The Presidential Debates!

I'm uncertain that McCain can do more than one thing at a time, when his "one things" have been so wrong.

Sig line material.

Watch for McCain and Palin to find some ridiculous excuses. Senator Obama's brilliance and learning will blow McCain out of the hall. Most people do not understand that Senator Obama teaches a very difficult and complicated subject at the University of Chicago Law School( among the ten best law schools in the country). He will roll over McCain!!!!

This isn't the first time that McCain has pulled this bait and switch trick and ducked out of presidential debates at the last minute when his poll numbers are going down.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/02/28/MN62687.DTL&hw=mccain+opinsky&sn=001&sc=1000


McCain Backs Out of Debate In California
Bush campaign claims senator is abandoning state
Carla Marinucci, John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writers

Monday, February 28, 2000


With new polls showing his campaign dead in the water among California Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain has pulled out of a long-scheduled debate with Texas Gov. George Bush, set for Thursday in Los Angeles.

McCain campaign officials tried desperately yesterday to put the best face on their withdrawal, even as a new Field Poll showed Bush far ahead among likely Republican voters in the winner-take-all race for the state's 162 GOP delegates.

Top campaign officials attributed McCain's decision to Bush's earlier reluctance to appear at the debate.

``We had agreed to do this debate a long time ago, and Gov. Bush said he wasn't going to do it,'' McCain spokesman Howard Opinsky said yesterday. ``We aren't going to hold our schedule together forever.''

But Opinsky said McCain will debate Bush on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' Sunday, a national TV show that will reach millions of Americans.

Still, just last week, the McCain campaign was openly derisive of Bush's reluctance to commit to a California debate -- and promised its own candidate would be there.

``John McCain believes it's important for the people of California to see and hear the candidates talk about the issues,'' McCain communications director Dan Schnur told The Chronicle last week. ``Thirty- three million Californians are worth that attention . . . and we'll be there, either way.''

As recently as Thursday, when he was in California, McCain was talking about his plans to debate Bush; even last night, McCain's own Web site listed his California debate- watching parties. The CNN-Los Angeles Times debate was the only scheduled head-to-head meeting of the two candidates in California before the primary, a week from tomorrow.

McCain's campaign said the candidate confirmed to CNN on Thursday that he would not appear. But until yesterday afternoon, when rumors swirled about the pullout, McCain -- who has touted his ``straight talk'' politics -- gave no public indication that he intended to duck the nationally televised showdown.

The bait and switch on the debate left the Arizona senator -- whose favorite campaign line is ``I'll always tell you the truth'' -- wide open to blistering criticism from his rivals.

``Clearly, this is more double-talk from the McCain campaign,'' said Alixe Mattingly, a spokeswoman for Bush. ``Pulling out of this debate at the last minute is an indication that they're pulling out of California, where McCain's antagonistic message clearly isn't working.''

The decision to avoid debating Bush clearly upset some of McCain's top advisers.

``It's definitely a mistake, but hopefully, the people of California feel strongly enough about the McCain reform agenda . . . to overlook a staff error and come out and vote for John McCain,'' said Schnur, a longtime California political operative. ``John McCain is completely committed to California; unfortunately, our staff's position on this debate sends just the opposite message.''

California Republicans have been worried all along that the two leading GOP candidates are not giving the nation's most populous state the respect it deserves. Bush's campaign stop in Los Angeles last week, for example, was his first visit to the state since November.

Bush supporters quietly reveled in McCain's surprise announcement.

``From a distance, it seems like the `Straight Talk Express' is careening off the exit ramp in California,'' said Leslie Goodman, a Republican communications consultant and Bush backer, in a reference to McCain's campaign bus. ``They claimed they'd make California a priority because it was win or die, and now they don't care enough to debate.''

Although McCain's backers insisted that a devastating series of polls had no effect on the decision, the senator's chances of winning a Republicans-only primary in California have grown increasingly dim in recent days.

A Field Poll released today shows the state's Republicans backing Bush over McCain in the March 7 primary by a 48 percent to 28 percent margin in the contest for California's 162 convention delegates, a gap virtually unchanged from a Field Poll earlier this month. Other polls released over the weekend by the San Francisco Examiner and Time/CNN showed similar results.

Most of Bush's support comes from Republicans who identify themselves as strongly conservative. Among that group, Bush is favored by a 4-to-1 margin.

``That group seems galvanized and ready to vote for Bush,'' said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. ``It's going to be hard for McCain to break into that group.''

Ironically, the rest of the poll is nothing but good news for McCain, a war hero who, in California at least, has extended his appeal beyond Republican voters.

In the state's open primary, where voters can choose from among all the presidential candidates regardless of party, McCain has seen his support among all likely voters surge from 10 percent in January and 15 percent earlier this month to 20 percent today, just 2 percentage points behind Bush and 8 points back of Democratic front-runner Al Gore's 28 percent. Democratic former Sen. Bill Bradley trailed with 10 percent.

It is becoming increasingly likely that McCain could beat Bush among all California voters, yet badly lose the Republican-only count that will determine who receives all the state's national convention delegates.

The new poll also bolsters McCain's claim that he would be a stronger candidate than Bush in November. In a head-to-head matchup, McCain beats Gore among likely voters in California by 48 percent to 41 percent, while Gore overruns Bush 51 percent to 41 percent. Bush also loses to Bradley, 47 percent to 43 percent, while McCain crushes Bradley, 52 percent to 35 percent.

McCain also has the best image of the top four candidates, with 57 percent of likely voters viewing him favorably, compared to 26 percent with an unfavorable impression. The new poll shows that for the first time, Bush's unfavorable rating is higher than his favorable rating, with 51 percent viewing him negatively, compared to 41 percent with a favorable impression.

``Everything in the polls seems to be going in McCain's direction, except the one that counts the most, which is the contest for the (Republican) delegates,'' DiCamillo said.

On the Democratic side, the poll shows Gore staying far ahead of Bradley, 54 percent to 16 percent, among likely Democratic voters.

``All the attention on McCain is siphoning any type of insurgent campaign momentum away from Bradley,'' DiCamillo said. ``Gore seems to be running out the clock and is in a very good position to do that.''

The poll is based on a telephone survey of 1,447 registered California voters conducted from Tuesday to noon yesterday. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for the entire poll, 4.5 percentage points for the Democrat- only figures and 5 percent for the Republican-only figures, based on the size of the sample.

The poll represents a snapshot of voter opinion at the time it was taken and is not meant to predict the outcome of the vote.

Your selective memory fails to acknowledge that Obama made a counter offer which was rejected by McCain.

Obama wants to debate McCain.

T
K
O

U Mississippi Chief Proposes Town Hall if Obama is Solo for Debate
by FOXNews.com
Friday, September 26, 2008

OXFORD, Miss. " The Commission on Presidential Debates should turn Friday’s planned debate between Barack Obama and John McCain into a town hall meeting with Obama if McCain does not attend, the chancellor of University of Mississippi told FOX News Friday morning.

Chancellor Robert Khayat said he is hopeful that McCain will “be on that stage” for the 9 p.m. EDT debate, but was meeting with commissioners to discuss the option.

“We’re going to urge the Presidential Debate Commission to have Senator Obama on stage and we’ll have a town meeting,” Khayat said.

McCain proposed delaying the contest so the two presidential hopefuls could help negotiate an economic rescue plan. He has not committed to attending the debate.

Obama tried to press McCain into showing up for the first of three scheduled debates between them, saying they should be able to handle the 90-minute forum and the financial crisis at the same time.

Asked by FOX News if there would be any sort of backlash by the Ole Miss community if McCain did not show, Khayat said, ” I think the Ole Miss community would be very disappointed if they are not both here but we live on faith and we believe they are going to be here.

Khayat said he is supposed to see the presidential candidates Friday afternoon for a walk-through and to present them with gifts from the university.

Obama told NBC that should the debate go on, he would talk about the economy even though the focus was supposed to be foreign policy.

Debate's on!



http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/26/1452120.aspx

Political Grandstanding at its finest! Good show John McCain.

But it looks like Obama called McCain's bluff, and McCain folded.

Just another McCain flip-flop.

All the pols have been grandstanding lately. The congress people working on the bailout package won't agree on anything until they get enough face time on TV. Before the repubs sign the package, they want to convince their constituents that they fought hard against it.

Now, the whole party is in "flip flop" mode? LOL

I'm glad I didn't buy all these snacks for tonight in vein.

T
K
O

Yeh, it's pretty funny watching Bush push for a bailout and get harassed by his own party. Weird stuff.

Good morning, Sozobe

Just now (12:20 EST) read in the NYT that the debate for tonight is on. My take is that McCain has larger exposure to problems than Obama. First, you have considerable ill-will over McCain's announced--but failed--assistance to the debt negotiations in Washington. Second, the fellow has a fierce temper and a childlike sense of humor (see him singing "Bomb, Bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barabara Ann." Finally, and this is the key issue in my book: McCain, a man who has certainly paid his dues to the country as a soldier, was, until about eight years ago, a very straight-speaking guy. Admirably so. Then, in the 2000 election, the sleaze machine working for candidate W, spread false rumors that McCain was the father of an illegitimate black child. Goodbye, McCain. McCain had never expected this kind of deep knife in the back from a fellow Republican, even in high-stakes politics. Since the demise of his 2000 campaign, McCain has come to realize that he needs hard-ball operatives on his side, because he doesn't know whom he can trust. He seems to be of mixed feelings about hiring this kind of managers. . When his word used to be pretty universally good, and now people are questioning it--and his advisors are moving him around like a mindless pawn, rather than he, himself, making the plans and deciding what to say--you have a conflicted and resentful McCain. He misses the respect he used to enjoy from Republicans and Democrats alike. Whenever you enter a debate deeply conflicted about who you really are and what the real you might really want to say, you can put a big foot in your mouth. Although I'd never vote for McCain (or Gov. Palin!), I do hope that he doesn't flub terribly or really disgrace himself.

People should not only question his ethics, but the many lies and innuendos against Obama should put at rest he is no longer the "straight talk express" of old.

Not only has McCain agreed to attend the debate, he has already won it!

Oh wow.

I did some thinking this morning, and I came to the conclusion that McCain would have to show up. He was unable to get any real traction in Washington and since the economy is his weak spot, his best damage control is to have the national dialog shift away from it to something else: foreign policy.

I don't believe that McCain has any sort of high ground with this topic, but at least the merits of it can be discussed and echoed by the republicans. Also, it allows for an opportunity for him to try to get the public focused on something Obama says and present it to mean something bad.

See: lipstick on a pig.

I really don't think McCain can win a debate, but I think he needs to be there for damage control.

T
K
O

When has McCain ever been a straight shooter? Look at the smear and lies in the ads flooding the battleground states? McCain is trying to muddy Senator Obama by guilt through association. McCain lies abouit Senator Obama's efforts as a Community Organizer, State Legislator in Illinois and State Senator.
McCain lies. But we, in Illinois, who know Senator Obama know better. We only wish that the rest of the country knew him as we do!

Diest, McCain's foreign policy is not that strong; he has made so many gaffs about who our enemies are and didn't know where Pakistan sits on a map, he can only do more damage about his ability on the topic. His rhetoric about his foreign knowledge and experience belongs on the laugher curve, not as the leader of our country.

You bet. Watch the polls after the debate is over. Senator Obama will cut McCain into pieces. McCain's only hope is that most of the American people will not be paying attention.