Presidential Debate No. 3: Eye Rolling Spectacle

There is so much I can say about this debate...and I know you, my loyal readers, have come to expect me to comment. However, every single issue in the debate I could write for pages on. So I will simply say these three things:

1) McCain was strong in the beginning. I was impressed by his poise considering the way he acted in the previous two debates. Then, at some point, it was like he lost his mind. He got fed up and grumpy and the crotchety ol' McCain we have come to expect came out. Much like the Nixon/Kennedy debate, those people I have talked to that only listened on the radio thought McCain won. But it isn't telelisten...it is television!

2) In my opinion, and I have actually been very critical of Obama in the debates despite the fact that I think he won the first two, Obama also won this one. His answers were more effective and he was able to brush of McCain attacks and set his own vision. Every poll on every news network of undecided voters agreed with this opinion. Enough said.

3) This sums up the entire debate:



Sorry for the sort coverage, I just have a lot of other things I would like to cover coming up soon. Expect some information on ACORN, Palin, and I each day starting next week I will cover two issues on our local ballots here in Washington, and one of interest from another state...if you have any suggestions for sommething you would like me to go over, just let me know!

Managing Expectations: Sarah Palin and the V.P. Debate

For the last week, I have been saying to anyone who would listen that they should not underestimate Sarah Palin. Sure, she doesn’t know any Supreme Court cases other than [i]Roe v. Wade[/i], but if there is one thing she knows how to do, it is use rhetoric to create nice little sound bites. And what does a debate provide? The opportunity to create such sound bites with questions that are pretty much expected to come, making it easy to prep for them. Thus, when every once was saying they couldn’t wait to watch Palin make a fool of herself, I was saying hold on a minute…have you watched the Alaska Gubernatorial debates? Because I have, and she can hold her own.

That being said, there was no way that people weren’t going to be impressed by Gov. Palin in tonight’s debate? When you set expectations that low, it is an easy bar to jump over. Even during the debate I could see the media spin already: “America Gets to Know Palin…And Loves Her!” Middle America was going to eat her phony, obviously played-up Fargo accent and her folksy pronunciation of words (nuke-you-lur anyone?) right up! However, what I didn’t expect was for Joe Biden to shine so brightly…

Although, maybe that shouldn’t have been the case, since it was Sen. Biden who delivered probably the two best moments of the Democratic Primary debates:

and


Time and time again, Joe Biden effectively attacked John McCain, with straight forward, factual comments. Here is one hard hitting example:

That is one of the most effective attacks I have heard made upon Sen. McCain, and it was made in the right place…a nationally televised debate. So much for all that maverick talk.

And, in one of the most heart-felt moments I have ever seen from any public official (making the whole Hillary crying debacle in the primary look like the ploy for votes that it was), Sen. Biden choked up, and had to fight off tears, while speaking of being a single father after the death of his wife and daughter:

Look how the uncommitted voters of Ohio responded to that on the bottom of the screen…wow! That was not just some stunt…that was real pain. And people could see that. Biden impressed me. I think he is an even better debater than Barack Obama.

Palin, for all of her composure, delivered line after line of deceptive information. And when the McCain-Palin’s stance on an issue was attacked (especially early on), she would oftentimes simply try to change the subject. See for yourself:


Thus, for the second straight debate, I was wrong. My impression that America would likely side with the folksy Republican candidate over the “elitist” Democratic candidate was off base (what kind of bizarro world do we live in where the truths of the 2000 and 2004 campaigns no longer apply?! I guess Bush still had people fooled in 2004…?). Although, I was correct that people would be impressed Palin…just wrong that this would in turn cause people to believe she won the debate.

First, those same uncommitted Ohio voters I spoke of above overwhelmingly felt Biden won the debate, with 51% saying Sen. Biden won the debate, while 36% said Palin won:

Second, the extremely detailed CBS-Knowledge Networks poll also showed Joe Biden to be the winner. It broke down as follows:

WHO WON THE DEBATE?
(Uncommitted Voters Who Watched Debate)
Biden 46%
Palin 21
Tie 33

The other numbers from that poll bear this out even further. In terms of the uncommitted voters’ opinions of the candidates, following the debate, 53% had a better opinion of Biden, 5% had a worse opinion of Biden, and 42% held the same opinion of the candidate. As to Sarah Palin, 55% had a better opinion of her, while 14% actually had a worse opinion of her, and 30% felt the same.

When asked about whether the candidate was knowledgeable about important issues, prior to the debate 79% said Joe Biden was (with 17% saying he was not), while after the debate, a whopping 98% of the uncommitted voters who were polled said that Joe Biden was knowledgeable (while only 2% said he was not). This same question in terms of Gov. Palin had 43% of voters prior to the debate saying she was knowledgeable, while 66% said she was after the debate (pre-debate 54% said she was not knowledgeable, while only 32% said she was not following the debate).

Similarly, and most significantly, the uncommitted voters were asked whether the candidate would be an effective President if necessary. The numbers bore out like this:

Is Joe Biden prepared for the job of Vice President?
Pre-Debate:
Yes 66%
No 30

Post-Debate:
Yes 91%
No 8

Is Sarah Palin prepared for the job of Vice President?
Pre-Debate:
Yes 35%
No 62

Post-Debate:
Yes 44%
No 56

These uncommitted voters saw a huge jump in their view of Biden’s preparedness to lead, while the jump for Palin was quite small.

Finally, even ex-Bush officials declared Biden the winner.

Maybe I need to have more faith in the American voter. 8 years of Bush has tested my opinion of them, but alas, maybe I’m coming back around. Whatever the case may be, I leave you with this humorous portrayal of the entire Palin situation:

The Presidential Debate #1: BLOGGING LIVE!

Debate is over.

7:35 PM: McCain goes after Obama, saying he is like Bush..."I honestly don't believe that Sen. Obama has the knowledge or experience and has made the wrong judgments in a number of areas, including his intial reaction to Russian invasion...uh...aggression in Georgia." - John McCain

7:30 PM: Candidates are discussing the likelihood of another 9/11 attack. Obama says we need to go deal with terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that we need to fix our standing in the world. McCain says Obama wants to forget about Iraq and that signals victory to Al-Qaeda. Obama says we need a broader strategic vision.

7:25 PM: Thanks to HuffPost for noting that Obama is wearing a flag pin and McCain is not!

7:16 PM: Lehrer asks about Russia.

Obama says their actions in Georgia were unacceptable and lays out what Russia must do in that situation.

McCain says Obama is naive. Lays out that the Russia attack on Georgia had to do with energy and the pipeline. Obama agrees with the McCain assessment other than his portrayal of the Obama response.

7:12 PM: McCain makes a joke about being President. Nobody laughs.

7:03 PM: Lehrer asks about the threat of Iran.

McCain says that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, they are an "existential threat" (wtf?! he needs to learn the meaning of that word) to Israel. He says sanctions on Iranian could have a beneficial affect and says that they have a lousy government! Wow! I can't believe he would say that out loud (to quote his own phrase).

Obama talks about Iran funding Hezbollah and Hamas, and that our policy over the last 8 years on Iran has not worked. That we cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran.

McCain struggles with the President of Iran's name (ACK ACK ACKMIN ACKMINDINADINADINADINADINADINAJAD)

6:57 PM: Lehrer asks about Afghanistan and the candidates spar over Afghanistan and Pakistan. They re throwing one liners back and forth. McCain tells a sob story about a mother of a fallen soldier giving him a bracelet to wear for her son. Obama says "look, i have a bracelet too." McCain accuses that Obama didnt go to Afghanistan so he must not care about it either. McCain then says Pakistan was a failed state when President Musharraf came to power and anyone who went there would know that. (While Musharraf did take over in a coup, to call them a failed state at that point is a fucking joke).


6:50 PM: The candidates are arguing over Obama's plan in Afghanistan. Literally talking over each other. I don't know why either of these candidates are saying that the surge in Iraq worked. A UCLA study that came out this week said that that wasn't the case, that sectarian violence lessened because of ethnic cleansing in neighborhoods.

6:44 PM: McCain goes after Obama saying he never visited Afghanistan and that the surge worked. Obama retorts by saying it wasn't his committee that would deal with that. Says that, "John, you like to think the war started in 2007, when it really started in 2003," and then goes after McCain for all the things he was wrong about at the start of the war.

"I'm afraid Sen. Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy" - John McCain

6:39 PM: Lehrer asks about the lessons of Iraq.

McCain says our initial military success disappeared because the war was badly mishandled. That he went to Iraq in 2003 and came back and said we needed a new strategy. He claims the current strategy has succeeded and we will win in Iraq.

Obama says this war was wrong. That we shouldn't hesitate to use military force but we need to use it wisely.

6:35 PM: Obama says we are spending $300 billion in tax cuts for people that don't need it, and we are not funding health care, then our values need to be reanalyzed.

McCain says the Obama health care plan take choice away from families and gives it to the government. Then rails on and on about spending. Apparently he has "plans" to reduce unnecessary spending.

6:33 PM: McCain calls for a spending freeze on everything but caring for veterans, national defense, and several other vital issues. Obama responds by saying that's using a hatchet when we need a scalpel. ZING!

6:28 PM: Obama says to eliminate the programs that don't work and to bolster those that do. McCain retorts by saying we need to cut subsidies for ethanol, attacks Obama for having the "most liberal" voting record in the Senate (and Obama responds with a sinister laugh like he is going to tear him apart), and then McCain goes on to talk about defense spending. The debate seems pretty even to this point (although Obama's answers are more to the point).

6:25 PM: Obama and McCain are sparring over taxes. It is somewhat humorous. They accuse each other of misrepresenting the numbers. Obama seems scholarly. McCain seems folksy (although I think he is just acting like a child). That is probably good for McCain.

6:18 PM: McCain retorts by going after Obama saying he didnt start cutting spending until AFTER he was running for President and says Obama will raise spending.

Obama responds that by ending tax loopholes, as he plans to do, will pay for all the tax cuts. He says his plan will help the middle class and McCain's does not.

McCain lays out specifically what he is thinking in terms of the business tax cuts, saying he wants to cut it so businesses will remain in the USA and not go abroad. He then again says Sen. Obama is a "recent convert" because he requested pork barrel funds prior to running for President. Asks what Obama's definition of rich is...

Obama lays out what his tax plan is, saying that 95% will get tax cuts but the top 5% wont see a rise in their tax rates. He then goes after McCain saying that although business taxes are high, there are so many loopholes that they pay way less. He then says McCain wants to tax health benefits.



6:15 PM: Jim Lehrer asks specifically what each candidate would do as President to fix the economy.

McCain says he would cut pork barrel spending and would veto all spending bills.

Obama agrees spending limits are good...but attacks McCain for his tax plan that includes tax cuts to the rich, with CEOs getting $700,000 in tax cuts. He then lays out his plan (tax cuts for 95% of working families)

6:10 PM: Obama says he is likely to vote for the bailout plan but says he has yet to see the language. In an otherwise excellent retort about wall street vs. main street, McCain misleads by saying he called for the resignation of the head of the SEC. He in fact said he would fire him if he were President (a power the President does not have).

Obama goes after McCain on saying the fundamentals are strong. McCain responds by saying he has faith in American workers to get by. Non-responsive, yet an excellent answer.

6:02 PM: Obama open the debate with an excellent answer about the economy. He seems to be on a roll. He even attacks Mccain. McCain responds initially by mis-stepping (not knowing Sen. Kennedy is out of the hospital and forgetting where he was), but powers on to an excellent answer, making him come off as extremely likeable.