Well, they debated this one time. The Republican governor candidates that is. Bill Waller looked the most gubernatorial but was the least glib. Tate Reeves still looked boyish but was the most glib. Robert Foster looked confident and scored with his comments.
Reeves poked on Waller. Foster poked on Reeves. Waller, for the most part, poked at impersonal not-good-enough state performance.
Foster said bad tax structure and lack of vocational education in high schools are the main things holding back Mississippi’s economy. Waller said Mississippi’s economy can do a lot better if infrastructure, education, and healthcare needs are addressed. Reeves said we’re doing pretty good but need to keep liberals at bay and continue to cut taxes and regulations.
All three would not change the state flag unless the people vote to do so in another referendum. All three aligned with Foster’s Billy Graham rule on interactions with women. All three thought workforce training was an important issue. All three opposed establishing a state minimum wage. All three will push for stronger Mississippi input on flood control related to the Bonnet Carre Spillway and its impact on the Gulf. All three opposed the state authorizing the sale of medical marijuana.
There were three areas of disagreement.
Foster and Waller both said they would consider reducing personal income taxes to offset limited gas tax increases to fund critical infrastructure improvements. Reeves said no.
Foster and Waller both said they would consider Pence-like Medicaid reform to improve healthcare for poor working Mississippians. Reeves said no.
Foster and Waller both said increasing teacher pay would be a priority to attract and retain quality teachers. Reeves said teacher pay increases would depend on state revenue growth.
Herein lies the salient takeaway from the debate. Reeves has no plan to address the road and bridge infrastructure crisis, critical teacher shortages, or rural hospital and emergency room shutdowns.
The other interesting takeaway was Reeves’ change of course regarding his fellow GOP candidates. Heretofore, he had ignored both Waller and Foster and focused his attacks on Democratic candidate Jim Hood. During the debate he made a concerted effort to poke at Waller. Perhaps recent polls are correct that show Waller would be a stronger candidate in November in a face-off with Hood, forcing Reeves to now directly challenge the former Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Reeves wrapped himself as best he could in Donald Trump’s mantle, boasting of his relationship with the President. Foster got in a good poke by saying he too is a Trump fan and particularly like his efforts to “drain the swamp in Washington.” The state representative continued saying, “We have a swamp in Jackson and the Lieutenant Governor is part of it.” Foster said he wants to drain the Jackson swamp.
Who won the debate is debatable. However, since Foster is the least known of the three, his confident debate performance probably benefited him the most.
There was and will be no debate including all of or the leading Democratic candidates for governor. Hood balked.
The final days of the campaign through the August 6th primary will likely see more pokes and issue differences highlighted, especially with the Neshoba County Fair looming this week.
Crawford is a syndicate columnist from Meridian.
35 comments:
I remain baffled at the number of people in this state (including office holders and candidates) who do not know that many of our school districts do have vocational programs, including buildings and teachers and staff dedicated solely to that opportunity.
Those who live in school districts that do not have vocational programs can blame that reality solely on the district and its school board. Yet it would be a good idea for the legislature, by some miracle, to mandate and fund these programs throughout the state.
Many (apparently including some office holders and candidates) also remain unaware that every community and junior college in this state has, for decades, partnered with business and industry in offering and paying for industrial training, upgrade training for employees and supervisors and cost-offsetting, on site training programs for industry.
I'm tired of candidates (and office holders) droning on that 'What we need here is (something we already have)'. The problem, in many cases is simply under-utilization and lack of information.
Thank you 8:25 am I too am sick of politicians who are knowledgeable ONLY about what their base wants to believe...that there are simple answers to complex problems.
None of the candidates seem to have a coherent vision for the future and one candidate , Reeves, seems to think that the current downward slide ( losing population and making little progress )will magically result in an upturn with no action needed.
Waller and Foster seem to have better social skills so maybe there's less chance of them embarrassing us on the national stage.
8:25 - good point; and most voters are uninformed, so when a politician say "What we need is..." it always sounds like a good idea. The debate moderator should know the issues better than the candidates and guide the questioning to better inform voters.
@8:25....Well said. It's all deliberate chaos and confusion to mask how little talent or intellect they have - and in order to sound like they care about something.
All the REAL talking points are about how BAD things are in Mississippi....but no one has the courage of real leadership to tell it like it is. On top of it all, it's deliberate and by design.....the legislature is pretty much the White Citizens Council of old, and has no intention of elevating Mississippi out of its poverty. Example? No Medicaid expansion....THAT would lead to healthier poor people (especially African-American Mississippians) and we don't want their numbers increasing to the point of becoming a majority....Good Lord, the state might become majority Democrat. It's not quite genocide, but anyone can see the point.....keep the poor DOWN! And the landowners UP! Hmmmm...sounds familiar. Not that complicated....and the nation laughs at how backward the Sip' is....but hey, Hotty Toddy!
If MS doesn’t approve a gas tax increase before the feds do, our roads will never see the funding they need to keep them in service.
This is really the best we've got? No, this can't be the best we've got. That thought is just too depressing. They're all just pandering to a country fried audience. They have to be.
I didn't hear anything from any of the 3 that gives me any hope for the future of this state. More of the same.
I agree with “vote for me” that the infrastructure for Career Tech Education (CTE) exists in school districts and community colleges. Unfortunately, what is lacking is an emphasis on the importance and necessity of skills training. Too often in high schools, scheduling of CTE classes is not a priority and is considered only after all other classes, including extra curricular, are in place. I see a real need for trained Career Counselors in schools to help students select a career path and select course scheduling appropriate for that chosen career. Dual credit/dual enrollment classes should be extended to include CTE also. Much is being done to place more emphasis on skills training but there’s still much to do. College and Career selection is too important to be left to chance.
All of Mississippi's statewide Republican candidates seem to be such piss-ants that they cannot stand up straight on their own without the crutch of, "I stand with Trump" "Let me help Trump". That's their main platform. Be your own man and state your own case if you have one. And the mealy-mouthed leading candidate for governor thinks we are all so simple minded and racist that he cannot address the health care medicaid issue without labeling it with Obama. Discuss it on the merits, you nit-wit!
I've been voting Republican, and still will, but this year it's a challenge.
@10:15 Mike T - EXCELLENT post. Not enough talk in the soph/jun/senior years about "so, what're plans after high school?" Those with parental involvement usually have some guidance, but the great majority are blindsided by, "Uh, so what do I do now?"
Dear Tate,
I'm sorry, but you're just not that likable...I don't care if you've raised the most money; you need to have original and realistic ideas, AND be able to present them in a way that doesn't remind me of my thirteen year old son whining for a new Xbox.
Thanks,
Everybody
I'm more encouraged by the comments than by the reporting on the debate. Maybe people are beginning to value intelligent and informed solutions more than smart-assed sniping and narratives that validate our prejudices and fears.
I agree with 8:25, and add that opportunity is only part of the equation. I believe we each have to build sweat-equity in our own lives, which requires sustained effort over time. The decision-making part of the brain doesn't even fully develop until age 24 or 25. So, what I like about the 8:25 comment is the promise of opportunity for people to change course AFTER high school.
Don't worry about it 10:52 if Trump tweets the ultimate stupidity or puts his hands where they do not belong, and he's about 50-50 to do it, these piss-ants as you call them will forget they ever heard of Donald who? They would then have to rely on their own ability...what a joke!
Glad I didn't go to the debate. Hope all of you remember your comments when Hood gets on the scene. I will take any of the three over Hood and his paid campaign by those he paid with our tax dollars. So many seem so down on Tate but he is a fiscally responsible candidate and somewhat shy rather than arrogant. Waller is a good choice and was a good Justice. Personally don't know much about Foster. I have had it with Democrats in general so any one of the three Republicans for me.
The only conclusion if you watched the debate was that Reeves is the only one
on that stage that is prepared to be Governor.
You may love him (many do) or you may hate him (many do) but he is the only
Candidate that knows what the hell he is talking about.
He’s too conservative for me but I am going to vote for him.
In a prior post, under a different article, I referred to Tate Reeves as a "bloodless political cretin." This debate has done nothing to change my opinion.
After watching the debate, it was clear that Tate still comes across as a thin-skinned and sensitive real-life Dilbert cartoon character. Tate embraces the "plantation mentality" that he knows what is best for us and how dare we ask questions of him.
So what if our cars need repairs because of poor roads, so what if rural hospitals are in financial trouble and closing, and so what if there is a teacher crisis. None of that matters because Tate knows what is best for us, even if it means Mississippi fails further behind.
The problem with the notion of having career guidance counselors at any school level is this: No matter how nice a vocational plan looks, no matter how many of the required elements of a plan are included and no matter how well laid out it is in terms of goals and steps to accomplish goals....Mommy and Daddy will simply laugh at it. They will either say, "You're going to college by God" or "What the hell do we need with an industrial engineer in this family when they're out of work all over town?"
Secondly, 'school counselors' may have learned the required format and number of steps in a vocational plan, but not a damned one of them has every worked in the private sector and none of them knows anything at all about the labor market or the anticipated need for workers in a community or region.
Oh, this is a great plan...you've included all the elements, the indentions and sub-steps are in perfect order and there's a good timeline and at the end...there it is - the student's ultimate goal. The only problem is the goal has no relationship to the needs of the labor market, therefore it's useless.
A vocational goal, once achieved, if not marketable, is useless. If we are going to have vocational counselors at the high school level, all of them should be men and women retired from the private sector. Change the paradigm.
Tate Reeves will win. Sorry trolls.
Correction, 8:22: Tate Reeves "must" win. I'm convinced he will do anything to win this election, as it is his only chance, albeit a slim one, to prove that he is anything other than a giant douche.
Tate just walked out of the speeches in Jones County this weekend. He has upset a lot of people.
Legislative Gumps and their minions will vote for Tate in large numbers. That's not because they view him as effective or capable. It's because he's a known quantity. Nothing more.
It's sorta like favoring an assistant coach for promotion to head coach. The other assistants and the fan base know the guy and are willing to roll the dice on him rather than hire a qualified and proven leader who they're unfamiliar with. See Ole Miss football here for further discussion of this reality. It's a precise analogy.
Haley anointed "Feel" and now "Feel" is trying to anoint Tate. It won't work a second time.
Waller is by far the most qualified and would do the best, but Robert Foster will do something big one day. I am super impressed with him and his character. I dont like Tate, but will certainly vote for him over trial lawyer Hood.
7:51 am A " trial lawyer" is merely an attorney that has tried a case before a judge.
The American College of Trial Lawyers is a by invitation only association that recognizes the best trial lawyers in the Nation.
The membership includes Supreme Court Justices ( but not all) including Justice Roberts.
You cannot be in a court case without a trial lawyer.
The lawyers you want to hate are tort lawyers, unless, of course, your kids were burned alive in a Pinto because Ford didn't spend a dollar to make sure the gas tank wouldn't explode in a rear end collision.
I don't like Hood either and know we can and have done better, but I'll hold my nose and vote for him since he's won judgments that took up for Mississippians and gotten money from sleazy con artist masking as businessmen . Tate has helped only Tate.
4:30 The only problem with your football coach analogy is the importance of winning. You might justify the elevation of the assistant coach as a known quantity if your team is already winning. Mississippi ain't a winning team, but maybe we don't care so much about winning, we just like the the makeup of the coaching staff and don't want to bring in "outsiders". That way we are guaranteed to keep losing, but we will also still look like we always have.
We hate change more than we want to win. Hotty totty.
Foster is nothing but Tater with a personality.
Waller is the best of the three because he isn't in the back pocket of the corporations that got hundreds of millions in tax breaks from tater and want more.
Hood isn't perfect but for the first time in my life I will vote democrat.
The republican party has prostituted itself for corporate america and sold their soul to trump.
By any measure, Mississippi continues to fall further behind the rest of the nation yet we do nothing to change.
Tate confirmed that he is what he is, and thinks that him and Feel have done a great job over the past few years despite evidence to the contrary. He has shown he is uninterested in raising and spending money necessary to fix problems in Mississippi. Waller was disappointing and underwhelming as an orator the other night, but he had the best platform, actually wants to help MS and not just himself, and would be the best governor. Foster was a pleasant surprise, and although he’ll be wiped out this time, he may be someone to look at in the future for a statewide office. He needs to let go of a couple crazy platforms (doesn’t believe in a minimum wage, thinks income tax can be eliminate by using only use-based tax) but otherwise his platform is not terrible.
Would vote for Hood over Reeves without question. Would listen more closely and be more interested in a race than I have in a long time if it’s Waller versus Hood, but leaning towards Waller until Hood has more to say. At this point, looks like Hood is just trying to get to and through the primary without black Democrats blowing up his campaign.
all 3 Repubs would wipe Hood off the map. Especially Waller and Foster. I hope Waller wins, but if Foster runs for Senator or something one day- I am all for him.
Regarding the expansion of Medicaid: Medicaid already covers the low-income and very-low income (i.e. poor) Mississippians in the current, un-expanded program. Expansion of Medicaid would mainly help what used to be called "working poor", which are people with an income but who don't make enough to pay for medical insurance for themselves or their families.
Also, some seem to think that Medicaid pays a monthly amount to the recipient; in truth, it pays directly to providers and facilities and only when a health service is actually provided.
@ July 29, 2019 at 1:11 PM
Waller and Foster jumped in because Reeves is garbage. Hot a** garbage!
Waller is the only one that could beat Hood. Republicans like Reeves and Foster are why Hood threw his hat into the race.
4:38 True, and Mississippi has the largest percentage of "Working poor" in the nation. No state needs the millions more. But they have little or no political clout and none with the present governor or Tater. So, if they live here, they are shit outa' luck. Really, we all are.
There are three 'Medicaid Camps':
1) Those of us who don't care if the rolls in this state are increased to cover half a million more people. Those in this group think the feds will foot the bill. This group is also unaware of the fraudulent, conniving doctors who will help anybody get on the medicaid rolls. Those in this column will wake up one day to realize 75% of our population is on medicaid, disability and government assistance.
2) Those of us who DO NOT buy into the notion that our state is awash in people who are afflicted, can't walk ten feet unassisted, can't afford a bottle of aspirin and need more free medical treatment to go with the pork chops. This group favors people working for a living, contributing to the common good and taking a turn at pulling the wagon rather handing them more free stuff at the taxpayers' expense.
3) Those of us who walk around in a fog.
Did we watch the same debate??? Waller sounded like an old democrat, Foster a naive young man. And Tate came off as knowledgeable and capable, yet not particularly likable. We’ve had 8 years of a very likable and mediocre governor. I will vote for Tate, He is the only one that can beat Hood.
who don't care if the rolls in this state are increased to cover half a million more people. Those in this group think the feds will foot the bill. This group is also unaware of the fraudulent, conniving doctors who will help anybody get on the medicaid rolls. Those in this column will wake up one day to realize 75% of our population is on medicaid, disability and government assistance.
Post a Comment