Political rivals debate in 1st-of-its-kind UW event

by Ken Harris

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 22:28

The chairs for College Democrats and College Republicans clashed over the Iraq war and job outsourcing at their first annual debate Monday night.

College Republicans Chair Sara Mikolajczak and College Democrats Chair Oliver Kiefer fielded 10 predetermined questions and several follow-ups at the Memorial Union’s Great Hall in front of a large crowd of students, faculty, community members and media representatives.

The crowd seemed dominated by Democrats, as was demonstrated by noisy reactions to the debaters’ statements.

The largest crowd reaction came during the discussion of outsourcing jobs and its effect on the economy. Kiefer said while it is important to protect the rights of workers in third-world countries, American jobs need to be protected.

According to Mikolajczak, outsourcing helps the U.S. economy because it keeps prices lower, and it improves the economies of the countries that receive the jobs.

Mikolajczak elicited a groan from the audience when she responded to a question about what she would say to someone who recently lost their job because of outsourcing.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ll worry about that when I get laid off.”

Mikolajczak also angered the largely liberal student crowd with her stance on the Iraq war.

“If we pull out now, we risk anarchy in the Middle East, and we’ll have to go back, and we’ll be more hated then,” she said. “If it takes 100 years, it takes 100 years.”

Kiefer said he was less patient and skeptical of success in Iraq.

“We’re not closer to achieving the original goals of the surge,” he said. “I don’t know how much time I’m willing to (give) the administration.”

The two debaters also butted heads over statewide health care. Kiefer said everyone has the responsibility to take care of their neighbors, adding BadgerCare Plus — the state health care plan that increased the number of people covered by insurance — is “a big step forward, but it’s not enough.”

Mikolajczak said it should not be the responsibility of individuals to pay for everyone’s health care.

Kiefer and Mikolajczak offered differing opinions on same-sex marriage as well. Mikolajczak said the issue is a matter of religious values, and she said she was opposed to gay marriage because of her Christian beliefs.

Kiefer said marriage is a human right that cannot be denied based on sexual orientation and said the Wisconsin Marriage Protection Amendment was named misleadingly.

“How many marriages were saved?” he asked.

College Republicans Jeremy Wick, a UW senior, and Kristen Wall, a UW sophomore, said the night was a success.

“It went well for both sides,” Wall said. “We were able to educate people for the upcoming primaries.”

Wick added debates rarely change peoples’ opinions but said, “We possibly won some independents.”

Other UW students said the debate was a landslide victory for the Democrats. UW freshman Sam McGuinn said “the Democrats definitely won,” but added the event was “a really intelligent debate.”

The debate was moderated by Badger Herald editorial page editors Andy Granias and Jason Smathers, as well as UW political science professor Donald Downs.