can deliver for his district, has never meant Charlie Dent.' Thank you, John, I appreciate that."

Callahan: (as people laugh) "That was a long time ago." (More laughter).

Easton Mayor Sal Panto and Northampton County Exec John Stoffa were in the audience. Lehigh County Exec Don Cunningham was sweeping out the government center while Allentown Mayor Ed Pawloski was relaxing in his mancave with a nonalcoholic beverage.

Updated 11:00 AM - Coverage around the blogosphere. - There's Noel Jones, Chris Casey and Jon Geeting. I'm unsure whether Geeting was even at last night's debate. But he nevertheless calls Dent, who has agreed to five separate debates with Callahan, a "coward" because last night's affair only lasted an hour. That reminds me of the fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Black Knight insists on figthing after both his arms are cut off. "Look, you stupid Bastard. You've got no arms left." That's pretty much what happened last night, while Geeting insists, "It's just a flesh wound."