The Maryland Governors Debate

I wanted to like Robert Ehrlich. I wanted to give him a chance and show that I'm not driven by ideology, but by pragmatism. For some reason, Ehrlich made that task exceedingly difficult.

Based on this last debate, I'm more ideologically in line with Martin O'Malley. O'Malley acknowledged that when your state has a horrendous deficit, taxes need to be raised. That takes guts to say, but it also makes sense. Ehrlich shockingly pulled a George Bush and asserted no taxes would be raised were he in office and tried to make it seem as if he was taking a brash stance.

Martin O'Malley called illegal immigrants "new Americans" which I felt was incredibly empathetic and political courageous. It appeals to a nonexistent voting bloc and to human decency. Ehrlich criticized O'Malley for the term and, as an afterthought, begrudgingly conceded that people shouldn't be left on the street hungry and naked even if they are illegal. O'Malley also supported equal rights for gays and recognizing same-sex marriages initiated in DC. Ehrlich was proud to say, no way.

But throughout the debate, the tone of the two was the story. Ehrlich did O'Malley a favor. I've always thought O'Malley comes across as a phony, but today he appeared measured and reasoned. Ehrlich was combative and argumentative. He was also blatantly hypocritical. He accused O'Malley of relying on clichés. To deliver this message he resorted to clichés himself, saying, "Leaders answer questions." He also accused O'Malley of "talking like a politician," another cliché.

O'Malley threw in his weight of attacks against Ehrlich. He certainly wasn't innocent. Ehrlich's attitude just made him see that way. As a result, O'Malley was impressive. He even convinced me to support the purple line.