PrintOctober 15, 2008
Debate reaction (updated Thursday)
Mac Fuller writes:
My thoughts on the nine issues discussed in the debate that just concluded. 1. McCain won. Economy & Joe the ubiquitously omnipresent plumber. 2. McCain won,... but Obama was very smooth while lying (Biden has been giving him lessons?). Obama never answered the question of what he would cut of his $200 billion in additional deficit spending. McCain took half his time not answering but finally did. He got Obama to use his (McCain's) chosen terms such as "hatchett," "scalpel," and "earmarks," just as he got Obama to use "Joe the pumber" repeatedly. McCain was finally, clearly on the attack here. 3. DRAW. The issue was "leadership in the campaign." McCain answered but not well. Obama silkily did not answer at all, but this marked the beginning of the meandering by Obama that worsened especially when McCain directly (in this debate they sat physically close to one another) contradicted him. I think it leaned McCain, because he actually, eventually answered, but it didn't lean enough for even a close win. 4. Obama. People to be brought into their administrations; why would running mate be a good President should the circumstance arise. Obama clearly out-talked McCain who became bogged down in praising Governor Palin. Obama made good-sounding points for Senator Biden's experience despite the fact most of it was fiction. Obama niftily maneuvered his talking points to assert (almost as convincingly as it was absurd) that the past, particularly his past and his associations/alliances were unimportant (despite the obvious fact that past is prelude to the present). In a debate, ya gotta be able to talk, and Obama usually can. 5. McCain,... but Obama did OK. 6. McCain but Obama still generally smooth while meandering. Issue was climate change / energy / and trade. McCain obviously upsetting Obama's apple cart in this discussion, going on the attack. Obama spoke well but said almost nothing of substance, opting instead to vacuously circle anything meaningful. 7. DRAW. Healthcare. Neither candidate has a clue about healthcare, healthcare policy. Best line of the night when McCain (unintentionally?) referred to Obama as "Senator Government." 8. Obama. Clearly. McCain SHOULD have won this issue -- Roe v. Wade -- but did not. Not even almost. McCain failed to call Obama on his dissembling about his pro-infanticide votes in the Illinois State Legislature, and failed to mention Obama's comments following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Cathcart v. Gonzales which banned partial-birth abortions. Obama explicitly stated he believed the Supreme Court was wrong and that he would appoint Supreme Court Justices like Breyer and Ginsburg who viewed the termination of a mother's and doctor's ability to kill a partially-born infant as an "alarming" tragedy for the mother and the medical profession. Obama meandered wildly (but again, smoothly) while moderator Bob Schieffer never sought to bring him back to the subject as he had done with McCain on other occasions. 9. McCain. Education. Obama was at his wildest meandering here. But it might work. He said things that anyone attuned to politics knows he would never support such as "teacher accountability" (in order to remain employed) -- something the NEA will never allow in a liberal much less such a Leftist Democrat. Obama said he supported charter schools, but failed to mention how, where, or when. But for a quip on vouchers being unfeasible, which McCain immediately turned back upon him, Obama clearly had no response for that portion of the debate. McCain was the outright winner of five of the nine issues discussed. Obama was the outright winner of two of the nine issues discussed. Two issues, Leadership in the Campaign, and Healthcare, ended in ties. The Campaign Leadership debate tottered toward McCain, but only a little. Neither man had a viable, much less a convincing answer on the topic of Healthcare. Winner: JOHN McCAIN. Lee Cary writes: Obama Campaign Bamboozles DRUDGE By Lee Cary You suppose the folks at the Drudge Report have figured out yet they were used, bamboozled, hoodwinked, manipulated and conned by the Obama campaign? Yesterday DRUDGE, a typically savvy crew, posted what were purported to be Obama’s talking points for last night’s debate. You can read them here (but why bother, since they weren’t real). Tens of thousands of folks did just that – read them on DRUDGE. But if you watched last night’s debate, there’s wasn’t much alignment between the pre-released “talking points” and the debate talking by Obama. So… Question: Just what was that big DRUDGE scoop about talking points all about in the first place? Answer: Getting a free print ad on the most visited news web site on the planet in the pre-debate hype atmosphere. And the tactic worked! (DRUDGE guys – you were had.) You suppose the folks at DRUDGE know they were bamboozled by the Obama campaign? Or care? J.R. Dunn writes: I'm relieved to see that Mac's goat-gland shots finally kicked in. If he'd been up tothis level previously, he'd be coasting by now. Of course, he's always been Mr.come-from-behind, and I don't believe any of those media polls packed with "Democratic-leaning" voters. I agree with Zogby that it'll come down to the wire. I'm not counting him out yet. |
