Meg "wins" dismal debate

John Seiler:

My take is that this was a dismal debate. Neither candidate is qualified to be governor. A state this big should be embarrassed that it can’t produce better candidates.

Meg stayed on message: Jobs, jobs, jobs. When Jerry brought up “green jobs,” she explained that that’s only about 3% of jobs in California.

But Meg herself opposes Prop. 23, which would suspend the jobs-killing AB 32 until unemployment drops from the current 12.4% to 5.5% for a year. She would suspend it for a year as governor. But that’s almost worthless. As a business woman, she knows that businesses need long-term certainty, not uncertainty.

Jerry seemed to go out of his way to be funny, just to refute Bill Clinton’s claim that Jerry has no sense of humor.

Jerry kept attacking Meg for wanting to cut taxes for rich people, especially her call to get rid of the capital gains tax. What an economic ignoramus. But that’ll make his union sponsors happy. Where does he think investment money comes from to create new jobs? Texas, which has created half of all the new jobs in America the past year, has no capital gains tax — or even an income tax.

Neither candidate gave any details about how to close the state’s $19 billion budget deficit. They both want to cut waste. Jerry wants to cut the salaries of the governor and legislature. Big deal. That leaves the deficit at $18,999,999,000.00.

Both got their main messages across. Meg: jobs.

Jerry: Envy.

Sept. 28, 2010. 7:19 pm