I wasn’t at the 8th CD debate this morning at the Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria, but several friends were. Here are a few highlights from them.
In his opening statement, Patrick Hope went after Don Beyer on welfare reform, specifically charging that Beyer’s plan as Lt. Governor included a denial of welfare assistance to any children born to people on welfare. Beyer responded with a defense of his efforts at poverty reduction and welfare reform, as well as something about how “it’s wrong to attack other Democrats.”
On the mental health question, Beyer disclosed that his son had schizophrenia and tried to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. And Bill Euille disclosed that his sister was manic-depressive. Both relatives’ conditions are controlled by medication, according to the candidates.
Derek Hyra compared Palestinian suffering to the Holocaust, and Adam Ebbin called him out on it.
Mark Levine called out Patrick Hope for suggesting that civilian casualties in Syria were just generally “people getting killed” rather than targeted killing by the Assad regime.
Beyer and Euille agreed with Levine in supporting universal health care.
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