26 Sept. Presidential Debate Discussion

[charlietwo]

My highlight of the evening so far, "Uh, I have a bracelet too." If you saw it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Not sure why, but this made me laugh out loud :D

Any thoughts about the debate itself? On the surface, Obama seemed tired, while McCain seemed rather vibrant. I'm not sure if this will change anyone's mind or convince the "uncertains" to vote either way.

Thoughts? :munchin

[Razor]

Actually, I thought the most embarassing (for BHO) part was his next statement--"Its for SGT...uh...um...uh...". Wearing it must mean quite a bit to him. :rolleyes:

[abc_123]

Not sure if I heard any major game-changing sound bites. I did think that BHO did do better than abysmal which is better than expectations. McCain did better in the second half.. when the shouting is over, I think it's going to be a wash.

You think Obabma looked tired? I thought he looked tanned. I think he's been hitting the booth.:munchin

[PSM]

My favorite Obama line was: "Back in April I warned the administration that you had Russian peacekeepers in Georgian territory."

What's the annual budget of the CIA, DIA, NSA, ETC? We should dump them and hire the BHO. :D

Pat

[Puertoland]

Actually, I thought the most embarassing (for BHO) part was his next statement--"Its for SGT...uh...um...uh...". Wearing it must mean quite a bit to him. :rolleyes:

Couldn't help but feel when he mentioned the bracelet, it was a desperate attempt to say "I care about dead soldiers too.", and Obama not being able to remember the SGT's name was just down right awful. Mccain on the other hand could recollect the name quickly, and clearly.

Really felt with Mccain on speaking about not letting our people die in vein.

However I think Obama 'presented' a better debate with looking directly at Mccain, and some of his barbs...however much that counts. Great debate however, could not help but feel I was going to watch a Boxing match.

[jamber97]

CNN had a cool analyst score card graphic and graph for the Republican,Democratic and Independent response.

Seemed as though Obama was on the defensive more than offense. He also said he agreed with John to many times and although MCcain did agree with Obama, he didn't return the favor of saying he agreed with him.

MCCain made interesting statements about his support of veterans. I read that he's rated at 20% by the Veterans of America on his voting record as it relates to veterans. I was curious how the veterans here view his support of veterans?

I don't like hearing the stories of their interactions with voters, it comes across as being disingenuous.



Overall I think MCcain didn't hurt himself and that Obama improved his position. I think it will be reflected in future polls.

[Warrior-Mentor]

Drudgereport.com is running a poll....so you can vote on who you thought won.

Current total has McCain up around 70% saying he won....


...and a snarky comment that this thread should be "Presidential" :p

[Phantasos]

You think Obabma looked tired? I thought he looked tanned. I think he's been hitting the booth.:munchin

I swear he's been getting darker each month since the campaign has taken center stage, not to mention I think he smokes? and I noticed that his lips aren't as purple as they used to be....

Overall I think Mccain did very well, words like "naive" and "inexperience" worked in his favor...

[charlietwo]

I was definitely pleased to see McCain throwing some punches. I'm not sure it will make much of a difference to the fabled "uncertains", but Obama looked on edge. I suppose I haven't seen enough of him to be an expert on his body language, but I've developed enough of a sense to know when someone is sweating.

I don't foresee much of a change in the polls from this... not enough heavy blows, although McCain was definitely on the offensive. I predict this will wear on Obama, as he's obviously outmatched when it comes to experience.

I did enjoy the part where Obama stated that he was more equipped to handle the decisions of how to employ and deploy the United States military. Couldn't help but laugh out loud at that one :D

PS- I agree! Change this thread to "Presidential". I swear I've only had a few drinks, and I can actually spell most words in the English language! :D

[afchic]

First of all let me say that the debate did not in any way change who I am voting for. With that being said I tried to watch it as someone who was undecided would. I expected alot more uummm and aahhhs from Obama, so I think he did well on presentation.
I think he was on the defensive much more than McCain. I think McCain scored points because he actually stated what some of the positions in his economic plan would have to be changed due to the current economic crisis. Obama never answered the question.
Overall I think they both did well, and would call it a tie. With that being said, if McCain can do as well at the economic debate as Obama did tonight on Foreign Policy I think it will go a long way to help him.
I am really looking forward to the town hall debate.

[charlietwo]

afchic- Is there going to be a town hall debate? That will be wonderful. I don't see Obama doing well in that setting. He doesn't have the spirit of truth on his side... how could anyone win in that setting?

[afchic]

afchic- Is there going to be a town hall debate? That will be wonderful. I don't see Obama doing well in that setting. He doesn't have the spirit of truth on his side... how could anyone win in that setting?

I believe the second debate is a town hall debate, although I am not sure of the date, and the third and final debate is in the same format as tonight with the topic being the economy.

[Paslode]

Based upon the little I watched, I would say it was about even. McCain had some some good points, but he missed oppourtunities for the kill. Obama is slick, he is a smooth salesmen. He has an answer for everything and he is good at making take your eye off that shit he just stepped in while tracking it through your house.

The one area that Obama blew IMO, was his I am going lower the taxes on the middle class, which reminded me of Bush #1 spouting 'Read My Lips, NO New Taxes"......which Bush couldn't do and neither can Bambi. And if the MSM weren't in the tank they might mention that.


Obama is a charmer, great smile, lots of energy and he is easy to watch him speak. Mac is a good guy, but his stage presence is awful and I think that is going to be a big problem.

[Red Flag 1]

Hearing BHO speak in public, any forum, is like listnening to a motor try to run with a badly clogged fuel filter.

If I remember correctly, a BHO response to his limited forigen policy experience, was to bring up his wonderful choice for a running mate. Sen. Biden had all the experience needed was the gist.

RF 1

[bravo22b]

They both said "Iranian Republican Guard", which, unless I'm mistaken, is not the correct name for the IRGC. McCain said it first, and I cringed, but Obama said it next in his follow up, so I guess it's a wash.

I though it was a tie. I didn't think either one did particularly well, and it was painful to watch both of them avoid direct answers to simple questions. I thought McCain could have done much better if he could have employed some "straight talk" instead of re-directing his answers to emphasize his talking points.

I also thought it was very telling when Obama couldn't come up with the name of the sergeant on his bracelet.

[Ambush Master]

I don't understand how bho did it without teleprompters!!! Or was it that well scripted??

I'd like to see an open field debate, all questions cold not prepped!!

[BryanK]

I was taken aback when BHO said we need to "take out" Pakistan. It's ok to think it, but good grief man, don't announce it. I was paying close attention when the candidates were discussing Iraq, A-stan, and Russia. I enjoyed McCain's approach with the matter of Pakistan. He was as far as I can tell demonstrating a by, with, and through approach as opposed to Obama's. To say the least I'm a tad anxious to see what develops after either one is elected. I honestly believe that within the next 3 years our military will be facing a more ubiquitous role abroad. From what I've read on PS and in books, it looks like the demand for more SF troops will rise as well, due to the nature of the enemies we may face in the near future. That is just my opinion.

[Defender968]

Actually, I thought the most embarassing (for BHO) part was his next statement--"Its for SGT...uh...um...uh...". Wearing it must mean quite a bit to him. :rolleyes:

I agree, I’m not surprised about the way he handled it he doesn't care about that fallen soldier and that was obvious by his stumbling over the name, he's just using his name and his grieving mother as yet another sound bite on why we should leave Iraq, he just wants us out regardless of what that costs so he can be right even though he’s dead wrong. He surrounds himself with people who don’t understand why we are there, what we do, or what the ramifications are for leaving before the job is finished in my opinion. That soldiers mother is no different, IMO she tarnishes the memory of her son with her profound lack of understanding of what we in uniform stand for. It reminds me that I need to talk to my parents and my wife to make sure that god forbid anything ever happens to me while I’m deployed that they don’t denigrate my service or the service of any other person in uniform by making statements like that mother did. I’m not saying she doesn’t have the right to grieve, both do and should, but the mother of the soldier on the bracelet McCain wears understands that while she did lose a son, he was lost fighting for freedom and that for his death have meaning we must finish the job he was sent to do. Just my .02

Ok on a lighter note,

I don't understand how bho did it without teleprompters!!! Or was it that well scripted??
I'd like to see an open field debate, all questions cold not prepped!!

If you notice, BHO speaks in sound bites, to me it looked like he was very well prepared, he had nearly all his answers memorized, granted he probably didn’t know exactly what the questions were going to be, but he could and in my opinion did a good job of anticipating and using what he had memorized to vaguely answer the questions asked.

I’d like to see a town hall meeting where the questions are asked by the people, I think his true colors would show through in that forum.

[BoyScout]

I don't understand how bho did it without teleprompters!!! Or was it that well scripted??

I'd like to see an open field debate, all questions cold not prepped!!
BHO's face and eyes were not aligned. He faced a camera but his eyes were at the left corners for most of his time speaking. He would look off to the right every now and then but only for a brief moment. No more than a second. McCain seemed to focus on one spot when talking too. May be there was a teleprompter or two there, or they were looking to someone for support, using memory tricks, what ever.

[Warrior-Mentor]

I also thought it was very telling when Obama couldn't come up with the name of the sergeant on his bracelet.

New York Post
September 27, 2008 --
OXFORD, MISS.

Barack Obama made one thing crystal clear in last night's debate: He simply doesn't care if we win or lose the war in Iraq.

"Nobody's talking about defeat in Iraq," Obama said - trying desperately to make John McCain stop talking about the single most important decision of Obama's very short career in the US Senate.

That was whether, during the most hopeless days of the war in Iraq, we should send in added troops to turn the tide of American bloodshed and stamp out the rise of terror in a country we had long before decided to invade.

Choosing certain defeat, Obama said no to the surge.

It wasn't his war. Why should he sacrifice some of his political capital just to avoid an American military defeat? All the blood sacrificed by our soldiers wasn't on his hands.

For Obama, the war going badly had been a great political boon. His early opposition to it had gotten him noticed.

And his unwavering opposition is why he beat Hillary Clinton in the primary.

John McCain, who knows something about military defeat, made a different decision. It was an unpopular one - and it came during the darkest days of his campaign.

Still, McCain lashed himself to the sinking ship that was the war in Iraq and voted for the surge.

He'd rather win a war and lose and election than lose a war, McCain said more times than we can remember.

Today, of course, Iraq is a much different place. It is far more peaceful than even the biggest war proponents dare imagine just a year ago. And Obama, after months of hemming and hawing, finally acknowledged the unavoidable: that the surge succeeded beyond his wildest imagination.

Yet, amazingly, he also says he still wouldn't have supported the surge.

One of last night's most telling moments came when McCain revealed a wristband that had belonged to a soldier killed in Iraq given to him by the soldier's mother. Do everything in your power, the mother told McCain, to make sure "my son's death was not in vain."

"I've got a bracelet, too," Obama said - given to him by the mother of a dead soldier who asked Obama to "make sure that another mother's not going through what I'm going through."

Here lies the difference between these two men:

Obama will accept defeat if continuing on hurts too much. For McCain, any mission where defeat is an option is a mission not worth fighting in the first place.

Charles Hurt is The Post's DC Bureau Chief.

churt@nypost.com

[Richard]

"I've got a bracelet, too," Obama said - given to him by the mother of a dead soldier who asked Obama to "make sure that another mother's not going through what I'm going through."

This is the one thing I saw in the debate that made me shout at the television and startle my wife and son who were watching it with me. IMO Senator Obama needs to be an SAO; if he was he might gain a bit of credibility with me before deciding to take what should be a deeply felt and wholly personal gesture and using it as nothing more than just another cheap bit of blatant political chicanery to gain office. :mad::mad::mad:

Richard's $.02 :munchin

[Trip_Wire (RIP)]

One media source that I read gave McCain a 'B' and Obama an 'A.' IMO, they both had problems and I didn't really see a clear 'winner' in the debate. I hope mcCain starts doing better in future debates.

Now I'm wishing Sara will KA on Biden! :D

[greenberetTFS]

This is the one thing I saw in the debate that made me shout at the television and startle my wife and son who were watching it with me. IMO Senator Obama needs to be an SAO; if he was he might gain a bit of credibility with me before deciding to take what should be a deeply felt and wholly personal gesture and using it as nothing more than just another cheap bit of blatant political chicanery to gain office. :mad::mad::mad:

Richard's $.02 :munchin

Richard,

Personally I think BHO showed how shallow he can get with "I've got one too". He is as slick as Willie was. God help us if he becomes our next POTUS.

GB TFS

[ZonieDiver]

I thought McCain did very well. He looked and sounded a lot more "presidential". While this was ostensibly about foreign policy, there was a great deal of economics in it too, with the 'bailout' questions. I think McCain did well, there, but wish he'd have more thoroughly pointed out the huge holes in BHO's tax policies.

I watched with someone who is a BHO fan. She remarked that he seemed "over prepared" - speaking in sound bites, and that he dwelt upon the past repeatedly. I paid attention more to him after that, and she was correct. He kept going back to '03, instead of focusing on "what do we do NOW"! McCain was much more "free-flowing". IF the next one is a townhall debate, BHO better watch out.

Palin will eat Biden's lunch. Period. Before that one is over, Biden will be claiming that FDR faxed a warning to Pearl Harbor that got there seconds too late!

[Red Flag 1]

This is the one thing I saw in the debate that made me shout at the television and startle my wife and son who were watching it with me. IMO Senator Obama needs to be an SAO; if he was he might gain a bit of credibility with me before deciding to take what should be a deeply felt and wholly personal gesture and using it as nothing more than just another cheap bit of blatant political chicanery to gain office. :mad::mad::mad:

Richard's $.02 :munchin

I find it baffeling that this idiot is where he is. IMHO, BHO has no right to stand on the same stage with Sen. McCain....let alone "debate" him!

My $.02.

RF 1

[CoLawman]

I find it disgusting Obama uses his bracelet as a stage prop rather than the mother's intended purpose. I feel sorry for the mother that this thespian proved that her fallen son means nothing to him and his kind. What a true POS!


Saturday, September 27, 2008
"I wanted him to know my son's name"
Posted by: Bill Dyer at 2:42 PM

(Guest Post by Beldar)

More regarding the bracelet that Sen. Obama obviously had to read from in order to recall the name written on it last night, from a WaPo article dated February 16, 2008 (boldface mine):

Barack Obama is wearing a wristband in memory of a soldier killed in Iraq, given to him by a mother who said she wants the Democratic presidential candidate to keep others from dying.

Tracy Jopek of Merrill, Wis., gave Obama the bracelet at a rally Friday night in Green Bay, and Obama was still wearing it Saturday as he campaigned across the state before Tuesday's primary.

The bracelet has her son's name, Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, and the date the 20-year-old was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb, Aug. 2, 2006. "All gave some — He gave all," it says....

Mrs. Jopek said she and her daughter briefly met the Illinois senator at the rally and showed him a picture of a smiling Ryan dressed for battle. She said the senator hugged her and her daughter, asked a couple questions about Ryan and told her how much he appreciated the bracelet.

"I wanted him to know my son's name for one thing, for when he's commander in chief," Mrs. Jopek said during a telephone interview in which she frequently grew emotional. She said she was somewhat uncomfortable getting so publicly involved in the war debate, but felt the issue was too important for her to remain silent during this campaign.

She said she's a Democrat who will vote for Obama in Wisconsin's primary Tuesday. Like Obama, she said she was against the war from the start and had a hard time watching her son go to war.

"My son loved this country very much, I love this country, but I don't feel that staying in Iraq will vindicate my son's death," she said. "And it's not over for us until this war is over. I just don't want any more soldiers to die in vain for something that we can't solve."

It's genuinely sad that Mrs. Jopek felt, and perhaps still feels, that her son died in vain, but of course she is entitled to our respect even for opinions with which we may disagree. Although perversely continuing to insist now that he'd still vote against the Surge, even knowing what we now know of its success, Sen. Obama has at least conceded that the Surge has succeeded "beyond our wildest dreams." Most Americans of either political party would agree that no American soldier's sacrifices in Iraq have been wholly in vain.

But with due, deep, and genuine respect for Mrs. Jopek and her late son, in my own view, it's even more sad that more than seven full months after she gave Sen. Obama the bracelet bearing her son's name, Sen. Obama hadn't bothered to actually learn it. Instead, Sen. Obama treated that bracelet as a mere prop for a piece of political theater — and when he finally received what he recognized as a cue to perform, Sen. Obama still couldn't even deliver his intended line without a prompt.

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog

[PSM]

It seems BO is taking gaffing lessons from Biden. :D

Pat

[jamber97]

Palin will eat Biden's lunch. Period. Before that one is over, Biden will be claiming that FDR faxed a warning to Pearl Harbor that got there seconds too late!

Biden won a couple democratic debates vs. Obama and Clinton. Even with the change in her favor, of the debate format, I doubt he'll be eating Palins lunch. Palin can't even handle Katherine Anne Couric, although It would be pretty cool if she did well. I love it when an underdog pulls off a upset.

[Box]

These debates do little to ease my fear of the future.

[Pete]

Biden won a couple democratic debates vs. Obama and Clinton. Even with the change in her favor, of the debate format, I doubt he'll be eating Palins lunch. Palin can't even handle Katherine Anne Couric, although It would be pretty cool if she did well. I love it when an underdog pulls off a upset.

Jamber - you saw what the Perky One wanted you to see. I quess you didn't get "the rest of the story" on the Henry K quote like in "I never said that".

The debate between her and Biden will be live. No ability for the MSM to edit that one. Of course the selection of sound bites for the MSM propaganda shows (nightly news) will be edited and selected to maximize the D Effect.

[Box]

Will Gov Palin need a lawyer to screen her responses to make sure Obama cant jail her for saying something mean?

[Richard]

Here--in a nutshell--is how I view this year's debates and the upcoming elections.

Richard's $.02 :munchin