Guiliani Is Not Qualified To Be President

I commend you for believing that you should be an informed voter. I agree that you have no business voting if you are not informed. Unfortunately, I think that the information that you are basing your argument on is misguided. The topic of your debate was whether or not Giuliani is "qualified" to be president. I do not believe you have proven that he is not. You have brought up 3 issues in this round that I will address. The first is his stand on the war in Iraq, 2nd is his lack of "senatorial experience" and 3rd your belief he is not for the middle class. I will start with the lack of "senatorial experience." I am not sure why you believe a senator is more qualified to run the country than a mayor. You need to explain this further. I will explain my position with the analogy of a corporation. A CEO is like the President or on a smaller scale, a Mayor. He is responsible for running the business. He has a staff that helps him run the day to day operations including hiring, firing, budgets, etc. The CEO is the one that is held accountable for the profitability and general well being of the employees and company. A Senator is like a member of the board of directors. Individually they have no power and even as a whole board their power is limited. They are more of an advisory board. More often than not they are on the board because of money they bring to the table, people they know or one expertise they may be able to advise on, but that individual would probably never qualify to run the company as the CEO. Although senators get paid a lot of money ($165,200 in 2007 to be exact) and are held in a place of honor, they are merely lawyers who pass legislation and can approve a president's governmental appointments. Did you know that in June of ‘03, CNN reported that at least 40 Senators were millionaires? Maybe some of their money was made honestly, but there are documented facts that some have used their position to line their own pockets. I don't think they were thinking about the middle class then. Unfortunately, Senators do not have a limit on the terms they can hold office. The longer they are in office the further from the people they get. I have a hard time believing that many of these senators are "for the people." They are not held accountable for anything except for how they voted on a bill. They get used to the comfortable life and get caught up in the power and greed. A Mayor on the other hand can easily be held accountable for the budget, for the crime and for the well being of the citizens of that city. Let's talk about your point that you think Giuliani is not for the people or the middle class. He is for fiscal responsibility and tax cuts rather than tax increases proposed by the democratic candidates. If you think those tax increases will not affect the middle class you should look back in history at how tax increases have indeed affected all classes. While Mayor, Giuliani cut taxes 23 times turning a deficit into a surplus and balancing the budget. This lowered the tax burden for the entire city. He also had a program called Welfare to work empowering the poor to be responsible for their own destiny rather than giving a hand out that keeps the poor down. When he took office, 1out of 7 New Yorkers were on welfare. He implemented the most successful welfare to work initiative in the country reducing those on welfare by 60% and helping those individuals get back on their feet and out of the government system. It looks like he is serious about the best interest of the citizens to me. Finally, let's talk about the war. I will bet you that there is not one candidate who if elected would pull out of Iraq. Why? Because they do not want to admit defeat on their watch. Giuliani on the other hand, understands that this is a war on terror and fighting the war in Iraq keeps the terrorists off of our soil. The media has not been fair in reporting what is happening in Iraq. I have talked to two US soldiers who have been in Iraq and they both agree that we can not leave Iraq until the job is done. It is unfortunate that there are evil terrorists who want to kill Americans and anyone who does not abide by their religious rules or gets in their way of conquering innocent communities but that is the way it is. I personally would like all of them to be eliminated before they invade or attack America again. It is also unfortunate that we have soldiers who have to die for our safety and freedoms, but that is their job. They knew what they were signing up for and most of them will continue to sign up over and over again to protect the country and people they love. These are honorable men and women and I am forever grateful for their love of our country and their willingness to stand up and fight for it. I am also grateful for a President who understands the seriousness of this war and is willing to continue to lead our soldiers on the offensive until there is victory on the side of democracy.