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October 22, 2004/Cheshvan 7 5765, Vol. 57, No. 8
Debating the issuesValley residents focus on candidates' stands on Israel, quality of life
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
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 Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and President George Bush greet each other at center stage to open the Oct. 13 presidential campaign debate at Arizona State University's Grady Gammage Auditorium. Photo by Tim Trumble/ASU |
Valley residents say they listened carefully to the statements of the two major party candidates and are now confronting their own consciences in deciding how to cast their votes between now and the Nov. 2 general election.
Valley Jewish residents are concerned about how incumbent President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) each would work to protect the interests of Israel and how the proposed actions of each candidate, if elected, would affect their lives.
One politically active Phoenix resident said that he made his choice based on his background as an attorney. Mark Spitzer, a Republican and chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission, has been a practicing attorney for 22 years. He said he would be voting for Bush, in part because of Bush's position on judicial appointments.
Bob Schieffer, host of CBS's "Face the Nation" and moderator of the third debate, asked Bush, "he (Kerry) said that you had never said whether you would like to overturn Roe v. Wade. So I'd ask you directly, would you like to?"
Bush said, "What he's asking me is, will I have a litmus test for my judges? And the answer is, no, I will not have a litmus test. I will pick judges who will interpret the Constitution."
Kerry responded that he wouldn't "appoint a judge to the Court who's going to undo a constitutional right, whether it's the First Amendment or the Fifth Amendment or some other right that's given under our courts today - under the Constitution."
Spitzer voiced concern about Kerry's response. "I still had on my mind, as a lawyer, this question of litmus test, and I was a little concerned with Mr. Kerry stating that he wanted to know how the judges were going to rule on a particular case before he appointed them. As a lawyer, I have a problem with that.
"I want judges that will read my papers and roll fast," he adds. "I want judges who will, I think, have academic rigor, have intellectual rigor, and I really have a problem with saying, 'Well, if this judge doesn't support Roe v. Wade,' or 'This judge doesn't oppose Roe v. Wade.'"
Earl Katz, a Democrat, has volunteered in political campaigns for more than four decades. He served as finance chairman for former Sen. Dennis DeConcini for 16 years and did the same job in the Western states for Walter Mondale's unsuccessful 1984 presidential bid.
Katz voted before the Oct. 13 debate, but said the debate confirmed his decision that "John Kerry was presidential and that the country was going in the wrong direction."
He said he listened carefully to each candidate's plans to reform health care.
In the debate, Schieffer asked Bush to explain the severe flu vaccine shortage in the United States, and Bush responded that our nation relied on an English company to provide the vaccine, which was found to be contaminated.
Kerry's response focused on the health care system as a whole: "I have a plan to cover all Americans. We're going to make (health care) affordable and accessible. We're going to let everybody buy into the same health care plan senators and congressmen give themselves."
Katz said he was grateful that Kerry acknowledged the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance coverage.
"I appreciate very much that Kerry has a sensible plan to begin covering at least 29 million of the 45 million who are uninsured," he said.
Education has not been properly funded either, Katz said. "I believe that education is the key, as Bush pointed out, but then Bush went ahead and short-changed 'No Child Left Behind' by $28 million."
Steven Chanen, a Republican and president and chief operating officer of Phoenix-based Chanen Construction Company Inc., was concerned about how taxes might affect his and other businesses.
"This is the only year I can ever remember being so undecided," he said. "I am extremely concerned that if John Kerry is elected, (we may experience) tax increases that this country has not seen since pre-1970s, where the marginal tax rate floats up to 70 percent."
In the debate, Schieffer pointed out that Kerry said he would not raise taxes on citizens who make less than $200,000 a year and asked how Kerry intended to finance his plans.
Kerry said he would start by rolling back Bush's "unaffordable tax cut for the wealthiest people, people earning more than $200,000 a year."
In response, Bush said Kerry has "proposed $2.2 trillion (in) new spending, and yet the so-called tax on the rich, which is also a tax on many small-business owners in America, raises $600 million by our account - billion, $800 billion by his account."
Chanen said that he had his own record of Kerry's statements. "I have text of him talking about that he essentially wants to reallocate the wealth in America, and when someone said that - notwithstanding that he'll need Congress to go along with him - that scares me a lot.
"Increases in marginal tax rates make people spend less, and that trickles to all areas of the economy, and high tax rates have always been and will always be bad for business."
Israel also weighs on Chanen's mind. He believes that Kerry might be better for the Jewish state as Democrats generally have been supportive of Israel. He also noted that there are many Republicans who are supportive of Israel, such as Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).
Jordan Niefeld, a Democrat, said the debate "reaffirmed my confidence in what Kerry would be able to do for this country." He is confident Kerry would "be able to lead this country out of a time when most Americans are divided and unsure of where this country is going."
Niefeld, an ASU student and board member of Chabad at ASU, said he also was attracted to Kerry's policies for reforming education. Kerry's statements during the Oct. 13 debate showed him that Kerry had conviction about working to improve public education.
When Schieffer asked Bush what he would say to someone who has lost a job to someone overseas, Bush said education needed to be improved. Bush said he saw that kids were being shuffled through the education system without learning the basics, and claimed that he raised education spending by 49 percent.
Kerry responded that the Bush administration had actually cut Pell grants and Perkins loans that help students go to college, as well as job-training money.
"They've wound up not even extending unemployment benefits and not even extending health care to those people who are unemployed," Kerry said. "I'm going to do those things, because that's what's right in America: Help workers to transition in every respect."
Niefeld said he felt reassured that "students and Americans are going to feel good when (Kerry) gets in, they're going to feel like he's actually going to make a difference.
"We need someone that's going to be able to come in and grab hold of the issues, especially education, and I think he's going to be able to do that."
A transcript of the Oct. 13 presidential debate obtained from the Commission on Presidential Debates was used in this report.
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