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Political rivals debate in 1st-of-its-kind UW event
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by Ken Harris
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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.
Anonymous (February 12, 2008 @ 6:02am):
What a surprise. UW students are liberal and it's no shock that liberal students think the Democrats won and conservative students disagree.
Anonymous (February 12, 2008 @ 5:11pm):
"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.
âI donât know,â she said. âIâll worry about that when I get laid off.â"
...What an inevitable occurrence.
Anonymous (February 12, 2008 @ 8:36pm):
Apparently UW students can be reduced to two polar programs. Sponsorship and legitimation of events like this marginalize and censor the 50% of us who don't fit into either party line. Further, this frames what is "respectable" politics, i.e. who's a perfect moderate and who's a dangerous, crazy extremist.
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