During the 3/14/12 debate Sharon Sund was asked for her views on today's high gas prices: The candidate blamed an international conspiracy of petroleum price fixers hell-bent on removing Barack Obama from office.
The response revealed Sund's stunning economic and geopolitical naïveté. So I was surprised to observe, post-debate, a respected CD3 DFL activist leave this comment on my blog:
Sharon Sund has walked the walk, is walking the walk. She has worked on affordable health care and she has been recognized by Moveon.org. Take a deeper look Gavin.To double-check, this afternoon I watched the video--which, disappointingly, includes only half of the 90-minute event. The half that's posted does not include Sund's whopper; The UpTake's Mike McIntee says that due to an internet problem he didn't receive the entire 90 minutes.
The CD3 GOP recorded the event separately--so we needn't worry Sund's quotation has been permanently lost. Here are some things I noticed, watching the available half today:
Sharon Sund's fundamental proposal for improving the US economy, long term, is lots more government spending--on infrastructure, education and green technology.
Sund supports tax increases and a more progressive tax system. 'When our taxes were several times higher [sic], we didn't have the problems we have today,' she says. Addressing the budget deficit should not be considered a high priority: 'All this deficit stuff is a smokescreen...' Sund wants a well-paying job for every citizen to be mandated by the government: 'Every American has a right to a job at a fair living wage.'
Sund claims credit for having worked to get the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed--though she wanted a single-payer solution. Sund wants the eligibility age for Medicare eliminated. While Sund acknowledges 'Medicare does contribute to the deficit,' she believes this problem will be fixed automatically, once we massively increase the number of citizens covered under it.
Sund thinks America's excessive reliance on petroleum might benefit from a pep rally: We need to 'set our minds' to electric cars, wind and solar. And Sund knows of what she speaks--'Over 30 years ago [my emphasis] one of my first jobs was to build a battery to store wind energy.'
No one denies global warming anymore, Sund misinforms. Global warming is caused 'in part' by humans, she says--providing scant comfort.
Over and over in life, Sharon Sund says she's been told [by racists] 'You can't do it'--and she's proved 'em wrong again and again. Sund believes her triumphant life trajectory merits our admiration and awe--though she's presented almost no factual data documenting any lofty career.
Nor has Sund provided evidence of any history of courage in the political realm: She has provided no example of having ever opposed DFL orthodoxy on any matter--nor does she have any record defending those excluded from consideration due to prevailing McCarthyism.
