Pittsburgh Mayoral Election Making History

so if we could get away from this useless debate, Desantis blew my mind in the debate the other night. he's pro-choice and pro-civil union for gays and lesbians. young luke was anti-civil union. Desantis was also super critical of how the current local gov't is obsessed with bringing in big box stores and expensive restaurants. he said the key was individually owed small businesses. is this guy a republican or not? does this mean, you won't vote for him now? because, i think i will. he addressed three of my biggest concerns and told me exactly what i want to hear. he's socially progressive and his economic plan focuses on growing local entrepreneurs, not whoring us out to huge chain stores which will only dilute our culture and reduce our choices as consumers. he wants to give tax breaks to small businesses, and stimulate entrepreneurship in minority communities. i didn't agree with everything he said, but i think he may have won my vote.

and if you think in terms of christianity, a world government is NOT a good thing. in fact, it's a sign of the end times.

a world government has no power to do anything. and, if it did, our freedom and sovereignty would be gone.

you need to take a look at the number of iraqis that died under saddam's regime.

400,000 children ALONE died of malnutrition and disease under him.

Opening the gates to a terrible civil war (up to 700,000 dead) is not the best form of protection I can think of. And you failed to address most of my points.
The fact is General Wesley, after jumping from the sinking ship that is our current administration revealed on Democracy Now that even many of the most vital generals and upper tier officials didn't understand why we were going into Iraq. I ask you simply, do you really think blazing in with no idea of the consequences of our actions, using bloody force whan we could have used diplomacy was the best thing for the people or Iraq? How many people died in the 4 years before we invaded?
And accusing the left of not caring about the world is just silly. The left is centered around human rights. If your administration is so humanitarian, why didn't they attempt to use diplomacy, with the support of the WORLD COMMUNITY instead of defying the UN, France, Germany, and pretty much every other nation, to go in with deadly force long before it was our only option? That's why most of the country (even many conservatives) is so unhappy with the war. War must always be the last choice. We must never enter into conflict until all other options have been exhausted. You seem to be a religious person. Then think of it in Christian terms. Truly Christian behavior would never include the use of brutal force without absolute need. I can't believe that we have done God's will. Look at all the churches who protested the war.
Saddam's power was waning. With the right pressure from the the US and the world united, we could have perhaps toppled his regime and allowed Iraq to form a new gov't on their terms without bloodshed. And if that failed, then we could have made a good case to the world that military action was necessary, and gone in with their support instead of alienating ourselves from the world.

If you believe that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11 or if he had any intention of attacking the US in the next 50 years, you should look into this brainwashing thing yourself.

mother of god. mother of god.

that is NOT the only reason we went after him. you left wingers need to realize there are other people in this world besides the people of the united states. we were protecting future generations of iraqis from the tyranny put forth by saddam. iraqi citizens are humans too we need to protect them when they cant protect themselves. at the time, they could not.

Wow. We couldn't get three posts before you had to start with personal attacks. Typical right wing behavior.
So I'll end my engagement with this:
I'm not a fan of Ravenstahl, never said I was. Thank you for assuming that.
Clinton? Dropping his name into this pointless. And what do mean he had no concern for humanity?
Brainwashed? Up to 700,000 Iraqis are dead (Bush will not allow the Iraqi gov't to perform an accurate count, saying only "We don't do body counts".) Billions of dollars are squandered every week on a war that was sold to us under false pretences. Our president is still lying about the relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam. Spoiler alert: they hated each other. In fact Saddam, gruesome monster as he was, fought terrorism very effectively. He was a secular dictator. Al Qaeda is a radical Islamist group. They don't mix. If you believe that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11 or if he had any intention of attacking the US in the next 50 years, you should look into this brainwashing thing yourself. I will say it simply: There is no data whatsoever to support these beliefs. They have been debunked by countless reports, independent and from the gov't itself.
Now, maybe Desantis would be good for this city. Ravenstahl isn't looking great by any means. But Desantis' voting record is abysmal. And that makes me very doubtful. If you follow bad leadership, can you be a good leader?

better question: would you vote for a 26 year-old who doesnt have ANY relevant experience in running a city OR a business?

or would you rather have a mayor that skips important meetings involving the future of the city and a highly controversial casino, a meeting that HE organized and invited people to come to to as HIM questions, to go to a boston red sox game??

talk about catering to a city's moral and human complexity...

and you've obviously been completely brainwashed by how the media has portrayed bush... clinton didn't seem to have too much concern for morality and humanity

and he has some pretty impressive political achievements under his belt, which you fail to mention. how about the fact that he cofounded Citizens for Democratic Reform (a group that helped reduce and reform Allegheny County's row offices)???

how could you be so obtuse

Desantis voted for Bush both times. That is to say that even after it had become clear that GW was completely incapable of leading a nation, he still supported him. Is that blind party allegiance? He also backed Santorum, an outspoken bigot and political hack.
He certainly sounds competent and articulate, but we're not talking about running a corporation (which is his forte). A city has a moral and human complexity that a corporation does not. Will we see our schools whored out to Pepsi and Barnes and Noble in an effort to bring in more money for education (the corporations then bribe the schools into operating like market research groups and as unfettered conduits for their products)? (This has happened in other cities See: No Logo by Naomi Klein). Will he spend his efforts bringing in more Wal-Marts and Starbucks, then brag about how he created hundreds of jobs (not mentioning the fact that the jobs pay minimum wage and offer nothing in the way of job satisfaction, class mobility or societal contribution, leaving the workers living just above poverty, disengaged and disaffected)? With his record of supporting 2 of the worst politicians in our recent history, with some of the worst political agendas, can we feel good about his own program? Would you want GW for mayor?

The polls would suggest desantis is ahead by quite a big margin, but polls can never be trusted. My personal feelings, based on my volunteering with the campaign and seeing what people are saying, is that people are desperately ready for a new pittsburgh and believe Desantis will give it to them. I honestly think he'll win

I didn't know anything about this election--it's a crazy story. Luke, who do the people of Pittsburgh seem to favor at this point? Desantis?