Presidential Debate: Round 2

@Lambchop,

Awesome about Texas, yeah.

Stuff could still happen.

There is a whole lot of time left.

But that was one of McCain's last chances to proactively wrest the momentum away from Obama and it seemed like that emphatically did NOT happen. Obama did really well.

2 Replies

@sozobe,

I think he did too, sozobe, and the polls seem to agree with us. In fact, the polls think McCain did especially poorly tonight.

If McCain doesn't do something to change the narrative soon (and I mean this week soon), the focus is not going to be on "can McCain win" but "how badly will he lose".

Every projection for the electoral college I've seen that's worth it's salt has Obama between 329 and 364 electoral votes. He needs 270 to win and anything over 375 is considered a landslide. For Obama to get to 400 votes would necessitate him taking 50% of the South, but the latest polling shows that is not likely but not beyond his grasp, either.

0 Replies

For fairness sake I'll say that McCain did much better last night than he did in the first debate. He looked a little bit warmer and he had some well-said answers. A couple of slip-ups ("that one") that are maybe attributable to his style? I know he likes to call people "little jerks" affectionately so I'm trying to read that in the best possible light.

The biggest problem for him, though, is that his plans and ideas are just not where most Americans are at anymore, I think. Eight years ago folks might have been more receptive to deregulating the insurance industry. Right now, not so much. Same with the bluster on foreign policy. Speak softly and carry a big stick just sounds ludicrous coming out of McCain's mouth.

0 Replies

Two of the best answers I thought Obama had:

Quote:

And the reason that it's a problem to go shopping state by state, you know what insurance companies will do? They will find a state -- maybe Arizona, maybe another state -- where there are no requirements for you to get cancer screenings, where there are no requirements for you to have to get pre-existing conditions, and they will all set up shop there.

That's how in banking it works. Everybody goes to Delaware, because they've got very -- pretty loose laws when it comes to things like credit cards.

And in that situation, what happens is, is that the protections you have, the consumer protections that you need, you're not going to have available to you.

That is a fundamental difference that I have with Senator McCain. He believes in deregulation in every circumstance. That's what we've been going through for the last eight years. It hasn't worked, and we need fundamental change.

He gets a little muddled in that first paragraph, but what I thought was so good about this answer is that this is the first time I have heard a candidate explain this problem in any way, and he is absolutely right. The credit card companies used to be regulated state by state. When the Supreme Court said they could start selling across state lines rates went up and so did bankruptcies. They all went to the state with least consumer protections, and now that's what we all have -- the lowest common denominator.

Quote:

You know, a lot of you remember the tragedy of 9/11 and where you were on that day and, you know, how all of the country was ready to come together and make enormous changes to make us not only safer, but to make us a better country and a more unified country.

And President Bush did some smart things at the outset, but one of the opportunities that was missed was, when he spoke to the American people, he said, "Go out and shop."

That wasn't the kind of call to service that I think the American people were looking for.

And so it's important to understand that the -- I think the American people are hungry for the kind of leadership that is going to tackle these problems not just in government, but outside of government.

I thought this was very well done.

1 Reply

Going by memory so I might get some words wrong, but I thought the moment Obama clinched the debate came when he came back after McCain made mention of his warbled Teddy Roosevolt quote about a walking (talk?) sofly and carrying a big stick in regards to Obama and Pakistan. Obama came back and said something like yea, this from a guy who said "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran", lets bomb North Korea" and "next up baghdad."

1 Reply

@revel,

At the debate watch party, that created a large cheer. Seriously, people jumped out of their seats.

T
K
O

0 Replies

@sozobe,

If democrats win Texas, it's over for the republican party.

0 Replies

The second debate bored me. The only new thing was McCain proposing homeowner mortgage negotiation as his idea. I guess he didn't remember that Obama had proposed the same thing two weeks earlier. I guess sociopaths have short memories. ---BBB

Debate Shortchanges American Public
By Greg Mitchell - E & P
October 08, 2008

Remember, this was supposed to be the "domestic policy" debate. Yet there we were once again talking about raids on Pakistan and defending Israel. Brokaw and the debate organizers (and whoever picked the final questions) let down the American public.

-- We've come to lower our expectations for real debates in the "debate" process, but this one, Tuesday night, was a terrible disappointment.

Who picked the questions from among the -- we were told -- six million sent in online plus the dozens from the people in the hall? The first half was fine but then why go into the same foreign policy questions raised two weeks ago -- knowing they were certain to draw the very same, almost word for word responses? After kicking off the debate by saying we were in the worst economic crisis in 80 years?

The transcript for the last half hour could have been typed up in advance.

Remember, this was supposed to be the "domestic policy" debate. Yet there we were once again talking about raids on Pakistan and defending Israel. Brokaw and the debate organizers (and whoever picked the final questions) let down the American public.

Brokaw kept complaining that the candidates were not staying within their time limits--and then did nothing to stop them beyond pleading with them to, maybe, keep an eye on the flashing lights, pretty please, huh?

And his "follow up" questions were weak.

I thought I'd never say this but -- maybe they should let the blogosphere handle the next one.

2 Replies

@FreeDuck,

FreeDuck, Good analysis by showing what happens to health insurance as it relates to the credit card industry. Some people are still paying 20% interest on their credit cards; that's not from "competition."

0 Replies

@BumbleBeeBoogie,

Spot on! Too bad McCain didn't expand on that idea that most Americans could buy into.

0 Replies

@BumbleBeeBoogie,

Greg's wrong, actually -- this one was "all topics." The last one (October 15th) is "domestic policy" (often shortened to "economy," but really it's supposed to be about all domestic issues).

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

oh my stars, last night's debate was beyond boring. I didn't think the structure was particularly effective for either of them. Everyone being so cool and reasonable. ack. It definitely had me nodding off a coupla times, and that was before I took my cold meds.

Maybe if I hadn't heard the candidates and their points before, it might have been better ... or maybe if I hadn't watched last week's kitchen table squabble among the Canajun leaders of the five main parties in our federal election.

Listening to Biden speaking at a rally this morning - he sounded more energized and alert than anything I heard last night. It was a pleasant reprieve from the replays of last night's "debate".

2 Replies

@ehBeth,

oh, and once again, McCain looked better than the pundits tried to suggest

he doesn't look like a young man, but he doesn't look like a little old man either

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

oh, and once again, McCain looked better than the pundits tried to suggest

he doesn't look like a young man, but he doesn't look like a little old man either

McCain was a little all over the place, physically, last night; he didn't seem to concentrate his stance right in front of the questioner, making odd movements at times which didn't seem to match up with his answer.

It was a little jarring.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

ha! someone else watched the same debate I did

Quote:

In a debate that served largely as an empathy competition

latimes link

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

I think FactCheck.org summed it up well......"Nonsense in Nashville".

0 Replies

@nimh,

nimh wrote:

Really? I'm Dutch, so that's pretty non-American myself, and I live in Hungary, and I've never heard anyone complain about it.

Foreigners say "Budapest" when Hungarians pronounce their capital "Budapesht". Not to mention the Hungary vs Magyarorszag thing. And my hometown in in Holland is "Den Haag", not "The Hague".

uh-hey thar nimh. lookee hur son, ah gotta qwestyun fer ya.

do ya'll Holland people like I-talian dressin' on yer greens?

ik een geintje maken Very Happy

2 Replies

ehhh...

i really don't like the townhall format. as the thing went along i noticed that both nccain and obama seemed to favor one section of the audience more than the other. it may have been simple proximity, but it looked weird.

another thing was when there was a guy from the section on obama's side directed to mccain; mccain didn't even look at the guy asking the question, he was looking the other way.

AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! i'm trying to concentrate on my typing , but i can hear that harpie palin shrilling away in the other room on the tube. goin' off about effin' reagan again.. jesus, what's with the republicans?? always trying to drag us forward into the past.

anyway.. i really thought the debate was kind of a waste of time. i didn't hear anything new of any consequence.

1 Reply

@DontTreadOnMe,

This was the last chance for McCain to get his knock out punch, but he failed. The fight is over; TKO by Obama.

1 Reply

@DontTreadOnMe,

I believe that's correctly pronounce EYE-talian

2 Replies

Presidential Debate: Round 2

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know