| Coco Rubio: check 1....check 1, 2.... |
| Coco Rubio: check 1, 2, 3.... |
| Barry Paschal: I'm here. |
| Coco Rubio: hi barry |
| Barry Paschal: Good afternoon. How's business? |
| Coco Rubio: halloween was the busiest night ever for us! gotta love a friday night halloween... |
| Barry Paschal: Awesome. I hope everyone behaved themselves. So, when does this show get on the road? |
| Mike Wynn: I want to welcome Barry Paschal, publisher of the Columbia County News-Times and Augusta businessman Coco Rubio to the chat. I see you guys are ready to go. |
| Coco Rubio: here we go.... |
| Barry Paschal: Stoked. God bless America, where we can have a peaceful transition of power. Unless there are riots or looting, of course... |
| Mike Wynn: Here we go: Coco, you’re an Obama supporter and a small business owner. Since the last few weeks of the McCain campaign has focused on Obama’s middle class tax cuts through “Joe the Plumber,” just how concerned are you that his plan will have an adverse effect on people like you? |
| Coco Rubio: who's plan? mccain or obama? and is joe really a plumber? |
| Barry Paschal: Ah, c'mon, Coco. Yes, Joe's a plumber. But Obama's folks wanted to keep the focus on him rather than on Obama's "spread the wealth" comments that drew the limelight (and illegal searches of his state records) on him. |
| Barry Paschal: Testing, testing, is this thing on? Many, you guys type slow.... |
| Coco Rubio: the "joe the plumber" & "spread the wealth" are both lame tactics by mccain.....what's his plan any way? all i hear mccain talk about is obama this, obama that..... |
| Coco Rubio: i think obama will help the middle class more than mccain....simple and plain. |
| Mike Wynn: If Obama wins, would it show that the classic tax and spend argument that the Republicans have used so successfully against the Democrats in previous elections no longer carries much weight, and why didn’t it work this time? |
| Barry Paschal: I think Obama is successful in making people believe his plan will help the middle class more. And it will, unless the middle class buys anything from any business, or is employed by any business. |
| Barry Paschal: The Republicans lost the "tax and spend" argument by taxing and spending. |
| Coco Rubio: the republicans always talk about less gov't ... and guess what? we have more gov't now than ever before......Barry is right! |
| Barry Paschal: There's your takeaway from this discussion: "Barry is right!" Heh, heh, heh... |
| Coco Rubio: after 8 years.. it's time for a change....and i think the people are ready for it.... |
| Mike Wynn: If the Republican Party suffers the sort of losses that’s predicted in Congress, let along for the White House, what do you guys think the party will need to do to regain its national footing? |
| Coco Rubio: new leadership.... |
| Coco Rubio: not sarah palin |
| Barry Paschal: Time for a change? Yep. When I get bad tires on my car, it's time for a change. But I would like to think I have enough sense not to put square ones, or tractor tires, or wooden ones on my car. Change is good if it's in the right direction - which is the opposite of Obamanation. |
| Coco Rubio: GW has caused lots of problems for the republicans.....where is he anyway? and i think obama will take us in the right direction....cause we've been going in the wrong direction for a while now.... |
| Coco Rubio: and hey...if obama is wrong.....we can vote him out in 4 years, right? |
| Barry Paschal: As the your previous question, Mike: Republicans will have to do what parties always do when unseated: go back to the fundamentals of conservatism. Right now conservatives are disgusted with the GOP and disgusted with Bush. What's really funny is that conservatives have never particularly liked or trusted McCain, but now he's the only thing standing between the country and the most liberal president in history. |
| Coco Rubio: which is why mccain can't win....he doesn't even have the support of his own party..... you said it.. not me. |
| Barry Paschal: I say avoid the rush, Coco: Obama is wrong now. Don't wait four years. |
| Mike Wynn: What has disappointed and impressed you the most about either candidate? |
| Coco Rubio: we'll see soon....i hope.....because seriously, can anybody be worse than GW? |
| Barry Paschal: McCain does now have the support of his party, but for the reason I articulated way back when in an honest theft from another columnist: Because he isn't Obama. |
| Coco Rubio: i would have been impressed if mccain would have been against the 700 billion bailout........but, nope. |
| Barry Paschal: We agree. I was most disappointed with McCain with his handling of the bailout. He had an opportunity to show a tremendous difference with Obama and rally conservatives - but he squandered it. |
| Coco Rubio: obama beat hillary.....and that onto itself is pretty impressive....because we all know how the clinton machine works..... |
| Coco Rubio: obama is very organized and has run a flawless campaign.....that cannot be said for mccain......bless his heart. |
| Barry Paschal: I've also been disappointed (but not unexpectedly so) with the past couple of weeks of the Obama campaign, when many of his speeches have been geared toward tamping down the enthusiasm of his followers. He has many of them believing he's a minor diety, and they will be horribly disillusioned at the realities of governing - something in which Obama is woefully inexperiences. |
| Mike Wynn: Barry, anything impresses you about Obama? |
| Coco Rubio: obama is human.... and i can relate to him...much better than mccain...... |
| Barry Paschal: Absolutely. Despite occasional and hilariously preserved (thank you, YouTube) slips when his TelePromTer malfunctions, I am impressed with his oratorical skills. But he is a trained attorney, so that's to be expected. |
| Coco Rubio: inexperience cannot be brought up any more.....remember GW? |
| Barry Paschal: (And my "absolutely" was in response to Mike's question.) |
| JimCox: I heard yesterday that Obama wants to establish his own civil defense force, a group that answers to him and him only. Is this true or another YouTube ruse? |
| Coco Rubio: obama is a great speaker......is that a bad thing? |
| Coco Rubio: i'd like my president to be well spoken.....and intelligent.....but, that's just me. |
| Barry Paschal: Absolutely experience can, and must, be brought up - because past is prologue. We know a great deal about how Obama would govern based on what little experience he has. Besides: I don't think "Vote Obama: Because Experience Doesn't Matter" is a very good bumper-sticker, is it? |
| Coco Rubio: but, it's so hypocritical to bring up.... because we all know GW didn't have any experience either..... |
| Coco Rubio: how can obama do worse than bush, ya know? |
| Coco Rubio: my favorite bumper sticker: I DON'T WANT A PRESIDENT WITH A BUCKET LIST * VOTE OBAMA |
| Barry Paschal: And yes - we do want presidents to be good speakers. But there are a great many bad people who are good speakers, and a great many good people who are terrible speakers. Heck, Steven Hawking is one of the smartest people in the world, and can't speak at all without the aid of a computer. But we should hope that our leaders aren't just glib and attractive, but that the ideas they express are good ones. By the way: Bush was governor of Texas. That's far more executive experience than Obama. But Bush isn't running against Obama - though Obama would like you to think he is. |
| Coco Rubio: : ) |
| Barry Paschal: All right, there we go with the old-people jokes... |
| Coco Rubio: it's a big issue, no? |
| Barry Paschal: No, I don't think it is. It's an issue, but not a big one - unless you're an Obama supporter and want to scare people. |
| Coco Rubio: he IS old......does that not matter? especially when he picked palin as his VP? |
| Mike Wynn: What could either of the candidates have said or done that would have convinced you to support him? |
| Barry Paschal: What does the veep choice have to do with his age? I'm not sure I follow you. |
| Coco Rubio: the republican has used the FEAR factor successfully the last 8 years...... but, i'm not scared. |
| Coco Rubio: old mccain could pass....and that leaves us with palin.....and that's not a great choice in my humble..... |
| Barry Paschal: No Republican has ever made an argument that Democrats have failed to call "fear" based or "race" based. Hasn't that gotten old? |
| Barry Paschal: None of us knows the number of our days. Obama could kick the bucket, too, and we'd be stuck with Joe Biden - whom Democratic voters have already rejected FOUR TIMES. |
| Coco Rubio: you really don't think FEAR has been used by the republicans? |
| Barry Paschal: I think the Democrats are legitimately afraid of being shown in their proper light by Republicans, much in the same way and the same reasons that vampires are said to fear daylight. |
| Coco Rubio: mccain could have impressed me with a better VP choice....but, i guess he's just a maverick, huh? |
| Barry Paschal: Impressed you, perhaps, but you would not have voted for him under any circumstance, correct? |
| Coco Rubio: i'm in the light......what is there to fear? |
| Barry Paschal: You never have to fear the truth. So where are the frightening attacks from Republicans? |
| Coco Rubio: i would not have voted for mccain this year....that's for sure.....maybe in 2000......but, not in 2008....sorry. |
| Coco Rubio: you said democrats are afraid of being shown in their proper light......what does that mean? |
| Barry Paschal: Incidentally, we blew right past Jim Cox's question. My answer: A civil defense force should scare the heck out of everyone - particularly if they value their civil liberties (which, supposedly, Democrats once did - at least when they were using that as an argument to keep terrorist out of Gitmo). |
| Coco Rubio: don't believe the hype |
| Naysayer: Barry: How is McCain different than George W Bush? |
| Barry Paschal: Don't believe the hype, eh? Like Neville Chamberlain? |
| Coco Rubio: our civil liberties went out the door with the patriot act.....how ironic..... |
| Coco Rubio: don't believe the hype -- like chuck d. from public enemy |
| Barry Paschal: Naysayer, view the record: McCain's voting record is far more bipartisan than Obama's, which means a substantial amount of the time he has not agreed with Bush. Strangely enough, many of the areas in which he disagreed with Bush - opposing a border fence, for example - are areas in which many Democrats agreed with him. But that agreement goes under the bus when they want to run against him as "another Bush." |
| Coco Rubio: here's an example of fear......"if we don't elect mccain...we will lose the war against terror..." *sigh* |
| Barry Paschal: Yeah, I can't believe Joe Biden said that. |
| Coco Rubio: i wouldn't have voted along with bush that much either...... |
| Mike Wynn: Speaking of Biden, has he gotten a free pass from the media as compared to Palin? |
| Coco Rubio: are talking about the "liberal" media? |
| Coco Rubio: are we... |
| Barry Paschal: The point to the whole how-did-they-vote thing is that it shows a stark difference in who really is a proponent of change - as in doing things differently than the way they've been done, which has always been McCain. Obama will merely be sock-puppet for the hard left, giving George Soros his own room in the White House. |
| Coco Rubio: but, why agree with somebody like bush? i wouldn't...and i'm glad obama did not either..... |
| Barry Paschal: And, yes, Biden HAS gotten a pass. Unbelievably, the media let him skate on the whole "Roosevelt on television during the stock market crash" baloney - TV wasn't here yet, and Roosevelt wasn't president - while making mincemeat of Palin for every misstep in her Couric interview. |
| Coco Rubio: i guess when things are hard right for so long.....we need a hard left....but, i think we'll be better somewhere in the middle...... |
| Barry Paschal: Really? Did you agree with Bush on the bailout? Obama did. |
| Barry Paschal: Do you agree with Bush on immigration? Obama does. |
| Coco Rubio: heck no....i didn't agree with the bail out..... |
| Coco Rubio: so....how can you say obama doesn't work with bush? |
| Barry Paschal: Do you agree with Bush on No Child Left Behind? Obama did (though now he's equivocating.) |
| Coco Rubio: sounds like he's working well with the right, huh? |
| Barry Paschal: But I didn't say that. I said the Democrats are claiming McCain is in lockstep with Bush, when that is clearly false. |
| Coco Rubio: 90% of the time.... is that accurate? |
| Barry Paschal: And, no, Obama is working well with the LEFT, because on all those issues Bush followed a liberal line (especially on NCLB, written mostly by Ted Kennedy). Those are issues that killed Bush's support with conservatives. |
| Naysayer: Panel: If Barack Obama is better for our economy, why hasn't wall street shown any signs of stability after the polls reflect his win. |
| Barry Paschal: No, the 90 percent figure is false. It's the one Obama's people use, knowing that it is false. It includes every procedural vote, most of which are unanimous. The more correct figure is closer to 75 percent. |
| Coco Rubio: so BUSH is liberal? i'm so confused......what is mccain again? |
| Coco Rubio: polls don't matter.....we'll see what happens to wall street and the world markets after obama is elected..... |
| Barry Paschal: With the exception of the war, on which reasonable people can disagree, and with the exception of Supreme Court appointments, Bush has followed a largely liberal line. McCain, likewise, is centrist - which is why conservatives aren't crazy about him. |
| Barry Paschal: I actually thought the markets were trending up today. Wednesday's numbers will be a better sign, but are still nothing more than an opinion poll. |
| Coco Rubio: yet, you still support mccain, right? |
| Barry Paschal: I support McCain because he is not Obama. I prefer a centrist Republican to a socialist. |
| Coco Rubio: "socialist" is another example of a fear tactic..... not gonna work this time around......sorry. |
| Naysayer: Coco: In the debates, Obama agreed with McCain on most of the issues. What makes him different than John McCain? |
| Barry Paschal: Incidentally, that's the mirror of the argument from Hillary Clinton supporters. Many of them hate Obama, but they fear McCain more than they hate Obama. |
| Coco Rubio: i think obama was and is against the iraq war..... what a waste of money and more importantly -- the lives..... |
| Barry Paschal: No, the term "socialist" is an example of shedding light on Democrats that makes them afraid. "From each according to his means, to each according to his needs." Like that one? Obama does, and so did Karl Marx. Hey, he's your guy. I can't help reality. |
| Coco Rubio: do you support welfare? |
| Barry Paschal: Actually, Obama has been all over the map on the war, according to whereever the wind was blowing on his wet finger at the time. He admits the surge was a success, and he would not initiate an immediate withdrawal. |
| Barry Paschal: Why, you offering me some? Free drinks at Soul Bar! Woohoo! |
| Coco Rubio: you wouldn't want to pay the cover charge, i'm sure.... lol |
| Coco Rubio: barry -- do you support the war in iraq? |
| Barry Paschal: I support our troops finishing the job. I did not like them going there in the first place. |
| Barry Paschal: So what's your view on the war? |
| Coco Rubio: um, so you didn't support it...but, now you do? |
| Coco Rubio: iraq was a huge mistake.....we should have never gone there.... |
| Barry Paschal: So what do you do now? Drop it? Pull out? Quit? Cut and run? (insert any other hackneyed phrase.) |
| Coco Rubio: it would have been awesome to get bin laden in afghanistan...and make a point to the world.....but, guess what....? he's still in that cave......watching this web log.... laughing at us. |
| Barry Paschal: Really? Hi, Obama! I mean, Osama! (I did that just for you...) |
| Randall Flagg: Will either candidate be able to fins Osama Bin Laden? |
| Coco Rubio: it'd be nice to focus on afghanistan.....and pakistan.......not iraq...but, now it's too late...... |
| Barry Paschal: Ew. Hate the screen name there, RF. The answer is no: Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama will find OBL. Some of our troops might, of course, but not them personally - even though either of them will get the credit if it happens. |
| Barry Paschal: "Too late," Coco? So what do we do now? |
| Coco Rubio: we get out ASAP |
| Randall Flagg: Is it fair to say that Iraq is my generation's Vietnam? |
| Coco Rubio: how old are you? |
| Barry Paschal: "As soon as possible"? Who decides when that is? Obviously there's plenty of room for disagreement. |
| Coco Rubio: hopefully, the president will decide.....remember when mccain said we'd be there for 100 years....no thanks! |
| Randall Flagg: I am 28 |
| Barry Paschal: I think Iraq is the Vietnam of the people who felt bereft of the opportunity to protest enough over Vietnam. Most of it is phony baloney hippy hockey. |
| Barry Paschal: No, McCain didn't say that, Coco. That's just more phony Obama talking points. Sad. |
| Mike Wynn: Thanks Barry and Coco. We're going to have to end it here. |
| Coco Rubio: we should have learned more from vietnam.....but, sadly BUSH'S arrogant aggression led us astray..... |
| Coco Rubio: awww this was too much fun! let's do it again. Gracias! |
| Barry Paschal: It's been great! |
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