Cuomo Eviscerates Republicans at Cooper Union

The 2008 Cooper Union Series of Debates

The Lincoln Model at Cooper Union was exercised fully tonight with the paring off of
Mario Cuomo and Newt Gingrich discussing some of the key issues of the 2008 Election.

It was a sophisticated juxtaposition of opposing attitudes conducted in an intellectually stimulating environment where Abraham Lincoln 151 years ago spoke to the American people and as a result of that speech, was nominated to be the candidate of his party.

It was in that spirit that Newt Gingrich and Mario Cuomo came together.

Their opposing views on the fundamental differences between their parties and their approaches to solving problems agreed to disagree but found some harmony on Iraq where each felt that what is being done today is failed policy. They focused on a few vital categories ranging from protection, to health care and Iraq.

Cuomo uses that opportunity to blast republicans’ record of failure after failure ranging from the way we handled Katrina, protection of borders, to the threat posed by republican policy to a diminished middle class. Newt on the other hand, also feels that today’s government has failed in its approaches to the problems of this country and the world in areas like security and health care but for different reasons.

Newt made one entertaining comment about illegal immigrants. He agreed that many of government services were “broken” and that they should be turned over to private resources. He talked about how the government cannot find 11 million illegal immigrants; on the other hand, he pointed out how efficient UPS and FedEx are delivering packages anywhere. He suggested that the way to resolve the problem of finding the illegal immigrants was to send them a package.

At the end, each agrees that the candidates should follow their lead and agree to debate at nine different debates on the critical issues of our time.

It was a delightful evening of point and counterpoint where each speaker found much to praise about their opponent and much to disagree with as to the position of the opponents party.

Well worth one’s investment of time for the ideas it raises whether one agrees or not in the light of the fact that we are not often exposed to ideas from our prominent leaders. Frankly, from this perspective, it was good to see Cuomo filling the air with his eloquence; there are many of us who felt it was a long time coming and we were not disappointed.

Les Aaron