The Real News coverage of Pennsylvania primary
Story Transcript
PEPE ESCOBAR (VOICEOVER): Obama, Clinton, or maybe someone else? This is the voice of Pittsburgh at street level.
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STREETER 1: You’ve got basically two running candidates. You’ve got Hillary. You’ve got Obama. One or the other.
ESCOBAR (ON THE SCENE): In your opinion, which one is addressing the real problems facing America?
STREETER 1: Oh, I’d have to go with Hillary, 100 percent. Definitely.
ESCOBAR: Why?
STREETER 1: Well, her answers are on key.
ESCOBAR: And in terms of the jobs and the economy? What does the US president need to do to redress the American economy?
STREETER 1: That’s a difficult question, one I sure don’t have an answer for.
ESCOBAR: [inaudible] the politicians have an answer?
STREETER 1: I don’t think they really do, personally. I think it’s too broad of a subject.
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ESCOBAR: In terms of how the Iraqi war is being treated by both Hillary and Obama during the campaign, do you think they are instrumentalizing [sic] the war? Do you think they are telling the truth about the war? And do they have real—I mean real real—plans for bringing troops back?
STREETER 2: No.
ESCOBAR: Or is it just rhetoric?
STREETER 2: No, no. Me personally, you can’t pull 135,000, 140,000 out in 60 days. You know, you ain’t going to stop pulling them out in 60 days. Just too many there. You know, and what we’ve lost there so far, which is a little over 4,000 right now, it’d be kind of hard. It’d be like losing effect. You know, it’d be like we’re going there for nothing. You know, 4,000 people, it’d be they died in vain.
ESCOBAR: So in this sense, which candidate has a better plan for Iraq, Hillary or Obama?
STREETER 2: I would say McCain.
ESCOBAR: Why?
STREETER 3: To be quite blunt, because he’s a Vietnam veteran. He knows what it’s like to be a POW; he knows what it’s like to fight. We’re die-hard Democrats. And—.
STREETER 2: No, we’re not.
STREETER 3: We voted Democrat last time.
ESCOBAR: So you voted Democrat, and you’re ready to vote a Republican this time.
STREETER 3: Hillary Clinton is a great candidate. She really is. She’s trying. But they just don’t have the leadership qualifications to me. I’m sorry, they just don’t. I think everybody that should serve as a president should always be in a military. You can’t send guys to war if you’ve never been there. It’s just wrong.
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STREETER 4: I believe that Hillary and Obama should concentrate on McCain, you know, the Republicans, not on biting each other’s neck off. It’s wasting too much time. There’s other issues that need to be spoken about or at least realized.
ESCOBAR: In your opinions, which are the key issues?
STREETER 4: I think the key issues are health care. Health care and personal health care, you know, because you owe it to us. The Constitution owes it to us. The tax dollar owes it to us. You know, so we should give it. Nobody should be without insurance. If Americans aren’t healthy, we can’t kick ass, so to speak.
ESCOBAR: What does “kick ass” mean for you? Do you mean internationally?
STREETER 4: Internationally. Just compete.
ESCOBAR: You mean like in Iraq?
STREETER 4: Well, no, no. No, no.
ESCOBAR: Or competing economically against China?
STREETER 4: Economically. And I don’t mean blood, sweat, and tears. I mean good economic choices for the mass of people. You know, there’s wasted dollars out here that could be saving nations. It’s wasting money just—.
ESCOBAR: Do you make a connection between the amount of money spent in Iraq and the amount of money that is not spent inside the US?
STREETER 4: Yeah! Man, it’s crazy, man. It’s crazy, man, all that money going over to Iraq, man. And then we’re borrowing from Mexico, and we’re borrowing from China, and we’re in their pockets. You know, they’re like they get all the clout in the world now, the United States. You know, they get more clout than we get. You know, I mean, well, good for those who get it, but, like, I think that, like, that money should be spent at home, because, like, if you don’t spend your money at home, that means you’re spending it out on the street. We’re spending our money out on the street in Iraq; we’re not putting it into the house.
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STREETER 5: Pittsburgh votes Hillary. Nine out of ten people we talk to love Hillary. So Pittsburgh’s Hillary country, and we’re here to support her.
ESCOBAR: Would you vote for Obama if he wins the nomination?
STREETER 5: Yes, because we need a Democrat in the White House. We need to reverse seven and a half years of disaster.
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STREETER 6: I really believe that no matter what people throw at her, she still has the stamina to get up there and say, “Nope, we’ve got to do this right, we’ve got to go in there, we’ve got to make it happen.” And, you know, Washington is a town of special interests. So, you know. But if you can get the special interests on your side, then you can make the change and make it happen. Obama wants to change Washington. And right now we have so many problems, and we’re under so much stress, because of the war and where our economy, and we need somebody who can really get in there and understands how to work the system and to start right away to work within the system to solve the problems.
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ESCOBAR: So who has a better plan? Hillary or Obama?
STREETER 4: I think Obama does, to change the system. Shoot. Because a lot of people become millionaires off this damn war, and a lot of people have been, you know, pushed down under, you know, with burden. You know. Fat cats. Let’s change the system. Change it. Change it. Don’t learn how to manipulate in the system, but change the system. Proud to be an American. Proud to be a human being. We just happen to be in this part of the world.
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