My take on the second debate, first posted at MotherJones.com....
Last Thursday, during a McCain campaign town hall meeting in Denver, one participant stood up and challenged the GOP presidential candidate: "When are you going to take the gloves off?" His fellow McCain supporters in the downtown hotel roared with approval. "How about Tuesday night?" John McCain replied, referring to his second debate with Obama.
How about not? The McCain campaign in recent days has pumped up its effort to delegitimize Barack Obama, with its top strategist apparently calculating that McCain cannot vanquish Obama if the election is about issues. At a recent rally in a California suburb, GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin declared "Our opponent...is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." (This was a reference to Obama's past association with Bill Ayers, the former Weather Underground radical who became an education expert). And on Monday, McCain delivered a blistering attack on Obama that was loaded with inaccuracies and distortions. So one expectation among the politerati was that McCain would continue swinging--or thrashing--at the second debate. Work in Bill Ayers. Refer to Jeremiah Wright. Depict Obama as shifty and untrustworthy.
That did not happen. McCain, trailing Obama in the polls, mainly trained his fire on policy matters. He did continue to hurl misrepresentations at Obama. (As the debate proceeded, I received 40 emails from the Obama campaign making this point.) For instance, McCain once again claimed that Obama has voted 94 times to raise taxes, a charge that has been widely debunked by various factchecking outfits. But there was no frontal assault on Obama's character--and only one or two slight digs on his qualifications. The debate was more high-minded than anticipated. But it demonstrated a tough reality for McCain: he is out of sync with his own campaign. He cannot pull the trigger, when his advisers seem to believe a machine gun blast is needed.
Obama and his campaign are fully integrated. He calls for a break from the past eight years on both domestic and foreign fronts and famously urges fundamental change. As a new face--and a black man--he sure does represent change. He is his message. And his campaign for over a year and a half has not had to go through any strategic lurches or had to reconfigure either its candidate or its core pitch. That's not true on the McCain side. His campaign has been nothing but lurches. And the most recent one--a turn toward even more negative campaigning--undercuts his old and now practically worn-out reputation as a straight-talking maverick. So come Debate II, McCain was confronting a tough choice: damned if he does (go negative) and stalled if he doesn't.
Deciding to forego the nasty stuff, McCain relied on policy differences to hammer Obama. The problem: Obama's policy prescriptions are not unpopular.
In response to the first question--posed by a member of the audience--Obama defended the Big Finance bailout bill, but he excoriated the "failed economic policies" of the Bush administration, tied McCain the Deregulator to said policies, blasted the corrupt chief execs of AIG, and called for a middle-class "rescue package," involving tax cuts, health care reform, energy independence, and an infrastructure rebuilding plan.
That didn't leave McCain much of an opening. As he has done in the past, McCain tried to portray wasteful Washington spending as the main evil in the land. His big news of the night was to propose that the federal government ought to buy up bad mortgages so people could keep their homes. But for some reason, when McCain tried to appeal to Americans worrying about their economic security, he didn't use the phrase "middle class." (McCain preferred to use a less engaging term: "middle-income.")
McCain took a punch at Obama, a top recipient of contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae executives, for supposedly encouraging both institutions to make "all these risky loans." (Factcheckers, start your engines.) Obama countered that McCain's own campaign manger, Rick Davis, had been a lobbyist for Freddie Mac. McCain blasted earmark spending, noting that Obama had requested $3 million for a projector for a planetarium in Chicago. Obama pushed back: earmark spending accounts for $18 billion a year, cutting back these requests is fine, but McCain wants to hand a $200 billion tax cut to corporations and wealthy individuals.
There was not much point scoring--certainly not for McCain who probably did, as the pundits said, need to make up ground. When moderator Tom Brokaw asked each to say how they would prioritize health care reform, energy independence, and entitlement reform, McCain gave the standard political line: we can do them all at once. Obama, looking decisive, said, energy had to come first, then health care. And he placed education in his third spot. In this exchange, he came across as the adult in the room. When McCain derided Obama for being a tax raiser, Obama calmly and forcefully explained that he proposes to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans and that only a small percentage of small business would be affected by the tax hikes he advocates for the well-off.
One of the most interesting--and perhaps telling--exchanges of the evening occurred when Lindsey Trella, an audience member, asked, "Do you believe health care should be treated as a commodity?" Obama went first and explained his proposal and made McCain's health care plan appear reckless:
If you've got health care already, and probably the majority of you do, then you can keep your plan if you are satisfied with it. You can keep your choice of doctor. We're going to work with your employer to lower the cost of your premiums by up to $2,500 a year. And we're going to do it by investing in prevention. We're going to do it by making sure that we use information technology so that medical records are actually on computers instead of you filling forms out in triplicate when you go to the hospital. That will reduce medical errors and reduce costs.
If you don't have health insurance, you're going to be able to buy the same kind of insurance that Sen. McCain and I enjoy as federal employees. Because there's a huge pool, we can drop the costs. And nobody will be excluded for pre-existing conditions, which is a huge problem. Now, Sen. McCain has a different kind of approach. He says that he's going to give you a $5,000 tax credit. What he doesn't tell you is that he is going to tax your employer-based health care benefits for the first time ever. So what one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away. He would also strip away the ability of states to provide some of the regulations on insurance companies to make sure you're not excluded for pre-existing conditions or your mammograms are covered or your maternity is covered. And that is fundamentally the wrong way to go. In fact, just today business organizations like the United States Chamber of Commerce, which generally are pretty supportive of Republicans, said that this would lead to the unraveling of the employer-based health care system. That, I don't think, is the kind of change that we need.
McCain then explained his plan:
I want to give every American a $5,000 refundable tax credit. They can take it anywhere, across state lines. Why not? Don't we go across state lines when we purchase other things in America? Of course it's OK to go across state lines because in Arizona they may offer a better plan that suits you best than it does here in Tennessee. And if you do the math, those people who have employer-based health benefits, if you put the tax on it and you have what's left over and you add $5,000 that you're going to get as a refundable tax credit, do the math, 95 percent of the American people will have increased funds to go out and buy the insurance of their choice and to shop around and to get -- all of those people will be covered except for those who have these gold-plated Cadillac kinds of policies.
He did not effectively address Obama's criticism of his approach. And when Brokaw asked the pair whether health care in America is "a privilege, a right, or a responsibility," McCain went with "a responsibility," adding, "But government mandates, I--I'm always a little nervous about that." His was not an eloquent reply. Obama then answered the question: "I think it should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that."
Throughout this back and forth, Obama displayed a command of policy, and he also connected with anyone who has ever been pissed off with their health insurance company. McCain seemed rooted in free-market ideology--which ain't looking so good these days.
On foreign policy issues, the discourse was a replay of the previous debate. McCain hit Obama for having not supported the so-called surge in Iraq, claiming this demonstrated that Obama did not have the judgment to be commander in chief. "We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friends," McCain said. Obama, though, gave no ground. With some steel in his tone, he replied:
Well, you know, Sen. McCain, in the last debate and today, again, suggested that I don't understand. It's true. There are some things I don't understand. I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. That was Sen. McCain's judgment and it was the wrong judgment. When Sen. McCain was cheerleading the president to go into Iraq, he suggested it was going to be quick and easy, we'd be greeted as liberators. That was the wrong judgment, and it's been costly to us.
Wrong on the surge versus wrong on the whole war? Clear advantage to neither. Which is a loss for McCain, given that he's supposed to have an edge on national security matters. And when McCain accused Obama of dangerously suggesting that the United States ought to be prepared to attack al Qaeda targets within Pakistan, Obama fought back: "Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I'm green behind the ears and, you know, I'm just spouting off, and he's somber and responsible. Sen. McCain, this is the guy who sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don't think is an example of speaking softly. This is the person who, after we had -- we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, "Next up, Baghdad." McCain dismissed the "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" quip as "joking with an old veteran friend, who joked with me about Iran."
For an evening billed as The Night McCain Attacks, Obama landed as many blows as did McCain. Neither took any wild swings. But Obama, leading in the national polls and those within swing states, didn't have to. He is going smooth and steady. He was practically cruising in this debate--slow and steady. He exuded confidence. McCain was no slouch. He just couldn't overcome a high-performing foe.
In his final remarks, McCain talked mainly about himself:
I have spent my whole life serving this country. I grew up in a family where my father was gone most of the time because he was at sea and doing our country's business. My mother basically raised our family. I know what it's like in dark times. I know what it's like to have to fight to keep one's hope going through difficult times. I know what it's like to rely on others for support and courage and love in tough times. I know what it's like to have your comrades reach out to you and your neighbors and your fellow citizens and pick you up and put you back in the fight.
That's what America's all about. I believe in this country. I believe in its future. I believe in its greatness. It's been my great honor to serve it for many, many years. And I'm asking the American people to give me another opportunity and I'll rest on my record, but I'll also tell you, when times are tough, we need a steady hand at the tiller and the great honor of my life was to always put my country first.
It was a reference to his POW experience. Nothing as explicit as his convention speech, which ended with a vivid description of that episode--but still it was John McCain talking about John McCain.
Obama ended the evening talking about what's going on:
The question in this election is: are we going to pass on that same American dream to the next generation? Over the last eight years, we've seen that dream diminish. Wages and incomes have gone down. People have lost their health care or are going bankrupt because they get sick. We've got young people who have got the grades and the will and the drive to go to college, but they just don't have the money. And we can't expect that if we do the same things that we've been doing over the last eight years, that somehow we are going to have a different outcome.
We need fundamental change. That's what's at stake in this election. That's the reason I decided to run for president, and I'm hopeful that all of you are prepared to continue this extraordinary journey that we call America. But we're going to have to have the courage and the sacrifice, the nerve to move in a new direction.
McCain offers a man; Obama offers more.
For many voters, it's gotten rather frightening out there. Perhaps frightening enough that the presidential race for them is not about which candidate is a proven hero but about which candidate best speaks to the challenges at hand. (A CBS insta-poll after the debate found that among uncommitted voters, Obama won the debate 39 to 27 percent, with 35 percent calling it a draw.) Obama is campaigning these days as if he senses that the times are on his side. That was clear in the debate. What was also clear was that McCain has to try another tact in the final debate next Wednesday. He will need another lurch.
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Comments
David, did you see the interactive poll on AOL's Welcome Page? Surprised me that even they had Obama winning by wide margins. There's an 8-question quiz on the candidates as well. Questions like, who was called mcnasty at school and who recited poetry in front of a mirror as a kid (the "why" is a better answer than the "who" on that one).
Oh, and "good article"... again.
Posted by: Alan
| October 8, 2008 2:18 AM
Here the article/poll/quiz. I don't think it's like the old days. I think non-AOL'rs can get these too.
http://news.aol.com/elections/debates/article/mccain-obama-clash-in-second-debate/188495?icid=200100397x1210578175x1200685198
Posted by: Alan
| October 8, 2008 2:22 AM
This actually was a good debate. I couldn't vote for Sen. McCain -- too hawkish, too simple-minded, too much faith in the "free market" -- but I was glad that he stuck to the issues. If I were inclined his way, his performance would have re-enforced my feelings. But I thought Sen. Obama scored big -- BIG -- on foreign policy with the most pointed comments of the night, the ones about Sen. McCain's "bomb Iran" and cheerleading for the war in Iraq. The only thing I wish is that Sen. Obama had linked Sen. McCain's views on defense more tightly to President Bush's, with something such as: "After eight years of 'Bring it on' and 'Mission accomplished' and 'We're gonna smoke him out,' we don't need four years from someone who sang 'Bomb bomb bomb Iran' and said we should annihilate North Korea and, without finishing the job in Afghanistan, said 'It's on to Baghdad.' "
Posted by: Unitarian Patriot
| October 8, 2008 8:45 AM
Economic Crisis Doesn't Seem To Dominate McCain's Support Of AIG's $400,000.00 Weekend & McCain Conrtibutors That Own Resort Where AIG Execs Partied At ,After Taxpayer Bailout.
-------------
AIG Spa Trip Fuels Fury on Hill
Pressing Executives to Concede Mistakes, Lawmakers Blast Them About Bonuses
By Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post Staff Writer
www(dot)washingtonpost(dot)com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100702604(dot)html
CONNECT THE DOTS: AIG EXEC's $440,000 SPA BILL FROM ST. REGIS, OWNED BY MAKAR PROPERTIES LLC, IRANIAN MAKARECHIAN FAMILY, MCCAIN CONTRIBUTORS & FRIENDS. SEE BELOW:
----------------------
Owner Of St. Regis/McCain Contributor
MAKAR PROPERTIES LLC
www(dot)makarproperties(dot)com
Hadi Makarechian~Chairman Of The Board
Cyrus Makarechian~President & Chief Executive Officer
Paul Makarechian~Executive Vice President
St. Regis Resort www(dot)stregismb(dot)com
-------------
American International Group Inc. spent US$440,000 on a conference at a California resort less than a week after an US$85-billion government takeover, lawmakers said.
The bill from the St. Regis resort in Monarch Beach included US$23,380 for spa services, according to Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Mr. Waxman led questioning Tuesday of former AIG chief executives Martin Sullivan and Robert Willumstad as Congress probes events that led to federal intervention.
--------------
~Paul Makarechian
Political Campaign Contributions
2008 Election Cycle
www(dot)campaignmoney(dot)com/political/contributions/paul-makarechian(dot)asp?cycle=08
-------------------
~Senior McCain Campaign Advisor Steve Schmidt and Orange County
businessman, developer and hotelier Paul Makarechian
www.(dot)lashreport(dot)org/featured-columns-library0b(dot)php?faID=2008032601051291
-------------------
~MAKARECHIAN McCain & GOP Campaign Contributions
www(dot)newsmeat(dot)com/fec/bystate_detail(dot)php?city=CORONA+DEL+MAR++++&st=CA&last=MAKARECHIAN
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~Senator John McCain came through Orange County on day two of a multi- day swing through ... businessman, developer and hotelier Paul Makarechian
www(dot)redcounty(dot)com/magazine/2008/03/publius-the-year-of-the-parabo(dot)php
---------------
~These John McCain Republicans, aren't your father's Republicans.
www(dot)freerepublic(dot)com/focus/f-news/1431396/posts
Paul Makarechian, 31, showed up in jeans to host an event with Assembly GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. That was at Fashion Island's trendy Ozumo Japanese restaurant. Another of the group's events, this one featuring a congressman, was held at Costa Mesa's hip Sutra Lounge
www(dot)ocregister(dot)com/ocr/sections/news/news/slideshow_575921.php?pos=0
Elite and hip make up new GOP set
OF EVERY STRIPE: Sinan Kanatsiz, left, and Paul Makarechian are two directors on Generation Next’s board, an ethnically diverse body. Members’ heritage includes Iranian, Armenian, Turkish and Hispanic.
-------------------------------
~The man who made Gen-Next possible is Davidson’s boss, 33-year-old Paul Makarechian, Chief Executive Officer
and Owner of Makar Properties. company is a national
diversified real estate development and holding company with
approximately $800 million in assets representing over $3
billion of development.
Chairman: Paul Makarechian
Website: www(dot)gen-next(dot)orgFreeing Hollywood from the Liberal Left, One Film at a Time. A conservative movement is brewing in Hollywood and the
Liberty Film Festival is at the center of it.Enjoy the first-ever Liberty Film Festival event in Orange County with famous conservative filmmakers, renowned cultural commentators, and exclusive
looks at exciting new films about Hillary Clinton,
“Hillary: The Movie”.
www(dot)gen-next(dot)org/filepoolgennext/redcountygnxt(dot)pdf
Political Candidates Receiving Contributions/Support in the '08 Election Cycle from GENERATION NEXT FEDERAL PAC
Candidate Name Office Party State District Primary/General $ Dollar
Amount Date
MCCAIN, JOHN S. President Republican VA -- P $5,000 03/24/2008
www(dot)campaignmoney(dot)com/political/committees/generation-next-federal-pac(dot)asp?cycle=08
Since forming last year, the Orange County-based group has signed up 20 members - by invitation only, with $10,000 in annual dues. Members include Bill Lyons, the son of developer William Lyons, and Jeff Gehl, the son-in-law of developer and former Ambassador to Spain George Argyros.
The group has had audiences with Senator John McCain, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Karl Rove's staff and the political director of the Republican National Committee.
--------------
~Iranians Thrive in Business, Makarechian Embraces Philanthropy, Politics
By Cruz, Sherri Publication: Orange County Business Journal Date: Monday, July 25 2005
www(dot)allbusiness(dot)com/finance/915014-1(dot)html
Posted by: WyattBeck@BowWowTicker
| October 8, 2008 10:06 AM
Did anyone notice Senator McCain speaking directly to the white questioners, while turning his back to the black questioners? How about the "That One" comment? I find that telling, considering the tone of McCain/Palin rallies.
Posted by: mikeyd1963
| October 8, 2008 10:39 AM
DC,
Good piece!
I wonder how crazy the McCain camp will get now. He seemed to be a bit more reserved last night.
Thanks!
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 11:39 AM
Investigating John McCain’s Tragedy at Sea
John McCain’s personal account of his life has shaped a powerful political narrative that accords him deference on the full range of policy issues. His first effort at shaping that narrative received a remarkable boost when the May 14, 1973, edition of U.S. News & World Report gave him space for what is perhaps the longest article the magazine had ever run, a 12,000-word piece composed entirely of his unedited and often rambling account of his prisoner-of-war experience. Ever since, McCain has added compelling details at key points in his political career. When his stories are placed beside documented evidence from other sources, significant contradictions often emerge. One such case involves McCain’s experience in the devastating fire and explosions that killed 134 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal during the Vietnam War three months before he was shot down over North Vietnam. McCain has made claims about this accident that differ dramatically from parts of the official Navy report and accounts of reliable eyewitnesses.
http://tinyurl.com/4ohysr
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 11:48 AM
John McCain's Rage is a National Security Concern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAyK-enrF1g
*****
It really is important to have an even temperment to be a leader.
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 11:50 AM
Thanks wyattbeck for McCain/Makarechian/AIG
For every Bill Ayers from McCain we need two Mc/Maks from Obama.
McCain will tell you that Howard Keating was 20 years ago (except Cindy just made a huge profit off the shopping center he sold her), but the link to AIG and an Iranian is huge!
Especially since the McCain campaign is after the last of the undeciders.
This clip will make Politics 2008 very clear
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=187570&title=the-stupid-vote
Posted by: geof01
| October 8, 2008 11:54 AM
The only thing left for Mac is to show the video of Obama in bed with the donkey. What holds him back is worry about all the time he's spent with the elephant.
Posted by: geof01
| October 8, 2008 11:55 AM
McCain:
‘It’s a difficult thing to say,’ he remarked after a long time. ‘But now that I’ve seen what the bombs and the napalm did to the people on our ship, I’m not so sure that I want to drop any more of that stuff on North Vietnam.’ ”
*****
Back when honesty mattered to Johnny boy.
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 12:05 PM
From Balloon Juice:
... I guess what it boils down to is that, McCain, for all his tough guy talk, is just a tired old wimp. Given ninety minutes to go after Obama like he and his partner and his surrogates have the past few days, and he said nothing. Given all that time to question Obama’s patriotism, to question his background, to suggest he does not support the troops, and McCain refused to do it. Why didn’t he look him in the eyes and call him Sen. Hussein like his surrogates are doing? Or is that just supposed to be in the background, to make Obama look suspect, to accuse him of being in league with terrorists- but like every punk and every bully he can’t own up to it himself.
On the other hand, Obama, every time he landed a punch, it was something he has done above board, in public. There is no scummy underbelly launching into questions of character- all his punches were fair, legitimate, and issue based. All his punches were on things he had mentioned before, publicly, things he is man enough to put in his commercials and repeat right in John McCain’s face.
What a sad, pathetic, small man John McCain has turned into right before our very eyes.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=11929
*****
Basically McCain has turned into a dishonoarable puss.
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 12:35 PM
A Slate headline states today "Obama killed on the foreign-policy questions" and Mr. Corn says "[Mccain] cannot pull the trigger, when his advisers seem to believe a machine gun blast is needed". Killing and shooting would be questionable figures of speech under any circumstance, but they are especially egregious when the mccain/palin campaign is whipping its base into an ugly frenzy to the point that people are shouting "kill him [Obama]" at rallies.
The press only furthers this mindset when it uses these tropes to describe really vile tactics.
Posted by: AmiBlue
| October 8, 2008 1:00 PM
In last night's debate and the current economic crisis, along with the viscous attacks by McCain and Palin, Barack is proving himself to be steady and steadfast in a storm. Barack showcased his ease and understanding of the complex problems and issues facing the American people today and his dedication to the middle class and to average Americans. Senator Obama stressed the need to develop "engery independence, address health care costs, lower taxes for the middle class and more emphasis on education and research to grow and stimulate job creation). Barack is someone who is emotionally and mentally connected to Americans of all colors, classes and creed and will work on the fairness and distibution of sharing, not just one segment -- the middle class -- carrying the load. Because he is committed to making a difference, he came across as serious and steadfast about fixing our problems and bringing America up to 21st Century standards and getting rid of a lot of programs that just do not work anymore. He knows and teaches that to be prosperous, America must grow from the bottom up, just as Nature grows from the bottom up. He also showed his mindset toward dealing with other countries. His willingness to listen and talk to be able to work problems out without having to go to war and shed unnecessary blood. Barack knows that we live in a global world and we are all in this together, and so we must work together on a world scale to address our global and world problems. Barack is one who will use common sense approaches to tackle complex problems. He has an ease and an assurety that he can do this, and it will be done.
However and may be just as signigicant, Barack addressed the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, when he said he did not undestand why we attacked a country who did not attack us on 911!
On the other hand, McCain Camp knows they will lose the election if they talk about the economy, they have no solutions for the middle class, because their Economics are for the Rich, the well-off and the well connected! It is sad to see that, McCain "has been running a seamy campaign originally designed by the bad seed of conservative politics, Lee Atwater. Atwater relished teaching rich, white Republicans to feign a connection to the common man so they could get in office and economically undermine the common man. In the 1988 campaign, the Machiavellian ran to help George Bush Sr. defeat Michael Dukakis with this unholy quintet of charges:" (Maureen Dowd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/opinion/08dowd.html?_r=1
By the way, John McCain's Ties to Ayers!
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/10/is_john_mccain_supported_by_te.html
Posted by: bacaangel
| October 8, 2008 1:23 PM
SARAH PALIN MIGHT WANT TO RESEARCH JOHN MCCAIN AND HIS LOBBYING TIES TO TERRORISTS: "Group tied to al-Qaeda backs McCain for President" March 2, 2008 Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has enjoyed strong support from a lobbyist group that backs the Kosovo Liberation Army despite allegations the KLA is a Muslim terrorist group with ties to criminal drug networks and al-Qaeda. In April 1999, McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conan., co-sponsored the "Kosovo Self-Defense Act" with the goal of arming the KLA in their battle against the Serbs. McCain co-sponsored the legislation despite serious concerns voiced at that time in Republican policy forums, warning the KLA was a criminal terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. HERE'S ANOTHER ARTICLE ABOUT MCCAIN'S DIRECT TERRORIST CONNECTION WRITTEN BY JEROME CORSI. YES, THIS IS THE SAME JEROME CORSI WHO WROTE THE NEW ANTI-OBAMA BOOK.:
http://tinyurl.com/4tv2y2
Posted by: as_if!
| October 8, 2008 3:00 PM
McCain Loses It: Calls Americans 'My Fellow Prisoners'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYFm5kK4f1k&eurl=http://thinkprogress.org/
Notice in the very next sentence, he calls for CLARITY. hahaha You can't make this shyt up.
Posted by: Alan
| October 8, 2008 4:11 PM
My fellow prisoners? He is still stay at the Hanoi Hilton?
Funny AND scary!
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 7:21 PM
Staying - you know. . .
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 7:21 PM
We are all prisoners in the
21st Century.
Posted by: David B. Benson
| October 8, 2008 8:35 PM
David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party"
[...]
[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices.
http://tinyurl.com/4yeh6r
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 10:43 PM
McCain/Palin mob of intellectuals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 10:47 PM
Obama on ABC to McCain: "He Wasn't Willing to Say It To My Face" with Eye Candy
Obama, Today, on ABC News... Showing Moxy to ol' McChicken...
"I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that he wasn't willing to say it to my face. But I guess we've got one last debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that he needs to, he will raise it during the debate."
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5988955
http://tinyurl.com/4888ub
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 10:51 PM
Biden says McCain taking 'low road'
Joe Biden was all about sports metaphors today, bragging to voters that Barack Obama has won the first two presidential debates and that he bested Republican rival Sarah Palin in their only face-off last week.
"If this were a best of five series, it'd be over," Biden said in Tampa, Fla.
While McCain during the town hall in Nashville went for a second 90-minute debate without mentioning the middle class, Obama again showed his calm command of what the country needs, Biden said.
That's what voters want, he said, "not an angry man lurching from one position to another" or "unbecoming personal attacks" on Obama.
"You didn't hear one single average person ask about that," Biden said.
He said that McCain's campaign is raising ugly fears with the veiled question of who the real Obama is. Palin, in particular, is raising "outrageous inferences" about Obama.
"This is beyond disappointing," Biden said. "This is wrong."
Biden urged voters not to be distracted by the attacks, saying that McCain is taking the "low road" because he's part and parcel of President Bush's failed policies.
When you vote with Bush 95 percent of the time, it's not surprising that nearly all of McCain's ads are negative, Biden said.
Reeling off a one liner, he declared, "You can't be a maverick if all you've ever been is a sidekick."
http://tinyurl.com/3m55zg
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 11:00 PM
Re: This whole Ayers thing
If I were Obama, I would turn this around on McCain/Palin. If they are such good Christians, then they would understand that a person can change.
Ayers was a college professor by the time Obama was associated with him. Obviously the University of Chicago knew who Ayers was. The man (I forgot his name) who was funding the non-profit organization that both Ayers and Obama were involved in - who was a Republican - who was friends with Ronald Reagan - knew who Ayers was. So they obviously thought Ayers had changed and could stomach dealing with him.
So isn't it rather hypocritical of Palin and McCain by talking about Ayers as if he was currently involved in bombings rather that it being something that he did 40 years ago and that he had "reformed" himself? Aren't they all about reforming? With their reasoning, also, McCain should still be held responsible for the current economic problems by proxy because of his involvement in the Keating scandal - it ocurred only 20 years ago.
Posted by: flan
| October 8, 2008 11:00 PM
McCain Advisers Taking Ayers, Wright Off The Table?
As noted here and elsewhere, the words "William Ayers" appeared nowhere in yesterday's debate, despite the fact that the McCain campaign hinted for days that McCain would go hard at Obama's associations.
Now Politico reports that McCain advisers are privately indicating that Ayers, and Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, may be off the table for good:
After days of attempts to persuade voters that Obama's ties to '60s radical Bill Ayers are a crucial character issue, McCain didn't mention Ayers' name during the 90 minutes of Tuesday's forum. His top aides suggested afterward that, going forward, the candidate wouldn't focus on the former domestic terrorist nor invoke the name of Obama's controversial pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
If it's really true that the McCain team is holstering this pistol, it suggests that the McCain campaign's internal polling on how the Ayers stuff is playing is just brutal, likely among independents. It also suggests that Obama's counter-attack -- lambasting McCain's campaign for wanting to change the subject from the economy to personal attacks -- has been effective.
http://tinyurl.com/52pza9
****
It is all about accusing Barack of being a "finger in the wind" politician while letting the polls drive their "principles" - I never thought it was a smart move but so many talking head and pundits seem to believe the attacks (especially made from whole cloth) and negative stuff works so well. I guess there is good reason the talking heads and pundits aren't elected to any office.
Posted by: capt
| October 8, 2008 11:13 PM
"His top aides suggested afterward that, going forward, the candidate wouldn't focus on the former domestic terrorist"
And yet, McCain followed that up by appearing on Hannity's show, who seems obsessed with Ayers. Ah, McCain, you never seem to fail to show us what a hypocrite you are...sigh.
Posted by: flan
| October 8, 2008 11:19 PM
When Bill Ayers was doing bad things, Sen. Obama was 8 years old, and Sen. Obama has denounced Bill Ayers' violence. When the Keating 5 happened, Sen. McCain was 56. Maybe that's why this BS flung by Gov. Palin just isn't sticking. But Gov. Palin is right about one thing: Sen. Obama just doesn't see America the same way she does -- thank God!
Posted by: Unitarian Patriot
| October 9, 2008 1:32 AM
If I were Obama I'd turn McCain's braggadocio about breaking with his party back at him, i.e., glad to see you are turning more Democratic. Why should Obama break with the Democrats if they are more often right? And his proposal in the debate to buy up mortgages is just a rehash of Hillary Clinton's plan from months ago. I'd tell him, glad to see that you are becoming more liberal, John.
Posted by: eric
| October 9, 2008 10:14 AM
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=187586
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=187587
Michelle is a class act. And I do mean first class. She will be a great first lady. She will makes us all proud.
Posted by: capt
| October 9, 2008 1:16 PM
Michelle Obama is more presidential and seems more qualified to be president than Palin.
Posted by: capt
| October 9, 2008 1:19 PM
Military vote not necessarily all Republican
Some political analysts say active-duty military voters could influence Nov. 4's election in surprising ways.
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/575028.html
Posted by: capt
| October 9, 2008 1:23 PM
U.S. ARMY PREPARES TO INVADE U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgMx2F41XD0
Posted by: as_if!
| October 9, 2008 1:48 PM
I want my $700 ($850) billion back.
The bank buying ideas are socialism on steroids.
Posted by: capt
| October 9, 2008 3:24 PM
It must be all those elite lib-ur-als taking their money out of stocks to make the Repugs look bad, dontcha think?
Posted by: David B. Benson
| October 9, 2008 5:30 PM
That must be it!
lol
Posted by: capt
| October 9, 2008 5:40 PM
Alaska court refuses to shut down Palin probe
Decision sets the stage for lawmakers to release investigation report Friday
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27105917/
Posted by: capt
| October 9, 2008 5:47 PM
The Smokeless Gun of Flagrant Election Fixing
The point is that millions of the poorest, most marginalized Americans are being denied their right to vote for whomever they please. This is, as even the New York Times acknowledges, a federal crime.
http://tinyurl.com/3hudkz
Posted by: as_if!
| October 10, 2008 12:22 PM
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