Results tagged “debate”

Business owners did their best yesterday to scare off Council members mulling a bill that would require all employers in the city to provide up to nine paid sick days. The owners insist such a law would force small businesses to slash salaries and benefits, lay off employees, and eventually flee the city. "Pile on another expense to us, you’re gonna put people out of business. You’re gonna encourage people to move their business out of New York City. I’m a mile from New Jersey. It’s a hop over the bridge. And it’s very tempting," said Tom Scarangello of Scaran Heating & Air Conditioning.

As quickly as you can say nuke-yu-ler, the hotly anticipated debate between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton has been called off! At first we assumed it was because when Bush agreed to the debate, he thought he'd be going up against George Clinton, the brain-fried frontman for Parliament-Funkadelic, not Bill Clinton, world-renowned master debater. But turns out, it's Clinton who's withdrawn.

Dimwitted former cheerleader and frat-boy boozer George W. Bush has agreed to face loquacious skirt-chaser and crafty triangulater Bill Clinton in a debate. With words! In our dreams, it goes something like this:

Last night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Comptroller William Thompson squared off for their second and final mayoral debate. And it was a feisty affair, with just a week till the election: The Post called it a "Yankees basebrawl", the Daily News noted how they "pulled out all the stops", and the NY Times noted how Bloomberg "pound[ed]" Thompson. Some highlighted soundbites:

Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Democratic City Comptroller Bill Thompson will go head-to-head tonight in their first debate, which will be hosted and televised by NY1.

This morning Rep. Anthony Weiner met former New York Lieutenant Governor (and current insane person) Betsy McCaughey on MSNBC's Morning Meeting to debate yell about health care. Though Weiner and McCuaghey had their moments, most of the horn-locking happened between her and host Dylan Ratigan, who would not stop demanding she answer his question: How do you get insurance companies to compete instead of monopolizing markets with antitrust exemptions. Or, as Ratigan puts it, how do we "put an end to corporate communism?" Skip ahead to the four minute mark, when the fireworks get started.

Mark Green went on the attack in last night's public advocate debate, linking his rival Bill de Blasio to the recently scandalized group, ACORN. Up until now, Green has attempted to cruise back into the advocate office based on name recognition and the harshest criticism toward de Blasio has come from Charles Barron (who was not even in the race!). But during last night's debate, Green said, "The Working Families party and ACORN put $30,000 in his pocket, so when they come and visit him at City Council who is he working for? You or his employers?"

A study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine estimates that a national tax of just one penny per ounce on sugary beverages would raise $14.9 billion in its first year, which could help pay for some sweet health care initiatives. Such a tax was floated by Governor Paterson earlier this year, then quickly defeated by the beverage industry. Will the same thing happen here? The health care reform plan from Senator Max Baucus has an estimated cost of $774 billion over 10 years, but includes no mention of a tax on sugary drinks, which some doctors think could lower Americans' soda consumption and ultimately reduce consumers' health problems. But according to some critics, the risk is that the tax it could transform America into a communist-run labor camp! Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent called such a tax "outrageous. I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what to drink. It if worked, the Soviet Union would still be around." Any patriots out there who want to stop the government from forcing feeding tubes down the throat of every decent, soda-loving American can join the beverage industry's fight at Americans Against Food Taxes.

Last night, the four Democratic candidates for City Comptroller met for a debate to show why he or she should be in charge of ensuring the city's financial health. The Daily News explains, "With just days to go before Tuesday's primary, the race to become the city's top financial official is still a nail-biter, with three of the four candidates tied in the polls. Only two would be eligible for a runoff if no one takes at least 40% of the vote."

President Obama has accepted a South Carolina Republican's apology for shouting, "You lie!" during his health care reform speech to Congress last night. Speaking to reporters after his Cabinet meeting today, Obama said that Wilson apologized "quickly and without equivocation," adding, "We all make mistakes." But we don't all have to be such assholes! If a Democrat had disrupted President Bush during one of his speeches to Congress—when he actually was, you know, lying—the GOP would have probably had the heckler hung for treason.

The three Democratic Manhattan DA candidates debated yesterday on NY1, and immediately Leslie Crocker Snyder criticized Cyrus Vance, saying the choice was "between someone who stayed in New York during the terrible times of the ’80s and ’90s and someone who left. Cy Vance decided to move as far away as he could. (Vance moved to Seattle.) She also accused Vance of being part of an "old boy's network"—he is endorsed by outgoing DA Robert Morgenthau—and slammed him for using the term "temperament," "If you recall the recent confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, who is a strong woman and a strong judge, and I like to think like myself, a strong woman and a strong judge, and self-made, like me.” Vance said of Snyder, "Let’s have someone who can come to the debate and talk about the policy questions that are in front of us, talk about the future of the office and try to spend less time demeaning the other candidates in the race." He and Richard Aborn also admitted to using cocaine over 30 years ago; Aborn told the News, "Just because I tried cocaine once or twice doesn't mean other people should."

Last night, the Democratic candidates for NYC Public Advocates squared off for a WABC 7-televised debate, and it got good fast: Within 10 minutes, City Councilman Bill de Blasio attacked frontrunner and former Public Advocate Mark Green, "I have to say, with all due respect to Mark Green, he has a little amnesia. He did not stand up to Rudy Giuliani when it mattered most, when Rudy Giuliani wanted to stay on for 90 days at the end of 2001. Mark caved in to him for political reasons.” Green retorted, "There was not any public official in the eight years of Rudy Giuliani who stood up to him more often and more successfully." Green also told moderator Diane Williams, "Diane, let Bill attack me one more time because he needs it emotionally."

Yesterday over 500 people came together at City Hall to discuss the banning of carriage horses in New York, during the first public hearing on Tony Avella's proposed bill. Unsurprisingly, the passionate debate lasted over four hours, pitting animal rights activists against the drivers who want to keep their jobs. The NY Post reports that one pleaded, "At this time of economic hardship, it's your time to give an industry a chance for survival. It will let me feed my family, my wife and my three children. Please, help me keep my job." He was up against Avella and his supporters, including actress Rue McClanahan, who was there to speak out in favor of the bill. WCBS notes that there are alternatives being offered to the drivers, including training them to be pedicab drivers. One man from the Teamsters Local 553 asked, "They're gonna teach these guys to ride tricycles through New York?"

An overflow crowd packed an auditorium at Yeshiva University Tuesday night to debate whether it's acceptable to call something "kosher certified" if it's produced under unethical conditions. The panel discussion was prompted in part by the high profile prosecution of the Rubashkin family, who operate a major kosher-meat-processing plant in Iowa. Federal agents raided the plant in May, arresting 389 illegal immigrants, who, according to this damning cover story in the Village Voice, were paid some of the lowest wages in the nation, and were allegedly forced to work up to 17-hour days with 10-minute lunch breaks "in a freezing-cold, dirty hallway."

After the second presidential debate was called the worst debate ever, Politico's Ben Smith wondered if the third debate was the last for the Commission on Presidential Debates. He writes the commission has been "criticized for caving to cautious candidate demands and for -- amid an astonishing media revolution -- using virtually no technology that wasn't available when the television networks created the commission 22 years ago to wrest control of presidential debates from the League of Women Voters." He also reports Grover Norquist is joining a "bi-partisan group of online activists" (the Open Debate Coalition) to dismantle or reform the Commission. The ODC supporters include Lawrence Lessig, Craig Newmark, Jimmy Wales, Arianna Huffington and many others.

      

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama met at Long Island's Hofstra University for their third and finale debate. The two men sparred more energetically than the previous two debates in Oxford and Nashville.

The school is "agog" over hosting the debate, according to the NY Times. One student said there's a lot of enthusiasm among classmates, “I’ve noticed a level of engagement in classes I haven’t seen before this semester. The debate has really caused people to take a new look at things and think more deeply about these issues.” Which would make the millions spent on having the debate there worth it! Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz said, "It is amazing. I mean there are going to be 3,100 journalists here, live telecast back to Ireland, Japan, Singapore."

A reader in midtown Manhattan wrote:

I just got word from our building that John McCain will be arriving sometime today at the Hilton at 54th and 6th for his and Palin's night in the Big Media Elite Den of Sin. 54th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues will be closed at times today and tomorrow, apparently. If it's anything like Bush's visit a little while ago, there will likely also be limited pedestrian access and heavy police presence with snipers on roofs.

Hofstra University on Long Island is gearing up to welcome John McCain and Barack Obama and tons of media this week. The school may spend over $3.5 million, including a $7,500 fee to apply and $1.35 million to the Presidential Debate Commission to be a host. Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz points out to Newsday that the school opened a center for presidential studies, not to mention holding eleven conferences to discuss different presidential administrations since 1982, "Nobody could suggest it was just a publicity stunt on our part." Check out the Hofstra Debate website as well as its Educate '08 site.

Well, Politico's John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei think so and write, "With the country at one of its most interesting—not to mention terrifying—moments in a generation, John McCain and Barack Obama met in Nashville for what was surely one of the dullest and was definitely the least satisfying presidential debate in memory...The problem is the commission that has been invested with pseudo-constitutional status to run the debates but in fact weakly defers to candidates and clings to antiquated formats." Ouch! They also outline why the debate sucked so much. Last night's debate was a town hall-format, but next week's debate at Hofstra will be traditional--2 minute answers with 5 minutes for follow up discussion and 2 minute closings. And the topic is the economy and domestic policy.

Everyone's favorite comedian, Sarah Palin, will be going head-to-head with Joe Biden tomorrow night for what's sure to be the most watched VP debate in history. There are some pre-debate choices to be made, however. You can choose to view it in the solitude of your own apartment, shivering in a dark corner hugging your knees, or you can surround yourself with others, under the influence of many drinks, at a bar near you. If you choose the latter, here are some options:

        

Finally: Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama squared off against each other in the first debate last night. (Here's a transcript; video of full debate after the jump.) The debate's focus was on foreign policy, but moderator Jim Lehrer opened with a 1952 Dwight Eisenhower quote, "We must achieve both security and solvency. In fact, the foundation of military strength is economic strength," as a way to ask the candidates about their points of view on the economy recovery plan (also known as the bailout). Eventually, both said they felt a plan would be passed (they spent much of the time initially trying to boost their economic visions), but didn't really commit to supporting it.

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Off of their balcony seats and into a NY Times Op-Ed spread, it's Statler and Waldorf! Together again, still grumpy and disagreeable, and speaking out on tonight's big debate. This isn't the first time the duo has been dragged into politics, they're often used in Jon Stewart's commentary (as recently as this year's DNC, in fact). But the question remains: who will be their Fozzie Bear of tonight's action?

John McCain, who announced yesterday afternoon that he was heading back to Washington D.C. to work on the bailout plan and temporarily suspending his campaign starting tomorrow, ended up canceling his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman wasn't too happy about that—especially since McCain was at the CBS News studios for an interview with Katie Couric. Watch the clip (Letterman sees a live feed of McCain getting makeup for his interview with Couric around 7 minutes in):

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he was suspending his campaign tomorrow and asked for Friday's much-anticipated debate with Democratic candidate Barack Obama be delayed, so he can work on the bailout plan in Washington D.C. He said he contacted Obama's campaign and emphasized that partisan differences must be put aside for a solution (not counting that both Democrats and Republicans have problems with the plan).

Forget the debate over whether Clinton should drop out; there’s a more divisive argument going on at Newsweek, where two critics are locking horns over whether “Seinfeld” (the TV series, not the car-crashing Bee Movie star) is still funny after all these years.

Hillary Clinton's campaign sent a letter to Barack Obama's campaign to suggest an unmoderated debate, but Obama's campaign said no, specifically pointing out, "We have participated in 21 nationally televised debates, the most in primary history, including four exclusively with Senator Clinton. Senator Clinton refused an earlier invitation that had been accepted to debate in North Carolina."

Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off for the 20th time last night in Cleveland, Ohio, as they head towards the big March 4 primaries next week. The rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination "traded insults," as they accused each other of negative attacks regarding their health care policies.